Richard Beale Davis (June 3, 1907 – March 30, 1981) was an American academic who specialized in the history of the Southern United States, with a focus on its literature and intellectual history. His works include the 1978 book Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, which was awarded the National Book Award for history and several other accolades. He taught at the University of Virginia, University of South Carolina, and University of Tennessee, among other places.
Richard Beale Davis | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | June 3, 1907 Accomac, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | March 30, 1981 Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 73)
Resting place | Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia, U.S. |
Occupation | Academic |
Awards | National Book Award (1979) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Virginia |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Tennessee |
Notable works | Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763 (1978) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/ | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1943–1946 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Davis was born in Accomac, Virginia to a family with local religious and academic connections. He began teaching in the 1920s, receiving his master's degree from the University of Virginia in 1933 and his PhD in 1936. He joined the University of South Carolina as an associate professor of English in 1940, taking leave during the Second World War to teach for the United States Navy. Davis returned to South Carolina and then joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee. While there, he was involved with the James D. Hoskins Library and the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He was made an Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in 1962 and retired from teaching fifteen years later. During this time, he held several fellowships and was a member of the American Antiquarian Society.
Davis's most-celebrated work was his 1978 book Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763, a three-volume study of the history and culture of the American South. According to Jack P. Greene, it was the "single most comprehensive description ever undertaken of the cultural life of any segment of Britain's early modern American empire".[1] Davis's reputation as a scholar was solidified through his extensive body of work, with Leo Lemay referring to him as "the greatest modern authority on early Southern literature".[2]: 173 Similar views were offered by Louis D. Rubin Jr., praising the way he "decisively chartered and explored the colonial southern literary scene".[3]: 11
Early life and education
editRichard Beale Davis was born in Accomac, Virginia on June 3, 1907. His mother was Margaret Josephine (née Wills), and his father was Henry Woodhouse Davis,[2]: 173 a Methodist minister across Virginia. He had two sisters, Virginia Holmes and Mary Eleanor. His paternal great-grandfather was Williams Thomas Davis, founding president of the Southern Female College in Petersburg, Virginia.[4]: 242–243 The family's papers are held by the library at the University of Virginia.[5]
Davis received his undergraduate degree from Randolph–Macon College in 1927.[2]: 173 His father had graduated from the same college in 1903.[4]: 243 In 1933, Davis received a master's degree from the University of Virginia, and in 1936 they awarded him a PhD.[2]: 173
On August 25, 1936, Davis married Lois Camp Bullard at his parents' house in Franklin, Virginia.[6][2]: 173
Academic career
editFollowing his undergraduate degree, Davis taught at McGuire's University School in Richmond, Virginia until 1930.[2]: 173 In a review of a book about the school, Davis spoke briefly of his time teaching there.[7] From 1930 until 1932, he taught at Randolph-Macon Academy. Following his MA, he taught at the University of Virginia until 1936. He then taught for four years at the Fredericksburg Teachers College (known as Mary Washington College from 1938),[2]: 173 holding the position of associate professor of English.[8] In 1940, Davis joined the University of South Carolina as an associate professor in the English department.[2]: 173
During the Second World War, he served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1943, he held the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade). He was executive officer of the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Emory and Henry College.[9] He then served as commanding officer of the Navy Academic Refresher Unit (V-5) at the Northwestern State College of Louisiana.[10] In January 1946, the Naval Station at Northwestern was decommissioned, having trained around 4,000 Navy personnel in three years. Davis was discharged from the Navy at the same time with the rank of Lieutenant.[11] Following the war, he returned to the University of South Carolina, and was promoted to a full professorship in June 1946.[12]
