Bishop William Taylor Collection

Photo of William TaylorThe files in the collection are all based upon the life of Bishop William Taylor, well-known missionary and author for whom Taylor University was named in 1889. William Taylor was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1821. In 1843 Taylor joined the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Church and later became a missionary who traveled the world. Taylor was first called to California where he had a ministry of street witnessing to miners and frontiersmen in San Francisco. He remained there seven years and earned the nickname "California Taylor." He then began to travel the world, eventually preaching the gospel in England, Australia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Ceylon, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Peru, and Chile. What makes this list of countries so impressive is that travel back in William Taylor's day was slow and difficult. Taylor was "accidentally" elected the bishop of Africa in 1884. Bishop William Taylor visited Taylor University at the beginning of the 1895-96 school year, in his 74th year of life. William Taylor died in Palo Alto, California, in 1902 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, overlooking the San Francisco Bay.*


The collection is made up of various files that have come from a number of different sources and covers a wide variety of genres: original letters, signatures, pictures, articles, books, and other artifacts all characterize the collection.

To do preliminary research, click on the link below to view the William Taylor Collection checklist.  Contact the Archives for more information.

Journal Acquisition 2006

In 2006, the Archives was fortunate to receive two journals. One was written by William Taylor in 1851-1856, and the other was written by his wife, Anne, in 1866-67. Dr. Robert Lay has been working to transcribe these journals and has written an article, "He Said/She Said: The Diaries of William and Anne Taylor" revealing some personal thoughts of these 19th century figures. For further information about these journals, please contact Dr. Lay.

*All history information is taken from Taylor University: The first 150 Years, by William C. Ringenberg