Portrait of James H. Otey

  • Creator: William Browning Cooper (1811-1900)
  • Title: Portrait of James H. Otey
  • Date: ca. 1855
  • Description: Portrait of a dark-haired, stern-faced man of middle age, wearing clerical clothing consisting of a white smock with billowing sleeves and a black neck sash draped over the shoulders.
  • Historical Note: James Hervey Otey (1800-1863) was the first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee. While living in Columbia, Tennessee, he helped organize the Ashwood Episcopal Church and the Columbia Female Institute with his close friend Leonidas Polk. Polk and his several brothers, cousins of President James K. Polk, were prominent and wealthy plantation owners in the Ashwood district outside of Columbia. Leonidas Polk, who was serving as Bishop of the Southwest Territory and living in Louisiana, enlisted Otey in founding the University of the South in 1857. Neither man lived to see the opening of the university where they had hoped to provide a classical education for young southern gentlemen.
  • Institution: Tennessee State Museum
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the Tennessee State Museum.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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