The collection consists of a transcript of a commencement address given by Senator John K. Shields in 1913 at Maryville College.
Click here for the Guide to the papers of John K. Shields, mpa.152 / ms.0262. Collection location: row 11, box 26.
John Knight Shields was born on August 15, 1858 at his parents’ estate called “Clinchdale” located close to the early pioneer settlement of Bean’s Station in Tennessee. His early education was provided by tutors. He studied law and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1879.
Shields served as an Associate Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1902 to 1910. He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee from 1910 to 1913. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1912 and re-elected in 1918. Shields was unsuccessful in his 1924 bid for re-election. Senator Shields served on the Committee on Canadian Relations (63rd and 64th Congresses), the Committee on Interoceanic Canals (65th Congress), and the Committee on Transportation and Sale of Meat Products (66th Congress). After his time in the Senate, Shields returned to Tennessee to practice law in Knoxville. He died at his Clinchdale country estate near Knoxville, Tennessee on September 30, 1934.