Colby Dixon Hall and Beatrice Tomlinson Hall Papers

Colby D. Hall (1875-1963) was a Disciples of Christ educator, historian, and minister. He was born in Madisonville, Kentucky in 1875. Hall completed his undergraduate theological studies at Add Ran University (now TCU) in Waco. He entered Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, as a junior, and graduated with a BA in 1902. Hall earned a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Columbia University in New York in 1904. he returned to Texas and began serving as pastor in Hillsboro until 1906, when he became the educational secretary for TCU. In 1909, the new University Christian Church in Waco called on Hall to be their first full-time pastor. After TCU relocated to Fort Worth, Hall became a professor of Bible and social service, while serving as part-time pastor of the new University Christian Church from 1912 to 1917. In 1914, Brite College of the Bible chose Hall as dean, a position he held until 1947. He also served as dean of the university from 1920 to 1943. Hall continued to serve as a professor of religious history until he retired in 1950 at age seventy-five. He died in 1963.

Beatrice Tomlinson was born in Hillsboro, Texas in 1887. Her father, T.E. Tomlinson, served on the TCU Board of Trustees. She was an active student while at TCU in Waco. She was a member of the Shirley Literary Society, the drama club, was vice president and president of the YWCA, an associate editor of the Skiff, secretary of the student body, and a junior scholarship winner. She graduated in 1908 with a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature. Beatrice married Colby Hall in 1909. She later served on the Christian Women's Board of Missions of the Disciples of Christ and the Faculty Women's Club of TCU. She died in 1965.

The Halls had two children, Dr. Colby Hall, Jr. and Dr. Bita May Hall, who taught French at TCU.