In 1947, he joined the University of Tennessee. In 1962, he was made an Alumni Distinguished Service professor.[2]: 173–4 While there, he was heavily involved with the James D. Hoskins Library, working with the acquisitions department to identify possible purchases. From 1949 until 1971, he served as chairman of the library's Committee on Special Documents. He was also a member of the Faculty Library Committee from 1958 to 1970.[13]
Davis held various other positions during his time at the University of Tennessee, serving a year as a Fulbright professor at the University of Oslo in 1955 and another year as a US State Department lecturer in India in 1957.[13][2]: 174 In 1955, he was awarded a fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library and a Doctor of Letters by Randolph-Macon College.[2]: 173–4 In 1946, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for post-military service scholars.[14] He received a second Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959.[15]
In 1977, Davis retired from teaching. He received a Festschrift upon his retirement, titled Essays in Early Virginia Literature Honoring Richard Beale Davis.[2]: 175
Group memberships
editDavis was associated with several historical and literature-focused groups, representing his academic interests and those further afield. In 1955, Davis was elected vice-president of the newly formed branch of the American Studies Association (ASA) for Kentucky and Tennessee.[16] In 1958, he was elected to the executive council of the nationwide ASA.[17] The same year, he served on the Regional Advisory Board for the Old Southwest Region of the Bibliographical Society of America.[18][19] In 1959, he was elected vice-chairman of the Southern Humanities Conference,[20] and served as its chairman in 1960.[21] In 1968, Davis began serving a two-year term on the executive council of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature.[22] He was elected its first president in the same year.[23]
In 1972, Davis was made an honorary member of the Virginia Historical Society, having contributed to the group's journal for several years.[24] He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society the following year, later receiving a certificate from them upon his retirement from teaching.[2]: 175 He attended a single meeting of the elite group, in October 1974.[2]: 175 In 1975, Davis was a founding member of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society.[25] He had taught courses on Hawthorne since the 1940s.[26]
In 1965, Davis served as president for the University of Tennessee's new Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Epsilon of Tennessee.[27] He began writing for the society's magazine The Key Reporter in 1967, reviewing books in American culture and history.[28]
Modern Language Association
editIn 1952, Davis served as secretary of the American Literature section of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA).[29] The following year, he served as chairman of the section.[30] He served on the executive committee of SAMLA from 1963 until 1967, serving as vice-president in 1964 and president the following year.[31] During 1977, he served on its Fiftieth Anniversary Committee.[32]
Following the creation of the Modern Language Association's Early American Literature Group in the 1960s, Davis was elected to sit on its executive committee.[33] He later served as chairman of its nominating and advisory committee.[34]: 74 In 1977, the group named him as an Honored Scholar.[2]: 175
Davis served on the executive committee of the MLA-affiliated Center for Editions of American Authors.[35] He also served on the MLA's standing committee on copyright during the early 1970s.[36]
Writing career
editIn 1939, Davis published his first book, a biography titled Francis Walker Gilmer: Life and Learning in Jefferson's Virginia.[2]: 173 Gilmer, a lawyer, had been hired by Thomas Jefferson to secure European faculty members for the newly founded University of Virginia.[37]: 423 Davis had previously written a PhD thesis on Gilmer with the title "The Life, Letters, and Essays of Francis Walker Gilmer: A Study in Virginia Literary Culture in the First Quarter of the Nineteenth Century".[38] The book was praised by Dumas Malone for being "the fullest and best account" of his life.[39]: 617 G. Glenwood Clark praised its detailed index, but criticised the "gross carelessness in proof-reading, exasperating omission of words and phrases and frequent transpositions of whole sentences".[40]: 327 In 1946, Davis published a further work on Gilmer titled Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson and Francis Walker Gilmer, 1814-1826. The work had been composed after the discovery of letters between the two men.[37]: 422 Dumas Malone noted the benefit of having both sides of correspondence published in one place and praised the book's focus on both men and Gilmer's "poignant human story".[39]: 616–618
In 1950, Davis worked with Fredson Bowers to edit a bibliography of the Elizabethan writer and traveller George Sandys.[41]: 106 He went on to publish a biography of Sandys in 1955, titled George Sandys, Poet-Adventurer: A Study in Anglo-American Culture in the Seventeenth Century.[2]: 174 Davis's reference works continued with the first published edition of Thomas Holley Chivers' Life of Poe (known as Chivers' Life of Poe) in 1952,[42] and a collection of historical writing by Augustus Foster in 1954.[43] In 1955, he published a monograph on José Correia da Serra.[2]: 174 Following its publication, he donated 128 items of research material to the library of the American Philosophical Society.[44]
In 1961, Davis published two books: a collection of lectures by Samuel Lorenzo Knapp, originally published as Lectures on American Literature in 1829, and a collection of essays dedicated to John Cunyus Hodges and Alwin Thaler. The books were edited with Ben Harris McClary and John Leon Lievsay respectively.[41]: 106 In 1963, he edited a collection of letters and documents by William Fitzhugh.[2]: 174 In the same year, he entered the American Association for State and Local History's first manuscript competition, winning first place and a publication deal with the University of North Carolina Press.[45] The manuscript was published under the title Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia, 1790-1830 the following year, and is a study into the intellectual history of Virginia following the American Revolutionary War.[46]
Over the next few years, Davis edited several more reference works, including a monograph on colonial satire, a collection of poems by the clergyman Samuel Davies,[2]: 174 and a bibliography titled American Literature Through Bryant, 1585-1830.[41]: 106 He published three edited works in 1970: an edition of William Wirt's Letters of the British Spy, an edition of James Fenimore Cooper's The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish and a collection of Southern writing with C. Hugh Holman and Louis D. Rubin Jr.[41]: 106 In 1973, a selection of his articles and essays were published under the title Literature and Society in Early Virginia, 1608–1840.[2]: 174
Davis sat on the editorial board of the group publishing The Complete Works of Washington Irving.[47] The general editors of the group were Henry A. Pochmann, Herbert L. Kleinfeld and Richard D. Rust, and the books were published intermittently from 1969 until 1989.[48]: 338
Intellectual Life in the Colonial South
editIn 1978, Davis published Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763, a three-volume study of the Southern United States, covering topics such as religion, politics, science and literature.[49] The research for the book took over two decades to complete.[50]: 248 In 1974, Davis was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the project.[2]: 175
In 1979, Intellectual Life in the Colonial South won the history category of the National Book Awards. The prize was judged by James H. Billington, Shelby Foote and Robin Winks.[50]: 248 The citation for the award was as follows:
This ambitious and rewarding work rediscovers for modern Americans a vital regional culture, demonstrating the human richness of the Colonial South. The product of twenty-five years of exploration into neglected sources, this three-volume study will enlighten generations of readers. Not only does the book provide full information where little was previously available; it is also a work of high intellectual drama. This may be our most widely ranging inventory of a regional mind ever attempted in America. By reminding us of the validity and vitality of diverse American identities, it contributes to our understanding of ourselves. Good history must be interesting, it must be significant, and it must be true. The work of Richard Beale Davis shows all three of these qualities in abundance.[50]: 248
Davis received further accolades for the book, being awarded honorary degrees from the College of William and Mary as well as Eastern Kentucky University.[2]: 175 In 1980, he was awarded the Charles S. Sydnor Award from the Southern Historical Association.[51] He was also awarded the Outstanding Author of the Year Award from the Southeastern Library Association in 1980.[13][52]
Later works
editIn 1979, his Mercer University Lamar Memorial Lectures were published under the title A Colonial Southern Bookshelf: Reading in the Eighteenth Century.[2]: 175
