Form Letter to All Possible Candidates for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in June or August 1954 from Bessie A. Ring, 1953 December 7

The subseries is comprised of papers from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s classes, documents about doctoral graduation requirements, and materials pertaining to his dissertation. There are class notes, exam questions, vocabulary words, an outline of a paper, and a syllabus. Also included is the registrar’s letter and transcript from Harvard University regarding King’s credits for “Philosophy of Plato: Introductory” and “The Philosophy of Whitehead”, regulations for Ph.D. students in Systematic Theology, and letters from the registrar describe prerequisites, outline of study, language examinations, required readings, dissertation guidelines, formal degree requirements, and related instructions. In an incomplete, annotated draft of King’s dissertation and the subsequent printed abstract, King compares the conceptions of God put forth by Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman. The subseries also includes a letter from Wieman about King’s dissertation research and his manuscript about spiritual values and problem of religion in education. Additionally, there are programs from the graduation ceremony where King received his doctorate, a paper by Thomas Pugh for the Dialectical Society King participated in, and letter from Crozer Theological Seminary regarding his fellowship grant for 1951-1952.