Bruce Ryburn Payne

Bruce Ryburn Payne was born on February 18, 1874, in Catawba County, North Carolina.[1][2] His father, Jordan Nathaniel Payne, was a Methodist minister and teacher.[1] His mother was Barbara Anne Eliza Warlick.[1]

Payne was educated at the Patton School in Morganton, North Carolina, graduating in 1892.[1][2] He graduated from Duke University in 1896.[1][2] He received a master's degree from Duke University in 1902 and a PhD from Columbia University in 1904.[1]

Payne taught at the Morganton Academy from 1896 to 1899, when he became superintendent for the county.[2] He taught Latin and Greek at Durham High School in Durham, North Carolina, from 1899 to 1902.[2]

Payne taught philosophy at the College of William & Mary from 1904 to 1905.[1][2] He taught at the University of Virginia from 1905 to 1911.[1][2] While he was at UVA, he created the summer school.[2]

Payne served as the founding President of Peabody College in Nashville Tennessee from 1911 to 1937.[1] He raised funds for the construction of the buildings and hired the initial faculty.[1] He used the telephone to communicate with faculty and staff.[2]

Payne married Lula Carr on December 7, 1897.[2] They had a son, Maxwell Carr Payne.[1]

Payne died of a heart attack on April 21, 1937, in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] His funeral was conducted by Methodist Bishop Costen Jordan Harrell,[1] and he was buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery on April 23, 1937.[3] In 1957, Peabody College dedicated a building on the north end of its campus to Dr. Payne, now called Payne Hall. Decades later, in 1979, Peabody College was acquired by Vanderbilt University.

• The Ethical Standard and Its Educational Implications (1903).[4]
• Public Elementary School Curricula: A Comparative Study of Representative Cities of the United States, England, Germany and France. (New York: Silver, Burdett, 1905).[5]
• Common Words Commonly Misspelt (Richmond, Atlanta: B.F. Johnson Pub. Co., 1910).[6]
• Southern Prose and Poetry for Schools (with Edwin Mims; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910).[7]
• Five Years of High School Progress in Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1911).[8]
• The Payne-Garrison Speller (with Sidney Clarence Garrison; New York, Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1931).[9]