T. Leigh Thompson papers, 1881-1979, (bulk 1881-1886)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Housed with Capt. Tom Henderson Account Book.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Abstract: Four diaries (1881-1886) written by T. Leigh Thompson while attending school at Culleoka Institute (1881-1883) and Vanderbilt University (1883-1886), and during his summer jobs working as a traveling book salesman for Garretson & Co. The diaries form the heart of the collection and document a wide variety of subjects in Thompson's daily life. Eight folders of additional materials include: a partial transcript of the 1881 diary (Aug. only); a transcript of the 1882-1883 diary (in two folders); research on T. Leigh Thompson by Oveda Meier (1979); biographical information; two pieces of correspondence from Thompson in the 1950s; notes from an interview (interviewer unidentified, but possibly Oveda Meier) with Dee Thompson in 1979; and a few articles and news clippings about T. Leigh Thompson. Only the diaries are described further, below.

Scope and content: Subjects mentioned (sometimes only briefly) in virtually all of the diaries include: classes and examinations; debates and debating societies; Thompson's family in Lewisburg; visits to and from friends and relatives; girlfriends and courtship; speeches given by visiting teachers or preachers; fellow students; religion and religious life, especially Methodists and Baptists, sometimes mentioning preachers by name, and the subjects of their sermons; books and reading, both for pleasure and for school; Thompson's work as a traveling book salesman; YMCA activities; financial hardships; illnesses; and weather, especially during winter time. Thompson was close friends with Walter Stokes and Jim Clary, and they are frequently mentioned throughout all of the diaries, as are Sawney Webb (often written "Sommie") and Johnnie Webb, founders of Culleoka Institute.

Diary (Aug. 1881 - Oct. 1882) - Culleoka Institute. Subjects specific to this diary include: brief mentions of attendance at camp meetings; reaction to the assassination of President James A. Garfield and the death of his assassin, Charles Guiteau; Thompson's work as a book salesman; agriculture in the Marshall County and Southern Middle Tennessee areas; Democratic political activities, including Thompson's support of William B. Bate for governor and Thompson's desire to see the state "redeemed from Republicanism" (May-July); and brief mentions of African Americans, such as a phrenological exam by Dr. Jonathan Anderson, Col. ["colored"?] (Sept. 17, 1881), two men who were believed to have assaulted a white woman (Oct. 5, 1882), hearing a black preacher (Sept. 17, 1882), and a debate about whether or not blacks should have the right to vote (Aug. 1882). Some individuals mentioned in this diary include: Jonathan Eshman; Willis Fowler (death, Sept. 26, 1881); Irene Cowden; Walter Fowler; Sid Crockett; and William M. McKnight (death, May 23, 1882).

Diary (Oct. 1882 - Dec. 1883) - Culleoka Institute; Vanderbilt University. Subjects specific to this diary include: speeches given by visiting teachers or preachers; Thompson's work as a traveling book salesman in Madison County, Ky. ; YMCA activities, including mission work and the annual convention held in Chattanooga (Nov. 1883); the day-long snowfall on Mar. 21, 1883 - something Thompson says he has never seen before in his life; the marriage of his cousin Lillie Charlton to a man (surname Bryant) opposed by the bride's family, as well as Thompson, who is "grieved" at her choice (Nov. 27, 1882); temperance (Thompson in favor); women's suffrage (Thompson in favor); the arraignment of student Burke Bryan for his "shameful conduct with a negress" (Mar. 6); numerous students with eye problems, with some seeking treatment in Cincinnati, Ohio; the death of Alexander Stephens; visits to Nashville (Apr. 28, June 8); a "District Conference," probably of the Methodist church, held in Columbia (late Apr.); a list of eleven graduates of Culleoka Institute (May 19); a brief visit with Cassius Clay, statesman of Kentucky; Thompson's entrance into Vanderbilt; his distress over fellow students who join fraternities, seeing it as a moral issue since it is against school bylaws, the repeal of this prohibition by Chancellor Garland, and Thompson's decision to join Phi Delta Theta; his membership in the Dialectic Society, a debating society; attendance at West End and McKendree Methodist churches and the Vanderbilt chapel; the election of Cooper Phillips as mayor of Nashville; Thompson's attendance at a Jewish synagogue (Oct. 12); fires in Edgefield (Oct. 17); a visit to the Stokes family in Lebanon, Tenn. and Christmas (Dec. 1883). Some individuals mentioned include: Irene Cowden; "Brother" Weakley, pastor at Culleoka Institute or a nearby church; Lillie Charlton (who married to become Lilly Bryant - both spellings of Lilly used by Thompson); Jimmie Cochran (death, Apr. 7); William Lambuth (Apr. 13); Albert Loudon (death, May 4).

