1999-2019
The Tennessee Baptist History Journal, a publication for and about Tennessee Baptists, is a yearly publication of the Tennessee Baptist Historical Society. The first issue was published in 1999. Early issues of the Journal were around 68 pages in length. Over time, the Journal expanded to around 100 pages with a few issues around 150 pages in length. The purpose of the Journal is to provide Tennessee Baptists a way to record and preserve their history. Articles in the Journal have included a wide variety of topics including Tennessee Baptist educational institutions, the TBC Woman’s Missionary Union, Baptist and Reflector newspaper, Baptist Student Union work in Tennessee, the Scopes Trial, Tennessee Baptists and music, Tennessee Baptists and social ministries, the Civil War, Tennessee Baptists and the Restoration Movement, Tennessee Baptists and government, and the influence of women on the work of Tennessee Baptists. Articles in the Journal have addressed a variety of Baptist groups in Tennessee including African American, Free Will, Landmark, Missionary, Primitive, and Southern Baptists.
After several attempts as early as 1894 to establish a Baptist historical society in Tennessee, the Tennessee Baptist Historical Society was formed in 1998 at the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport, Tennessee, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board). A call had been issued for all those interested in being part of a Tennessee Baptist Historical Society to meet at the Convention Center. James Porch, Executive Director of the TBC, presided at the TBHS organizational meeting. The following individuals were elected officers: Fred Rolater, President; John Conner, Vice President; Mel Hawkins, Jr., Secretary; Albert Wardin, Jr., Treasurer; and Charles Nored, Membership Chairman. Jim Taulman, then Managing Editor of the Baptist History and Heritage Journal, was enlisted as Editor of the TBHS journal. The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board has provided financial support for publication of the Tennessee Baptist History journal since 1999.