At the time of his death, Davis had been writing a book on "Intellectual Life in the Revolutionary South, 1763-1790".[2]: 175 He had received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the project in 1979.[53] Davis had also been collaborating with Michael A. Lofaro and George M. Barringer on a bibliography of Southern manuscript sermons written before 1800.[54][2]: 175 Work on the project had begun in 1946 as part of the research for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South. In 2010, Lofaro published Southern Manuscript Sermons before 1800: A Bibliography, dedicating the work to Davis and noting him as one of four contributing editors.[55]
Death and legacy
editOn March 30, 1981, he died at Fort Sanders Hospital in Knoxville following a heart attack.[56][2]: 175 He is buried at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg.[57]
In 1981, the autumn edition of the Mississippi Quarterly journal was dedicated to Davis and the scholar C. Hugh Holman.[58] In 1986, J. Lasley Dameron and James W. Mathews edited a collection of essays dedicated to Davis, titled No Fairer Land: Studies in Southern Literature Before 1900.[59]: viii All the book's contributors, including its editors, had been taught by Davis.[60]: 174
In December 1983, the Modern Language Association began awarding the annual Richard Beale Davis Prize for the best article published within the journal Early American Literature.[61] Another award, the Richard Beale Davis Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service to Southern Letters, is awarded by the Society for the Study of Southern Literature every two years.[62]
Davis's papers are located in the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Tennessee.[63]
Awards and honours
edit- Guggenheim Fellowship (1946; post-service fellowship)[14]
- Folger Shakespeare Library Fellowship (1955)[2]: 174
- Doctor of Letters from Randolph–Macon College (1955)[2]: 174
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1959)[15]
- Alumni Distinguished Service Award by the University of Tennessee (1962)[2]: 174
- American Association for State and Local History Manuscript Award (1963; for Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia)[46]
- Honorary member of the Virginia Historical Society (1972)[24]
- Member of the American Antiquarian Society (1973)[2]: 175
- Festschrift upon retirement (c. 1977)[2]: 175
- Honored Scholar of the Modern Language Association's Early American Literature Group (1977)[2]: 175
- National Book Award for History (1979; for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South)[50]: 248
- Doctorate from College of William and Mary (for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South)[2]: 175
- Doctorate from Eastern Kentucky University (for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South)[2]: 175
- Southern Historical Association's Charles S. Sydnor Award (1980; for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South)[51]
- Southeastern Library Association's Outstanding Author of the Year Award (1980; for Intellectual Life in the Colonial South)[13][52]
Publications
editBooks
editTitle | Time of first publication | First edition publisher/publication | Unique identifier | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Francis Walker Gilmer: Life and Learning in Jefferson's Virginia | 1939 | Richmond, Virginia: Dietz Press | OCLC 1847322 | Biography of Francis Walker Gilmer. |
Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson and Francis Walker Gilmer, 1814-1826 | 1946 | Columbia: University of South Carolina Press | OCLC 727833 | Edited with introduction by Davis. |
George Sandys: A Bibliographical Catalogue of Printed Editions in England to 1700 | 1950 | New York: New York Public Library | OCLC 581229 | With Fredson Bowers. |
Chivers' Life of Poe | 1952 | New York: E. P. Dutton | OCLC 775268 | Written by Thomas Holley Chivers; edited with introduction by Davis. |
Jeffersonian America: Notes on the United States of America Collected in the Years 1805–6–7 and 11–12 by Sir Augustus John Foster, Bart. | 1954 | San Marino, California: The Huntington Library | OCLC 326952 | Written by Augustus Foster; edited with introduction by Davis. |
George Sandys, Poet-Adventurer: A Study in Anglo-American Culture in the Seventeenth Century | 1955 | New York: Columbia University Press | OCLC 351687 | |
American Cultural History, 1607-1829: A Facsimile reproduction of "Lectures on American Literature" (1829) by Samuel Lorenzo Knapp | 1961 | Gainesville, Florida: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints | OCLC 4028564 | Edited with introduction by Davis and Ben Harris McClary. |
Studies in Honor of John C. Hodges and Alwin Thaler | 1961 | Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press | OCLC 312082 | Edited with introduction by Davis and John Leon Lievsay. |
William Fitzhugh and His Chesapeake World, 1676-1701 | 1963 | Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press | OCLC 1154134 | Edited with introduction by Davis. |
Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia, 1790-1830 | 1964 | Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press | OCLC 6787161 | |
