The papers of Thomas W. Graham consist largely of his sermon outlines, prepared between 1916 and ca. 1945.  There is very little material in this small collection relating to Graham's personal life or to his varied professional career.  Papers documenting Graham's tenure as Dean of the Graduate School of Theology (1923-48) are located in Record Group 10.  In this collection, there is one folder of memoranda and miscellaneous papers pertaining to the Theological Seminary, which includes a report by Dean Graham to the Board of Trustees (n.d.) and responses to it.

Worship bulletins and newspaper clippings indirectly document Graham's pastorate in Minneapolis (1912-20) and his demand as a public speaker and preacher.  Graham's correspondence (1919-54), both personal and professional in nature, dates from his residency in Oberlin and Greenwich, Connecticut.  Included are letters of appointment and welcome (1920) from President Henry Churchill King (1858-1934), as well as letters from the Reed-Smith Company of Minneapolis regarding Graham's land investments in Saskatchewan (1919-23).  Other correspondents include parents, former students, field workers and missionaries in China, Burma, and Japan, various Y.M.C.A. officials, and editors of religious periodicals.  Graham's outgoing correspondence, consisting of file copies, mainly concerns his mortgage payments and the settlement of other financial accounts.

Items of a distinctly personal nature include a small group of family and travel photographs (1935-45, n.d.), appointment books (1928, 1929, 1934), and a portrait album (1907) commemorating Graham's 1907 McCormick Seminary graduating.

Series I.  Correspondence, 1919-54, n.d.  .4 l.f.

Organized into two subseries: 1.  Incoming Correspondence; and 2. Outgoing Correspondence.  Within subseries, correspondence is chronologically arranged.

Series II.  Writings, 1916-67, n.d.  2.40 l.f.

Organized by genre into three subseries:  1. Books; 2. Lectures and Talks; and 3. Sermon Outlines.  Within subseries, materials are arranged chronologically.  In Subseries 3, sermon outlines are housed individually in labeled envelopes and arranged in numerical order with some gaps evident in the numbering. 

Series III.  Miscellany, 1896, 1907, 1916-60, n.d.  .6 l.f.

Appointment books, portrait album, newspaper clippings (original and photocopy), and miscellaneous printed materials pertaining to Graham's preaching and teaching career.  Arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Series IV.  Photographs, 1935-45, n.d.  .2 l.f.

Black and white photographs of family and travel scenes, arranged into three envelopes.  Most are undated and unidentified.

The bulk of these papers were received under deed of gift from Beatrice Graham in 1974.  Two earlier accessions were transferred to the Archives in 1966 and 1967 from the basement of Bosworth Hall, home of the Graduate School of Theology.

Consult the correspondence files of Presidents Henry Churchill King (2/4) and Ernest Hatch Wilkins (2/5) for further information on Graham's tenure as seminary dean.  See also Record Group 11, Records of the Graduate School of Theology, for additional correspondence of Dean Graham.