The name of Tomas Wharton Phillips, (1835-1912), occurs quite frequently in the history of the Disciples of Christ. Probably his family name is best known by its association with Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma. There has also been a renewed interest in him through the recent completion of the "T.W. Phillips Memorial Library" in Nashville, Tennessee, now the headquarters of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. This general interst generated into a special interst, when, during the lectures on the history of the Disciples of Christ, a remark was made to the effect that "there was a need for a more adequte understanding of the place of T.W. Phillips in the Brotherhood of Disciples of Christ." This promoted the undertaking of a study of this layman.