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Monday, June 30, 2014

Where research starts ...

Much of our research outside Watch Tower publications starts with an educated guess. The newspaper clipping below is an example

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Finding this article wasn't an accident. But we looked for it based on little more than a good guess. Finding a record this early is difficult, sometimes impossible. Finding this one makes me happy.

What happens next? Sometimes nothing. Sometimes this is all we find. But ... I'll look for additional record. We want to put a name to this. Who was the speaker? How long were they there? Is this mentioned in Zion's Watch Tower?

You can do this too. There are many newspaper archives on the Internet. Try phrases and names and ideas. Often you won't find anything helpful, but you may. Pass it on, even if you think we have it or think it's trivial.

Some of the most interesting discussion has come from what first seemed unimportant. We return again and again to original source material, especially Zion's Watch Tower. Details that seemed unimportant or puzzling become clear if we reassess and review. There is no secret here. Any determined person can do this. Try it.

3 comments:

Miquel Angel Plaza-Navas said...

I'm sure you will know this but... here you have a "Bill Arp" mention of "Plan of the Ages" in 1888 at San Marcos Free Press (San Marcos, Tex.).

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth295695/m1/1/zoom/?q=

Miquel Angel Plaza-Navas said...

Hello, again.
One add in which you can observe some relation between quaker interest and watch tower publications
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024718/1892-10-05/ed-1/seq-3/

Staunton Spectator (Staunton, Va.), 1892, 5th October
Add "Quaker bargain and shoe house" at the second column

Sha'el, Princess of Pixies said...

There is no religious connection. Businesses used the word Quaker to imply honesty. In this era they had that reputation. The Society of Friends as it exists now is not as it was then.

Using Quaker did not imply a religious conneciton.