Henry Nelson Snyder (January 14, 1865 – September 18, 1949) was an American

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

educator and author. He served as president of

Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the America ...

from 1902 until his retirement in 1942.

Early life

Henry Nelson Snyder was born on January 14, 1865, in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

.''The Spartanburg Herald'', Monday, September 18, 1949, pp 1-2 He attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, where he was a member of the

Chi Phi Fraternity Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest of these organizations was for ...

, graduating in 1887. He also studied at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, Germany earned Snyder a Ph.D.

Career

Snyder taught Latin at his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, from 1887 to 1890. He arrived in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in September 1890 to become professor of English literature. In 1902, he succeeded James H. Carlisle as president of

. Snyder was a member of the

Methodist Episcopal Church South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

Joint Commission, in which capacity he argued in favour of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

. Snyder served on the Board of Trustees of Spartanburg Junior College from its inception in 1911 until his death and was chairman of that board several times. He served on the Methodist unification commission as well the joint hymnal commission. A

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

, Snyder was a member of the Modern Language Association and the Religious Education Association Snyder's autobiography, ''An Educational Odyssey'', was published in 1947.

Personal life

He married Lula Eubanks (1867-1956). Their only child Hugh McCrea Snyder pre-deceased his parents, dying in 1936.

Death

He died at the Mary Black Hospital at the age of 84 on September 18, 1949, one day short of the fifty-ninth anniversary of his arrival in Spartanburg. After funeral services at the Wofford College Chapel (now known as the Leonard Auditorium, in the Old Main building), Dr. Snyder was buried in Oakwood Cemetery,

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

Selected bibliography

* 1906 -- ''The Denominational College in Southern Education.'' Nashville, TN: Board of Education, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Reprint from the January 1906 issue of ''The South Atlantic Quarterly''
OCLC 6157055
* 1906 -- ''Sidney Lanier — A Study of Interpretation.'' New York: Eaton and Mains and Cincinnati, OH: Jennings & Graham. Part of the ''Modern poets and Christian teaching'' series
OCLC 5841515
* 1911 -- ''Selections from the Old Testament.'' Edited with an introduction and notes by Dr. Snyder. Nashville, TN: Cokesbury Press, 1927. Part of the ''Standard English Classics'' series
OCLC 557574597
* 1926 -- ''The Persistence of Spiritual Ideals in English Letters.'' New York: Eaton and Mains and Cincinnati, OH: Jennings & Graham. Part of ''The Fondren Lectures of 1926'' series
OCLC 5842234
* 1939 -- ''On Being Frontier-minded.'' Gainesville, FL: University of Florida. The

David Levy Yulee David Levy Yulee (born David Levy; June 12, 1810 – October 10, 1886) was an American politician and attorney. Born on the island of St. Thomas, then under British control, he was of Sephardic Jewish ancestry: His father was a Sephardi from Mo ...

lecture
OCLC 427886840
* 1947 -- ''An Educational Odyssey.'' New York and Nashville, TN: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press.
OCLC 2760583
The publisher reprinted re-issued this work in 1957.
OCLC 702564938
The original typescript manuscript ''An Educational Odyssey: the Autobiography of Henry Nelson Snyder'' by Henry Nelson Snyder, President Emeritus of Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina containing corrections by the author and the press is in the

archives, Sandor Teszler Library
OCLC 698377619

References

External links

* This record is not in the famous section of Find a Grave. You must search all Find a Grave records to find it.
Wofford Quintessential Chronology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Henry N History of Methodism in the United States People from Bibb County, Georgia Writers from Macon, Georgia University of Göttingen alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Presidents of Wofford College American Latinists 19th-century American writers 19th-century Methodists 20th-century American writers 20th-century Methodists 1865 births 1949 deaths Southern Methodists 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers