Claude E. Holmes Collection (Collection 291)

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PLEASE NOTE: The Center for Adventist Research has chosen to digitize and share two boxes of this collection with the Adventist Digital Library. A third box exists and has not been digitized or shared here. Please contact the Center for Adventist Research with questions regarding additional Holmes Collection material.

Scope and Content
Claude E. Holmes was born on May 17, 1881, at Fayette, Iowa. In 1901,
Holmes graduated from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, and joined the staff of the
Review and Herald Publishing Association in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he worked
as a linotype operator. He came to the Review with nearly an encyclopedic knowledge
of Ellen G. White and her writings. He remained at the Review until 1919 when he was
fired from his position due to his attitude toward denomination leadership over
theological issues.
These issues involved the matter of inerrancy in the writings of Ellen G. White.
He held that White received messages from Heaven and wrote them word for word as
given to her and any changes were wrong and went against divine will. In other words
Holmes held to the concept of verbal inspiration. This put him in conflict with General
Conference President A. G. Daniells, W. W. Prescott, and other church leaders who
were wrestling with the role of Ellen White and her messages following her death in
1915. Most of them accepted the concept of thought inspiration. Holmes stated his
positions vigorously and caustically which alienated him from most people. He was
caught copying closed Ellen White manuscripts and letters. He threatened to “expose”
Daniells and others by publishing letters of counsel they received from Ellen White
which at that time were not publically available. In 1919 he was fired from the Review
and Herald Publishing Association.
Holmes moved to northern Illinois where he worked as a part-time printer for a
number of years. During these years, especially the 1920s, he carried on extensive
correspondence with church leaders about his concerns.
On August 13, 1945, Holmes married Helen Taylor Jewell. In the following years
he experienced declining health until he died in Florida on June 10, 1953.
Holmes spent much of his life writing. For a year he was associate
editor of Liberty magazine. He wrote for other denominational magazines and for a
number of secular publications. His favorite field of study and writing, outside of
inerrancy of the Spirit of Prophecy, was religious liberty. In 1936 he received a
commendation from the director general of the U. S. Constitution Sesquicentennial
Commission, at Washington, D. C., for his compilation of citations on the United States
Constitution.
He had one book published, in 1938, on the subject, "Imperiled Democracy," by
the Southern Publishing Association. He published a number of tracts and small
publications as well as articles.