Collected Poems of Samuel Davies, 1723-1761 | 1968 | Gainesville, Florida: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints | OCLC 1104677842 | Edited with introduction by Davis. |
American Literature through Bryant, 1585-1830 | 1969 | New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts | OCLC 64097 | |
The Letters of the British Spy by William Wirt, Esq. | 1970 | Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press | OCLC 1199631842 | Edited with introduction by Davis. |
The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish by James Fenimore Cooper | 1970 | Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill | OCLC 100559 | Edited with introduction by Davis. |
Southern Writing, 1585-1920 | 1970 | New York: Odyssey Press | OCLC 118246 | Edited by Davis, C. Hugh Holman and Louis D. Rubin Jr.. |
Literature and Society in Early Virginia, 1608–1840 | 1973 | Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press | OCLC 668137 | Collection of articles and essays by Davis. |
Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763 | 1978 | Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press | OCLC 2798780 | Published in three volumes. |
A Colonial Southern Bookshelf: Reading in the Eighteenth Century | 1979 | Athens: University of Georgia Press | OCLC 1267411152 | |
Southern Manuscript Sermons before 1800: A Bibliography | 2010 | Knoxville: Newfound Press | OCLC 654845439 | Written by Michael A. Lofaro; Davis noted as contributing editor (posthumous). |
Selected articles and essays
editTitle | Time of publication | Journal | Volume (Issue) | Page range | Unique identifier | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Forgotten Scientists in Old Virginia" | 1938 | The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography | 46 (2) | 97–111 | JSTOR 4244852 | |
"Literary Tastes in Virginia Before Poe" | 1939 | The William and Mary Quarterly | 19 (1) | 55–68 | JSTOR 1923042 | |
"Forgotten Scientists in Georgia and South Carolina" | 1943 | The Georgia Historical Quarterly | 27 (3) | 271–284 | JSTOR 40576887 | |
"A Postscript on Thomas Jefferson and His University Professors" | 1946 | The Journal of Southern History | 12 (3) | 422–432 | JSTOR 2198224 | |
"The Abbé Correa in America, 1812-1820: The Contributions of the Diplomat and Natural Philosopher to the Foundations of Our National Life" | 1955 | Transactions of the American Philosophical Society | 45 (2) | 87–197 | JSTOR 1005770 | Monograph on José Correia da Serra. |
"The Devil in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" | 1957 | The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography | 65 (2) | 131–149 | JSTOR 4246295 | |
"Chesapeake Pattern and Pole-Star: William Fitzhugh in His Plantation World, 1676-1701" | 1961 | Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society | 105 (6) | 525–529 | JSTOR 985162 | |
"The Colonial Virginia Satirist: Mid-Eighteenth-Century Commentaries on Politics, Religion, and Society" | 1967 | Transactions of the American Philosophical Society | 57 (1) | 1–74 | JSTOR 1006008 | Monograph; edited with introduction by Davis. |
Review: Of Two Virginia Gentlemen and Their McGuire's University School: Richmond, Virginia, 1865-1942 | 1972 | The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography | 80 (4) | 501–503 | JSTOR 4247761 |
References
edit- ^ Greene, Jack P. (1982). "The Southern Colonial Mind and American Culture". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 12 (3): 516. doi:10.2307/203273. ISSN 0022-1953. JSTOR 203273. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Lemay, Leo (1981). "Obituary: Richard Beale Davis". Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. 91 (2). Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Rubin Jr., Louis D. (1983). "Scholarship in Southern Literature: Its History and Recent Developments". American Studies International. 21 (2): 3–34. ISSN 0883-105X. JSTOR 41278686. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ a b Riddick, Roland P. (1937). "Virginia Conference". General Minutes and Yearbook for 1936-37. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "A Guide to the Papers of the Davis Family, 1852-1937". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ "Lois Camp Bullard is Bride of Dr. Richard Beale Davis". The Virginian-Pilot. August 30, 1936. Part 3, p. 4. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
