The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

Major Autobiographical and Biographical Studies Relating to Ellen G. White

Autobiographical Accounts

The earliest biographical account of Ellen White is her own introductory article entitled “Experience and Views,” appearing in the July 21, 1851, Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Extra, and reprinted the next month in her first book, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.: James White, 1851), pp. 3-9. It begins with her conversion experience and introduction to Millerism, and then describes the receiving and sharing of her first visions up to 1846. 1EGWLM 22.1

Apart from ongoing reports of meetings and travels in the Review, Ellen White's first extended autobiography was published in 1860 as Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2]. My Christian Experience, Views and Labors in Connection With the Rise and Progress of the Third Angel's Message (Battle Creek, Mich.: James White, 1860). It consisted of 299 pages (expanded to 304 pages after its first printing), including four pages of “testimonies” from persons attesting to the accuracy of her account. Manuscripts 9 and 10, 1859 [c. 1859], included in this volume, are believed to be part of Ellen White's draft documents for this account. 1EGWLM 22.2

Between January 6 and May 11, 1876, a 15-part series appeared in the Signs of the Times periodical, entitled “Mrs. Ellen G. White: Her Life, Christian Experience, and Labors.” Edited by her husband, James, the series was drawn from the Spiritual Gifts account, but with editorial variations and some expansion. Four years later saw the publication of Life Sketches. Ancestry, Early Life, Christian Experience, and Extensive Labors, of Elder James White, and His Wife, Mrs. Ellen G. White (Battle Creek, Mich.: Steam Press, 1880), again drawn from Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], with yet additional editorial revisions. Life Sketches was reprinted and expanded in 1888 (Battle Creek, Mich.: Steam Press, 1888), with only minor changes in Ellen White's account. 1EGWLM 22.3

In 1885, when the first 30 Testimonies for the Church were reprinted as four numbered volumes, volume 1 opened with an autobiographical sketch (pp. 9-112) that took the reader from Ellen White's birth in 1827 to the death of James in 1881 (Testimonies for the Church [Oakland, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1885], vol. 1). It served as a primary source—along with the Spiritual Gifts (1860) and Life Sketches (1880, 1888) accounts—for the narrative published shortly after her death in 1915 by members of her office staff, entitled Life Sketches of Ellen G. White (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1915). The working manuscript for Life Sketches also incorporated material gathered from interviews with Ellen White during the closing years of her life (see “Life Sketches” manuscript on www.egwwritings.org). 1EGWLM 22.4

One further narrative—the last formal autobiographical account undertaken by Ellen White—may be found in Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists (Basel, Switz.: Imprimerie Polyglotte, 1886), pp. 159-249. As the title suggests, the pages record “Notes of Travel” by Ellen White during the first part of her two-year visit to Europe in 1885-1887. 1EGWLM 23.1

Major Biographical Works

The most comprehensive biography of Ellen White to date is the six-volume series entitled Ellen G. White, by Arthur L. White (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1981-1986). The author, Ellen White's grandson, published its last two volumes first (covering the years 1900-1915), because of his interest in interviewing persons still living who knew Ellen White and because issues occurring in the church at the beginning of the twentieth century had “particular relevance to the church at present.” In 2000 a one-volume abridgment of the six volumes was published as Ellen White: Woman of Vision (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1982, 2000). 1EGWLM 23.2

Other volumes treat Ellen White's life with narrower focus. Her two years in Europe are chronicled in D. A. Delafield's Ellen G. White in Europe: 1885-1887 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1975). Eleven symposium papers presented on the occasion of the centennial of her European visit are collected in Ellen G. White and Europe: 1885/1887 (Bracknell, Berkshire, England: Newbold College, 1987). 1EGWLM 23.3

Dudley M. Canright, a contemporary of Ellen White and a former Seventh-day Adventist, published a critique of her life soon after her death that still forms the basis for the majority of modern criticisms, entitled Life of Mrs. E. G. White: Seventh-day Adventist Prophet, Her False Claims Refuted (Cincinnati: Standard Pub. Co., 1919). (For Adventist responses, see F. D. Nichol, Ellen G. White and Her Critics [Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1951] and Jud Lake, Ellen White Under Fire [Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 2010]). 1EGWLM 23.4

Ronald L. Numbers examined Ellen White's life from the perspective of her role as health reformer in Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, third ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2008). The Ellen G. White Estate prepared a response entitled “A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health” (Takoma Park, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1976, 2008) (www.whiteestate.org/issues/Prophetess-of-Health.pdf). 1EGWLM 23.5

Two of George R. Knight's four introductory volumes on Ellen White deal primarily with biographical history: Meeting Ellen White (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1996) and Walking With Ellen White (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1999). A third volume in the series, Ellen White's World (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1998), looks at the historical times in which Ellen White lived, as does The World of Ellen G. White (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1987), edited by Gary Land. 1EGWLM 23.6

Herbert E. Douglass's Messenger of the Lord (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press, 1998), though not a biography, is still the most comprehensive work covering her life, works, and message. 1EGWLM 24.1

Notable Encyclopedia Articles and Specialized Studies

Extensive biographical articles may be found in the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Don F. Neufeld, ed., rev. ed. [Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1996], 2 vols.), s.v. “White, Ellen Gould (Harmon),” and in the Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon, eds. [Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 2013]). 1EGWLM 24.2

For specialized studies regarding more focused topics related to Ellen White's life, the reader is referred to the numerous dissertations, theses, and research papers cited within the annotation footnotes. 1EGWLM 24.3