Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

Cummings was born in Pickaway, West Virginia and attended the Literary and Bible Training School (now Trevecca Nazarene University) in Nashville, Tennessee and the University of Chattanooga. He was licensed to preach in 1907 and spent his entire career in the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church, beginning in Boomer (1901-12) and ending in Glasgow (1947-59).

Cummings also delivered radio addresses on stations WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio and and WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia; wrote newspaper columns, poems, and sacred songs; and published song books with his own work and selections by other artists.

Additional information can be found in the newspaper articles about Cummings and other materials in this section of the Library of Appalachian Preaching.

Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.

Switch View to List View Slideshow

01. Finding Aid to the Physical Collection

Robert H. Ellison and Elizabeth James

This document follows the same format as Marshall's other Guides to Manuscript Collections. It includes a biographical note, the "scope and content" of the archive, and other information, along with a complete listing of the contents of each of the 31 boxes on the shelves.
02. User Guide for the Digital Collection

Robert H. Ellison

The User Guides to the Library of Appalachian Preaching are Google sheets that can be searched, sorted, and downloaded for offline use. Cummings' sermons and radio addresses are included in the master Guide for the entire Library.

There is also a Guide to all of Cummings' works, with tabs labeled "Sermons and Radio Addresses," "Newspaper Columns," "Poems," "Songs," and so on. The final tab is a Scripture index for the entire collection.
03. Sermons

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes approximately 100 typed and handwritten sermons, sermons printed or summarized in the newspaper, and some "sermons in rhyme." The sermons and radio addresses have been combined in a single tab in the User Guide.

The master PDF of the sermons is nearly 150MB in size; to make things somewhat more manageable, the contents of each folder in the physical collection have been upload as supplemental files.
04. Radio Addresses

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 35 addresses delivered over the radio. Most aired on station WMON in Montgomery, West Virginia; a few were broadcast over WLW in Cincinnati. They are posted here as a single PDF, and combined with the sermons in a single tab in the User Guide.
05. Newspaper Columns

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 66 columns written for various newspapers. They were published under 4 headlines: "Clergyman Chatter," "Our Weekly Message," "Our Weekly Visit," and "The Parson Writes." In some of the clippings, only the words "Our Weekly" are visible, so we cannot be sure which category they belong to.

All 66 columns are posted here as s single PDF. There are also supplemental files for "Clergyman Chatter," "Our Weekly Message/Visit," and "The Parson Writes."

The columns do not have individual titles, but they often have section headings; for ease of navigation, the first heading in each column is included in the User Guide.
06. Poems

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes approximately 45 stand-alone poems, 9 booklets of poems, and An Earth Wayfarer, a 111-page spiral-bound book. Everything is posted here as a single PDF; information about individual poems, including each selection in the booklets and Earth Wayfarer, is provided in the User Guide.
07. Songs

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes his work as a song writer and publisher: 75 stand-alone songs, approximately 40 booklets of his songs, and 18 books he published with his own songs and those of other artists. There are also approximately 420 song books (336 unique titles) from other publishers, 23 of which contain at least one of Cummings' songs. Information about each of these songs--295 in all--is provided in the User Guide.

All of these songs, along with the relevant front- and backmatter in the books, are posted here as a single PDF. It is nearly 140 MB; to make things somewhat more manageable, the individual songs, booklets, Cummings' song books, and the books from other publishers have also been provided as supplemental files.

Notes: many of the stand-alone songs exist in several formats: song-book-size, printed on a postcard, and so on. The PDFs include examples of each format. Also, the PDFs of the song books contain only pieces written or arranged by Cummings himself.
08. Correspondence

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 39 complete or partial letters to or from Cummings; many of his drafts are typed on the back of his sermon manuscripts. All of the letters are posted here as a single PDF; information about each one is provided in the User Guide.
09. Literary and Bible Training School

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes items pertaining to his time at the Literary and Bible Training School (now Trevecca Nazarene University) in Nashville, Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1909. There are examination papers he wrote on homiletics and theology, along with the catalog for the 1909-10 academic year. All items are posted here as a single PDF; additional information is provided in the User Guide.
10. McCrum Slavonic Training School

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 2 publications by the McCrum Slavonic Training School in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. They date to 1912, the year Mary Kacmar graduated from the school, and 1918, the year she and Cummings married. They are posted here as a single PDF; additional information is provided in the User Guide.
11. Miscellaneous Items

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 34 miscellaneous items, ranging from his drivers licenses to a document entitled "End Alien Control of the United States." All items are posted here as a single PDF; additional information is provided in the User Guide.
12. Newspaper Articles By and About Cummings and His Family

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes some 120 newspaper clippings by and about Cummings and his family; many of Cummings' pieces are short poems published as Corner Couplets or maxims from "Josh Hayseed." All of the clippings are posted here as a single PDF; additional information is provided in the User Guide.
13. Poems Not By Cummings

Melville Homer Cummings and Robert H. Ellison

The Cummings collection includes 26 poems that were among the donated materials but turned out to be definitely or probably not by Cummings. They are posted here as a single PDF; information about each poem, including authorship when available, is provided in the User Guide.