Diary (Jan. - Aug. 1884) - Vanderbilt University. Subjects specific to this diary include: Thompson's elections as vice president of the Dialectic Society and president of YMCA; a visit to the penitentiary, with descriptions of foundry and wagon-making activities there; health and illnesses, both his own and others, including his vaccination against smallpox; barns burned on campus (Mar. 27); baseball games played among different clubs or societies at Vanderbilt; death and funeral of Brother Nabors (Apr. 1 & 2), chaplain at Vanderbilt; and the Middle Tennessee Convention of the YMCA held in Gallatin (early Apr.). The diary ends abruptly on Apr. 21, skips a few blank pages, then resumes on May 22 in a different hand. The new diarist is likely a woman, living in Missouri, in the general vicinity of Sedalia. She may be T. Leigh Thompson's friend or girlfriend from Otterville, Mo., Georgie Brock, whom Thompson nicknames, "Sister." She mentions "Mr. Thompson" and his efforts and travels selling books for William Garretson & Co. These entries end on June 30. Elsewhere in the book there is a poem of farewell, dated Aug. 19, 1884, written in the same hand as the entries from Missouri. The rest of the book is blank. Some individuals mentioned include: Georgie Brock "Sister"; Dr. Barbee of McKendree Methodist Church; and "Bessie" of Otterville, Mo. This volume was presented to Thompson by Walter Stokes. Approximately half of the volume is blank.

Diary (Jan. 1, 1886 - July 30, 1886) - Vanderbilt University. Subjects specific to this diary include: weather, especially winter time, including a planned, highly organized snowball fight (that did not occur) (Jan. 8) and a snowfall of 18 inches on Feb. 3; his visit to a "Museum of Anatomy" in downtown Nashville after which he feels "sick"; reports of the poor health of Sawney (W.R.) Webb, and plans to move Culleoka Institute to another location due to difficulties with the community; the visit to Nashville by evangelist Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey (early Feb.); and Thompson's occasional writings about events for the newspapers. Entries for Jan. and Feb. (ending on Feb. 6) are followed by an account listing for those months, in which most of Thompson's expenses are for cigars, books, and a few other items. The entries skip from Feb. 6 to July 1, when Thompson is at home with his family in Lewisburg, about to set out for a job as associate principal at a school in Monticello, Ky. Once there, he travels nearby, trying to enroll students. He mentions the classes he is teaching, and decides he likes the work, launching into an emotional description of his joy at seeing his students learn.

Cite as: T. Leigh Thompson Papers, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Copyright status is undetermined. This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code). Nashville Public Library does not have intellectual property rights to these materials.

No photocopies may be made from the diaries due to their fragile condition.

Source of acquisition unknown;,Acc. RT-100.

Associated Materials: The Tennessee State Library and Archives also holds a collection entitled the T. Leigh Thompson Papers, 1850-1900.

Related Materials: Two photographs of Thompson are included in the Nashville Room's Historic Nashville Photographs Collection, identified as P-2080 and P-2081. One image is of him as a younger man; one as an older man.

T. Leigh Thompson was born on July 26, 1862 at the family farm, "Wild Rose," near Yell, Marshall County, Tenn. He was the son of Robert C. and Frances S. (Wilson) Thompson. He attended Culleoka Institute in Maury County (the predecessor of Webb School) and then Vanderbilt University, where he also obtained his law degree. While a student, he had summer jobs as a traveling book salesman in Kentucky and Missouri for Garretson & Co. He served in the Tennessee House from 1895-1899, representing Marshall County, and then in the state Senate from 1899-1901 as a Democrat. He managed Edward Ward Carmack's senate campaign in 1901, and was the first person on the scene when Carmack was shot and killed. He was a Methodist, and very religiously active, often attending services of other denominations, and participated in the YMCA. It is not clear when he married his first wife, Nellie Ely of Nashville, but she died on Aug. 8, 1927. She was the aunt of renowned poet, Jesse E. Wills, who wrote a memorial poem, "Salute to T.L.T." when Thompson passed away. In Aug. 1934, Thompson married Dee Waller Turrentine, and she survived him. He had no children from either marriage. After leaving Vanderbilt, he held a variety of jobs ranging from teaching to president of a mining company, but in 1905 he was appointed deputy commissioner of insurance for the state of Tennessee, and in 1909 he joined National Life and Accident Insurance Company, taking over the casualty department which had been losing money, and within five years made it turn a profit. Thompson was named to the board of directors and became a vice president of the company in 1922. He retired in 1933 to the family home, "Wild Rose," and had a winter home in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was president of the Health and Accident Underwriters Conference in 1930; a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and president of the Tennessee Jack and Jennet Breeders Association. He died on Jan. 18, 1954 at the age of 91 at his winter home in Florida and was interred in Lone Oak Cemetery near Lewisburg, Tenn.

In English

Unknown provenance. A bookplate and note state that one or more of the diaries were given to the Nashville Public Library in memory of Miss Alice Stockell, who died in 1967, and is one of the individuals who helped establish the Nashville Room. Two dates (3-69 and 11-73) appear on a note indicating the dedication to Miss Stockell, but the specific importance of these dates is not known.

Process;,2012;,Linda Barnickel.

No further accruals are expected.