- ^ Davis, Richard Beale (October 1972). "Review: Of Two Virginia Gentlemen and Their McGuire's University School: Richmond, Virginia, 1865-1942". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 80 (4): 501–503. JSTOR 4247761. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "The Faculty". Bulletin: State Teachers College. 23 (3): 10. April 1937. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Authors of Papers in This Issue". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 37 (3): 235. 1943. doi:10.1086/pbsa.37.3.24294823. ISSN 0006-128X. JSTOR 24294823. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Notes and News". South Atlantic Bulletin. 10 (4): 16. 1945. ISSN 0038-2868. JSTOR 3196927. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Last Navy Men to Leave Today". The Current Sauce. 33 (12): 2. January 12, 1946. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Notes and News". School and Society. 64 (1646): 25. July 13, 1946. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Wright, Nathalia (September 1981). "Richard Beale Davis: A Tribute". The Library Development Program Report, 1980-81: 22. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b "Historical News". The American Historical Review. 51 (2): 409. 1946. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 1839634. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b "Historical News and Notices". The Journal of Southern History. 25 (3): 418. 1959. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2954786. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Rubin Jr., Louis D. (1955). "American Calendar". American Quarterly. 7 (2): 205–210. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 2710710. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "American Calendar". American Quarterly. 10 (1): 93–96. 1958. ISSN 0003-0678. JSTOR 2710184. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Regional Advisory Boards". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 52 (3): 228. 1958. ISSN 0006-128X. JSTOR 24299800. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ VanWingen, Peter M. (1983). "Minutes of the Bibliographical Society of America Annual Meeting, 1983". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 77 (2): 255–257. doi:10.1086/pbsa.77.2.24302640. JSTOR 24302640. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Creed, Howard (1960). "Southern Humanities Conference". South Atlantic Bulletin. 25 (3): 17. ISSN 0038-2868. JSTOR 3197056. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Duffey, Frank M. (1960). "Southern Humanities Conference". South Atlantic Bulletin. 26 (1): 14. ISSN 0038-2868. JSTOR 3196350. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "SSSL Notes". The Mississippi Quarterly. 21 (4): 290. 1968. ISSN 0026-637X. JSTOR 26473750. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "SSSL Notes". The Mississippi Quarterly. 22 (1): 58. 1968. ISSN 0026-637X. JSTOR 26473890. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b Johnston, J. Ambler (1973). "Proceedings of the Virginia Historical Society: In Annual Meeting, January 22, 1973". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 81 (2): 239. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4247807. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Founding Members of The Nathaniel Hawthorne Society". The Nathaniel Hawthorne Society Newsletter. 1 (2): 3–4. 1975. ISSN 0162-9824. JSTOR 44696986. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Census of Hawthorne Courses". The Nathaniel Hawthorne Society Newsletter. 3 (1): 5. 1977. ISSN 0162-9824. JSTOR 44698582. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Tennessee". South Atlantic Bulletin. 30 (3): 3. 1965. ISSN 0038-2868. JSTOR 3197849. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Richard Beale Davis Dies" (PDF). The Key Reporter. 46 (3): 8. 1981. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "South Atlantic Modern Language Association". PMLA. 67 (1): 182. 1952. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 459988. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ McAllister, Quentin Oliver (1953). "South Atlantic Modern Language Association". PMLA. 68 (2): 74. doi:10.1632/S003081290006867X. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 2699129. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Officers and Members of the Executive Committee: 1928-1986". South Atlantic Review. 51 (4): 150. 1986. ISSN 0277-335X. JSTOR 3199580. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Committee and Executive Appointments". South Atlantic Bulletin. 42 (3): 40. 1977. ISSN 0038-2868. JSTOR 3199041. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Emerson, Everett (1967). "Minutes". Early American Literature Newsletter. 2 (1): 5. ISSN 0739-8301. JSTOR 25056235. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Emerson, Everett (1969). "A Report on the Early American Literature Group of the Modern Language Association". Early American Literature. 4 (1): 74–76. ISSN 0012-8163. JSTOR 25070410. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Bruccoli, Matthew J. (1971). "A Few Missing Words". PMLA. 86 (4): 589. doi:10.2307/461063. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 461063. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Professional Notes and Comment". PMLA. 85 (3): 570. 1970. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 1261457. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b Davis, Richard Beale (August 1946). "A Postscript on Thomas Jefferson and His University Professors". The Journal of Southern History. 