The Episcopal Bishops Collection, 1858-1956, contains letters and other materials from bishops of the Episcopal Church. While the majority of the bishops represented in this collection are from the Tennessee Diocese, clergy from North Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia are also included. Most of the envelopes and letters are addressed to a representative of the library at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Mass., where the Right Rev. Dr. Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts, maintained a collection of autograph letters from Episcopal bishops throughout the country. This collection represents a portion of that collection.

The material on James Hervey Otey, the first bishop of Tennessee, stands out for its content. On a two-sided, undated manuscript page, Otey states that perhaps one of the most singular & pernicious mistakes which men have ever made is that of supposing that the truths of religion are above the comprehension of a child. A 10-page letter from Otey to a Mr. Wharton, dated April 19, 1858, also sheds light on Otey's religious interpretations. Otey speaks of the religious press ("I find that the Editor of our church papers are governed much in the same manner as the Conductor of the secular or political press, through by a different class of motives & for other objects"). He continues by discussing the laws of the church and the church's powers within the construct of the American political system, saying "the Episcopate whatever may be [have been?] its original functions, has so far restricted itself as to be limited to the express powers of the law."