Long time researcher and friend of this blog, Bernhard Brabenec, has produced a complete book on the Bible House of Allegheny, the first custom built headquarters of the Bible Students. It is over 130 pages in length and profusely illustrated with diagrams and photographs. Below is a graphic of the cover along with a facimile from part the foreward.
The foreward gives good reasons for owning this volume. The history of the first custom built headquarters for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society has a lot of interest for anyone who is ever likely to read this blog. Who worked there? A comprehensive list is provided taken from city directories over its 20 year history. What were the various offices like and how did they work? Familiar photographs are provided with a clarity many will not have seen. Some are colorized, and others provide names of the specific workers. There are photos of the first Watch Tower directors and the personal histories of C T Russell’s private secretaries. The building was so large that initially some space was rented out to businesses, some connnected with the Bible Students, some not. These are described. Gradually the work expanded to take over the whole building and prompt a move to Brooklyn. The building survived until the 1960s and its post-1909 history has Bible Student links. So the book contains all of this, and more.
I can sincerely recommend it to all. Links are notoriously unstable, but if you go to Amazon for your particular country, use the search terms "The Bible House in Allegheny, Pittsburgh, PA" or "Bernhard J. Brabenec". The Amazon site will allow you preview some of the pages, which will give a better idea of the book than this review can.
Bernhard has produced several books of interest. Another recent one is the Photo Album of Charles Taze Russell. This is nearly all photographs, the best copies available and that is reflected in the price of this volume.
Bernhard has also written a very detailed
history of the Bible Students in Austria. Unfortunately the latter is only
available in the German language at present. But if you follow the trail to Amazon
for the Bible House book you will also find links to these other works.
8 comments:
Great to hear! I'll start saving for it now.
Thanks for notifying us.
All the best,
Andrew Martin
In my current circumstances, I can't afford these. But when [if] things change for me, I'll certainly acquire them. I've notified several academics that these have been published.
Great review! I agree with everything Jerome said.
I already have my copy of "Bible House" and I just ordered my copy of "CTR Photo Album". Can't wait to put my hands (and eyes) on it!
Thank you Bernhard for producing these fine books.
On seeing this article, I was reminded to purchase this very nice work. Congratulations to Bernhard for this labor of love. I also purchased the photo book as well, and was pleased with it. I consider them a very nice addition to my CTR section and encourage all to attain them if at all possible.
Whilst doing a search for "Watchtower Society" on Amazon I just came across another publication by the same author:
WHO’s WHO - Watchtower Society – International Bible Students Association: In The History Of This Movement Before 1920. Paperback – 24 May 2021
Updated Version August 1, 2023: "This encyclopedia Who’s Who of the Bible Students (later Jehovah’s Witnesses) mentions people who were active members prior to 1920 or were otherwise connected to their history. Although there maybe only 30-50 really prominent Bible Students – like C. T. Russell, J. A. Bohnet, A. H. Macmillan, J. F. Rutherford, W. E. Van Amburgh – in the period before 1920, another 5800 names are mentioned here that can be found in the many publications of the Watchtower Society and other publishers. Often only names can be listed, in many cases there are still some biographical information or a photo of the person can be shown. More than 1300 portrait photos (totally 1527 photos) are included. The list is far from being a complete one, as this hardly seems possible."
My first thought was that the author may have "borrowed" a lot of his information from this blog, and certainly hope that this is not the case. The above comments do have good things to say about him.
I wondered whether or not Bruce has been able to acquire or examine the books of this author.
Bernhard is a friend and sometime contributor to this blog. He kindly sent me the pdf of his work. We recommend his book. He has my permission to use anything from my books.
That is good to know, Bruce. I certainly would not want to purchase books (I found five different titles by him) by an author who obtains source material unethically.
I have been unable to locate a source for his books other than Amazon. They do not appear to be on Lulu. Is anyone aware of an alternate source?
Bernhard gives a credit to Bruce in his forward of Who's Who, as well as to various other writers (including this one). I can personally recommend all his books.
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