Ovid R. Sellers

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ovid Rogers Sellers (August 12, 1884 – July 7, 1975) was an internationally known

Chicago, Illinois
from 1924 to 1954.

Early life

Ovid Sellers was born in his mother's hometown of

Akkadian Cuneiform
.

Ovid returned to Wentworth to fill positions at the academy while pursuing his education, serving variously as instructor (1905–06, 1910–12), coach, and headmaster (1919–21). He also was the editor of the local paper, the Lexington Intelligencer News, from 1907 to 1911. In

AEF
.

Career

Dean of McCormick Theological Seminary

After getting his doctorate from Johns Hopkins, Sellers became a professor of the Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary, serving in that position from 1924 to 1954, and as Dean from 1934 to 1954. He periodically served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.

Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

He was Director of the

Ralph J. Bunche found that the Provisional government of Israel was "responsible for a serious breach of the terms of the Truce as a result of unjustified attacks made by an Israeli fighter aircraft upon the Transjordan aircraft, resulting in the deaths of three persons, burns and injuries to three other persons, as well as the destruction of the attacked aircraft, and the incursion upon Transjordan territory by the Israeli fighter aircraft." (In 1950, Bunche would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
for his efforts to bring peace to Palestine.)

Sellers recuperated and returned to his job within a few weeks. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after the discovery of the scrolls, no scholar had yet located the cave where the fragments had been found. With the unrest in the country, no large-scale search could be undertaken. Sellers attempted to get the

Life Magazine. In an attempt to date the scrolls, Sellers took some linen found in the cave, presumably from an outer wrapping of the scrolls, and brought it back to the University of Chicago. Unfortunately, the carbon-14
test, done at Chicago in 1950, was inconclusive, with a range from 245 B.C. to 245 A.D. It was later found that the carbon-14 test's margin of error was 500 years.

Sellers was a staff member on 10 archaeological expeditions in Palestine, three of which he directed.

Retirement and personal life

He retired from McCormick in 1954, and he and Mrs. Sellers moved to

American Schools of Oriental Research
in 1957-58 as Professor of Archaeology.

He and Katherine (Wilson) Sellers had been married since June 1, 1918. They had three children: Roger Sellers, Elizabeth "Betty" Sellers Harter and Lucia Sellers Butler, and eight grandchildren.

Death

Ovid Rogers Sellers died in his hometown of Lexington, Missouri, on July 7, 1975, at age 90. He is buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.

Publications

External links

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