12 (3): 422–432. doi:10.2307/2198224. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2198224. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "The Life, Letters, and Essays of Francis Walker Gilmer: A Study in Virginia Literary Culture in the First Quarter of the Nineteenth Century". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ a b Malone, Dumas (1946). "Review: Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson and Francis Walker Gilmer, 1814-1826". The William and Mary Quarterly. 3 (4). doi:10.2307/1921914. hdl:2027/mdp.39015013289510. ISSN 0043-5597. JSTOR 1921914. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Clark, G. Glenwood (1940). "Review: Francis Walker Gilmer: Life and Learning in Jefferson's Virginia". The William and Mary Quarterly. 20 (2). doi:10.2307/1922688. ISSN 0043-5597. JSTOR 1922688. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Arner, Robert D. (1977). "A Tribute to Professor Richard Beale Davis". Early American Literature. 12 (2): 105–106. ISSN 0012-8163. JSTOR 25070824. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ Gordon Jr., Armistead C. (June 22, 1952). "On Poe's Coattail". The New York Times. Section BR, p. 4. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ Malone, Dumas (August 22, 1954). "He Liked Connecticut Best". The New York Times. Section BR, p. 3. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ Freeman, John Finley (1962). "Manuscript Sources on Latin American Indians in the Library of the American Philosophical Society". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 106 (6): 537. ISSN 0003-049X. JSTOR 985259. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Association Awards $1000 Manuscript Prize to Richard B. Davis". History News. 18 (12): 182. October 1963. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b "The Old Dominion's Aristocracy in Its Finest Hour". The New York Times. May 17, 1964. Section BR, p. 22. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
- ^ Gibson, William M.; Cady, Edwin H. (1963). "Editions of American Writers, 1963: A Preliminary Survey". PMLA. 78 (4): 5. doi:10.2307/2699171. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 2699171. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Rust, Richard D. (1997). "The Complete Works of Washington Irving: "A Retrospective"". Text. 10: 338–350. ISSN 0736-3974. JSTOR 30228067. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Walker, Jeffrey B. (1980). "Review: Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763". Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. 34 (4): 275. doi:10.2307/1347413. JSTOR 1347413. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "News Notes". Early American Literature. 14 (2): 248–249. 1979. JSTOR 25070943.
- ^ a b "Historical News and Notices". The Journal of Southern History. 47 (1): 154. February 1981. JSTOR 2207102. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ a b "The Second SELA Outstanding Author Award". The Southeastern Librarian. 30 (3): 128. 1980. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Richard Beale Davis, 1979–1980". National Humanities Center. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Professional Notes and Comment". PMLA. 95 (4): 710–722. 1980. doi:10.1632/S0030812900145213. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 461752. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Lofaro, Michael A. (2010). Southern Manuscript Sermons before 1800: A Bibliography. Knoxville: Newfound Press. pp. v–ix. ISBN 978-0-9797292-6-3. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Ex-professor from UT dies". The Jackson Sun. March 31, 1981. p. 9. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
- ^ "R. B. Davis, Author, Succumbs". Richmond Times-Dispatch. April 9, 1981. B2. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
- ^ "Front Matter". Mississippi Quarterly. 34 (4). 1981. JSTOR 26474871. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Dameron, J. Lasley; Mathews, James W. (1986). No Fairer Land: Studies in Southern Literature Before 1900. Whitston Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-87875-305-5. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ Rubin, Louis D. (1986). "Review of No Fairer Land: Studies in Southern Literature before 1900". Early American Literature. 21 (2). ISSN 0012-8163. JSTOR 25056623. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ Emerson, Everett (1983). "Some Words about the Past, the Present, the Future". Early American Literature. 18 (2): 218. JSTOR 25056516. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Richard Beale Davis Award". Society for the Study of Southern Literature. February 11, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Collection: Richard Beale Davis Papers". The University of Tennessee Libraries. Retrieved September 14, 2023.