This collection relates to the professional life of history professor Walter McGehee Lowrey. This includes research notes, writings and speeches, Centenary College of Louisiana material, and Louisiana United Methodist material.

Series 1: Research notes (1818-1989) contains seven indexes of notecards as well as additional folders with notes. Index Box 1 contains Centenary College of Louisiana and predecessor institutions’ board of trustees members (1825-1989). Index Box 2 contains Centenary College of Louisiana’s Fulbright, Rhodes, and Rotary student scholars (1949-1988), honorary degree recipients (1851-1985), board of trustees members (1825-1846), and donors/donations (1907-1968). Index Box 3 contains notes about Centenary College of Louisiana from New Orleans Christian Advocate newspapers (1851-1919), Centenary College commencement (1851-1911), Homer College and Mt. Lebanon College (1855-1883). Index Box 4 contains notes about articles appearing in the New Orleans Christian Advocate grouped as follows: people and places (1874, 1893, 1910, and 1913), German Missions (1851-1890), Mexican Missions (1872-1874), Northern Methodism/Negro Methodism/Race Relations (1854-1918), Louisiana places (1851-1944), New Orleans (1851-1918), Shreveport (1851-1931). A separate index contains Louisiana Methodist history and general topics on Louisiana Methodism (1851-1935) including: General Conference, Publishing House, Women’s Missionary Society, New Orleans Christian Advocate history, Board of Education, Orphanage, Richmond Nolley, Tobias Gibson, Missionaries, and Bishop Keener. Also contains General Topic index (1851-1928) which includes the following subjects: yellow fever, Moody and Sankey, description and travel, and Frances Willard. Index Box 5 contains a New Orleans Christian Advocate obituary index (1874, 1893, 1910, and 1913), and a New Orleans Christian Advocate partial index of obituaries and marriage notices for Caddo and Bossier parishes (1851-1874). Index Box 6 contains notes about Mansfield Female College from New Orleans Christian Advocate newspapers (1854-1936). Index Box 7 contains College of Louisiana professors, teachers, and tutors (1825-1845). For material dated after 1980, it appears librarians continued to update these indexes. Additional folders include information on Centenary College of Louisiana (general topics, commencement, and history), 18th and 19th century music, Mansfield Female College, and the Methodist Church in the 1800s. These folders include notes, minutes, speeches, articles from the New Orleans Christian Advocate, and correspondence.

Series 2: Writings and Speeches (1966-1979) contains writings and speeches covering the topics of Centenary College of Louisiana, the treatment of drug addiction at the Shreveport Clinic led by Dr. Willis Butler, historical records and preservation, “Upton Sinclair and the Epic Plan”, Man and Medicine, and Bicentennial music.

Series 3: Centenary College of Louisiana (1966-1978) contains material including reports from a self-study committee (1973-1975), printed items from events that Lowrey spoke at, postcards, and correspondence.

Series 4: Louisiana United Methodism (1965-1980) contains information on the Louisiana Commission on Archives and History including correspondence and research requests fielded by Lowrey using material in the conference archives.