Robert Selph Henry
{{Short description|American lawyer, railroad executive and historian}}
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| name = Robert Selph Henry
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| birth_date = October 20, 1889
| birth_place = Clifton, Tennessee, U.S.
| death_date = August 19, 1970
| death_place = Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
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| alma mater = Vanderbilt University
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| occupation = Lawyer, businessman, historian
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Colonel Robert Selph Henry (October 20, 1889 – August 19, 1970) was an American lawyer, railroad executive and historian. He was an executive of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway from 1921 to 1934, and the vice president of the Association of American Railroads from 1934 to 1958. He was the author of several books about the history of the Southern United States, including the American Civil War and the Mexican–American War, as well as railroads. He was the 1957 president of the Southern Historical Association. A veteran of World War I, he was a reservist until his 1952 retirement as a colonel.
Early life
Robert Selph Henry was born on October 20, 1889, in Clifton, Tennessee.{{cite web|title=Robert Selph Henry Papers, 1861–1971|url=http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vt/viblbv01184.xml|website=Virginia Tech|accessdate=March 7, 2017}}{{cite news|title=Virginia News Briefs|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/22868052/?terms=%22Robert%2BSelph%2BHenry%22|accessdate=March 7, 2017|work=The Danville Register|date=August 19, 1970|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=6}} He graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he earned an L.L.B. in 1910 and a BA in 1911. During World War I, he served as a Captain of Field Artillery in the United States Army.
Career
Henry started his career as a journalist in Nashville from 1907 to 1913. He was a secretary to Tennessee Governor Ben W. Hooper from 1913 to 1915. He practised the law in Nashville from 1915 to 1921.
Henry was Director of Public Relations for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway from 1921 to 1928; Assistant to the Vice President of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railrway from 1928 to 1934; and vice president of the Association of American Railroads from 1934 to 1958.{{cite news|title=Retired Railway Executive Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/65384923/?terms=%22Robert%2BSelph%2BHenry%22|accessdate=March 7, 2017|work=San Antonio Express|date=August 19, 1970|page=47|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
Henry was the author of several books about the American Civil War, the Mexican–American War and the railroad industry. He was the president of the Southern Historical Association in 1957.
Henry served on the board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University. He was also the president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association.
Henry served in the United States Army Reserve until his retirement as Colonel in 1952.
Personal life and death
With his wife Lura Temple, Henry had two daughters. He died on August 19, 1970, in Alexandria, Virginia, and he was buried in Nashville.
Henry's brother, Douglas "Duck" Henry, was a member of the Tennessee Senate.
Works
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=Trains|date=1934|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|location=Indianapolis|oclc=24002261}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=The Story of the Confederacy|date=1937|publisher=Grosset & Dunlap|location=New York|oclc=560875954}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=The Story of Reconstruction|date=1938|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|location=Indianapolis|oclc=2511368}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=First with the Most: Nathan Bedford Forrest|date=1944|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|location=Indianapolis}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=This Fascinating Railroad Business|date=1946|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|location=Indianapolis|oclc=1616925}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=As They Saw Forrest: Some Recollections And Comments Of Contemporaries|date=1956|publisher=McCowat-Mercer Press|location=Jackson, Tennessee}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=The Story of the Mexican war|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofmexicanwa00henr|url-access=registration|date=1961|publisher=F. Ungar Publishing Co.|location=New York}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|title=The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Its First Century, 1862–1962|date=1964|publisher=Department of the Army|location=Washington, D.C.|oclc=753084717}}
- {{cite book|editor-last1=Donovan|editor-first1=Frank P.|editor-last2=Henry|editor-first2=Robert Selph|title=Headlights and Markers: An Anthology Of Railroad Stories|date=1968|publisher=Golden West Books|location=San Marino, California}}
- {{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Robert Selph|last2=Kuhler|first2=Otto|authorlink2=Otto Kuhler|title=Portraits Of The Iron Horse: The American Locomotive In Pictures and Story|date=1976|publisher=Sunstone Press|location=Santa Fe, New Mexico|oclc=918475638}}
References
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Category:People from Wayne County, Tennessee
Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Vanderbilt University alumni
Category:United States Army personnel of World War I
Category:Businesspeople from Tennessee
Category:20th-century American railroad executives
Category:20th-century American historians
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:United States Army reservists
Category:United States Army colonels