Post card from Christian Publishing Company, St. Louis, to G. W. McFadden, dated 15 March 1897, crediting an extension on a subscription to Christian-Evangelist into 1898, a set of views of Palestine (stereopticon cards?), and a copy of W. J. Lhamon’s Studies in Acts.
Reply card, Christian Publishing Company, St. Louis, 1897
This is the third in a short series of advertisements that caught my eye as I looked through some back issues of Christian Standard. Scroll down to see the earlier two, especially the one for The New Make Christ King evangelistic hymnal.
I backed into an interest in hymnody only a few years ago, but it has been a very interesting and enjoyable interest to nurture. So ads for hymnals and articles that describe or prescribe singing or worship practices are always a delight to discover.
How can this be useful for research?
–Bibliographically speaking, ads like this are helpful because they alert us to books that we might not have otherwise known existed. Catalogs for publishing houses like Standard Publishing Company, Christian Publishing Company (which by 1915 became Christian Board of Publication), and Gospel Advocate Publishing Company (later McQuiddy Printing Company, then Gospel Advocate Company), were steadily produced at this time, and some even survive. But, one cannot rely only on the catalogs since hymnals and song books come into and go out of print sometimes quickly. Unless we have full runs of the catalogs then we will miss things. And one cannot rely only on observing library holdings since they too have gaps. It can be laborious to search Worldcat because catalogers sometimes abbreviate publisher names (using the item at hand which often abbreviate ‘Publishing’ as ‘Pub.’ as in Standard Pub. Co.). This is understandable, however it renders the search process a little trickier than may first be apparent. In my experience, the ads are a good way to begin filling the gaps. In this case, we have a nice array of hymnals, and looking over this list I see a couple books that are new to me: The Communion Choir and M. M. Davis’ Responsive Bible Readings for the Church chief among them.
–The publishers’ comments, sales pitches really, are instructive. They reveal how the books are intended to be used. Therefore we may infer that the hymns and songs selected and included in these books serve (in the minds of the compilers and publishers) to further the aims of activities like Sunday School instruction, ‘C. E. services’, evangelistic meetings, communion services, or the instruction of children. Right off the bat, I see a book waiting to be written about the use of hymns and songs in the spiritual formation of children. Or a book about the use of song in revivals and evangelistic meetings (Charles Reign Scoville’s work is a major example). The literature is easily at hand that will support such a study. Ads like this will help researchers.
Here is the full back-page ad from Christian Standard, vol. 50, no. 44 (July 31, 1915):
Christian Standard, vol. 50, no. 44 (July 31, 1915)
In late 1910 W. E. M. Hackleman, R. P. Shepherd, Robert M. Hopkins, and E. W. Thornton (pictured below) visited eleven states in two weeks, covering 3,000 miles, to promote the 1911 “Front-Rank Bible School” initiative. They spoke each morning, afternoon, and evening, then caught a night train to the next destination.
The “Big Four” Bible-school Quartet. Robt. M. Hopkins, “The National Bible-school Tour,” Christian Standard 46:48 (November 26, 1910), page 2084.
R. P. Shepherd represented the Christian Publishing Company, St. Louis, and spoke about the grading of the Bible school. E. W. Thornton represented the Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, and spoke about teacher training and classes for adults. W. E. M. Hackleman represented the Hackleman Music Company, Indianapolis, and spoke about raising the standards for Bible school and led the singing for each meeting. R. M. Hopkins represented the American Christian Missionary Society and spoke about the general plan of the effort as well as how the Bible school work of the Society interfaced with the activities of local congregations. The State Secretaries (that is, the leaders of the state-wide missionary societies) also spoke about the work of their respective bodies in each location. The article is careful to mention that neither Shepherd nor Thornton made displays of their respective employers’ materials, supplies or samples. The addresses, Hopkins said, were “on a plane far above the mercenary.”
It seems a fine time was had by all. The photograph puts faces to the names of the principals involved in an inter-organizational effort to boost, boost, boost the work of Christian education in the Sunday School setting. It also represents a coordinated effort to connect state leaders (the forerunners of the Regional Ministries of the Christian church (Disciples of Christ)) to leaders in local congregations. The division over instruments and societies largely if not totally behind them, the Disciples in 1910 were riding the wave of enthusiasm generated by the great centennial celebration at Pittsburgh in October 1909. They had plenty of energy to devote to building their denomination. However, that Hopkins though it necessary to mention the lack of a “mercenary” spirit suggests such spirit was not far out of view. The full article can be found at Robt. M. Hopkins, “The National Bible-school Tour,” Christian Standard 46:48 (November 26, 1910), page 2084.
From B. W. Johnson, The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1893. St. Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1893, frontispiece.
From B. W. Johnson, The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1893. St. Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1893, p. 8.
eScriptorium 