Okay ... so

Jerome, whom I tend to listen to even when I don't want to, says I was too hasty in removing an earlier post. So here it is again with some minor edits. It is here for comments. Comments make this blog worthwhile. Without them it serves no useful purpose.

B's intro essay in partial rough draft

Introduction

...

            Criticisms have been few. Some continue to believe that Russell was a Mason, part of a conspiracy seeking world domination. If he was, he was very ineffective. Though this conspiracy theory is dying a slow death on Internet boards, we readdress this in appendix one. Despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, some continue to assert that Russell was an Adventist. We think the evidence presented in volume one is plain. Those who reject it should do so on the basis of some evidence other than speculation about what ‘might have been.’

            Zoe Knox wrote a largely positive review but added this suggestion: “Schulz and de Vienne make little attempt to connect their work meaningfully to research on nineteenth-century American religious history, which they might have done by, for example, considering what was unique about the emergence of the Bible Students as compared with other ‘American originals.’”[1] We think we made the most significant connections in volume one, but her comment has led us to reflect on the current approach to American religious history particularly by British writers. Frankly, we thought the elements of American religious history so obvious – so widely know – that we did not need to address them. We were wrong.

            For the last three quarters of a century the approach to so-called American Originals has been based on a flawed often superficial understanding of America’s religious journey.[2] Cultic growth is seen as a phenomenon primarily of the last half of the 19^th Century. Christian Science, Watch Tower faith and Latter-day Saints, grew in this period. The growth of fringe sects continued into the early 20^th Century giving us Pentecostalism. In the minds of sociologists and some historians, they developed out of similar causes. Sociologists especially feel it is obligatory to make a cursory comparison between “Russellism” and other “new religions.” Some give us a ‘compare and contrast’ essay similar to that I might assign to middle school children.

            Andrew Holden believed that Christian Science and the Watch Tower movement arose from like causes, and he believed that Watch Tower movement was connected to other 19^th Century religious movements: “The Witnesses were founded at a time marked not only by great social unrest but also by the birth of a number of other world-renouncing movements.”[3] Without clearly adopting any of the current interpretations of millenarianism, he uncritically adopted a generalized social-crisis view.[4] This omits key elements in the development of Watch Tower and similar theologies.  

The remainder of this post has been deleted.

Posts here ...

I'm very busy. I don't anticipate posting anything for a week or so, maybe longer. No-one really comments here anyway. This blog exists for comments on our work. There is little other reason for it to exist.

So fair warning. No posts from me for a while. Roberto and Jerome can, of course, take up the slack.

on ebay

Since there is some interest in Watch Tower relevant material, I'm posting another ebay item. This is not by a Watch Tower, Adventist or age to come believer. It is Farrar's now classic life of Christ ... but it was published in America by Rufus Wendell, long time associate of Storrs and Jonas Wendell's nephew.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Life-of-Christ-Farrar-1875-First-American-Edition-Fine-Binding/253224793792?hash=item3af55fb6c0:g:c8IAAOSw3fZZ74g3

We recommend that you watch this video ...

Update to Preface

Please read this carefully and comment. Re-read the portions you've already read. There are some changes. Look for logic flaws and mistakes. Anything that may improve this ....

Introduction

...

This temporary post has been deleted because of total lack of reader interest. I will not re-post. Don't ask.

Currently on ebay ....

I don't know if we're interesting anyone in these. I'm not trying to sell stuff for people I do not know, but here is another book related to Watch Tower history.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hades-Or-the-Intermediate-State-of-Man-Henry-Constable-HB-G/282386908305?hash=item41bf924491:g:HFgAAOSwfVpYvv8b

Daniele Rivoire and Giuseppe Banchetti

"Two Pastors Who Appreciated Russell’s Writings" - w2002 4/15 pages 28, 29

Daniele Rivoire [the picture in w2002 is wrong]

From Zion's Watchtower February 1, 1905:

"DEAR SIR AND BROTHER: --

   By this time I hope you will have received the 500 volumes of the MILLENNIAL DAWN in Italian.I hope you are satisfied with the print and binding of the volumes. We have tried to do our best, and have had experiences that will be useful in future. 

     Although ill, but now, thank God, a little better, I have never ceased to be occupied with the work, and the Lord has blessed it. To the many letters and cards that I could send you, there is one most rejoicing and very important of the Pastor Giuseppe Bauchetti [Banchetti], doctor of letters and philosophy, a very learned man, who with child-like simplicity has received Present Truth and is ready to give testimony. After reading the two volumes in French, he has bought all the other books in English, and he has so learned that tongue as to be able to understand the third, fourth, fifth and sixth volumes. Others have started to study the French, it being much easier for them than the English volumes. 

     Brother Bauchetti [Banchetti] is wishing to write to you personally to express his admiration and gratitude for having freed him of many terrible doubts and made to shine in his heart such bright light and assurance and inexpressible joy. 

     I am busy selecting in each of the principal towns a brother who will sell the books and endeavor to spread the Truth. 

     I need not tell you how orthodoxy and traditionalism are making war on us, but in all humility and not trusting in ourselves, we are ready to go on, confidently trusting in him who said, "Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." 

     Last week I had occasion to visit two districts of the Waldensian valleys, and I never expected to find among people that pretend to be Christians such deadly sleep as I found there. Some watchful ones, however, are to be found here and there, and they quite readily accept the food so long desired. 

     Expressing to you my gratitude and that of all the brothers and sisters for all that you are doing for us, I remain yours most humbly in the Lord,

 DANIELE RIVOIRE,--Italy."

A young Giuseppe Banchetti

The Photo-Drama of Creation.

Now, on eBay 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/watchtower-/322828073386?hash=item4b2a0d79aa:g:bqAAAOSwn2JZ4oGz

A request from another researcher

If you are interested in helping, email me and I'll forward your contact information ...

From: P* B*
To: "rmdevienne@yahoo.com" <rmdevienne@yahoo.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2017 10:54 AM
Subject: Contacts in Spain

Dear Rachael,

Greetings. My name is P*** B*** and first of all I would like to congratulate you for all the precious work that you have done with your research about the Watch Tower history, and the offspring of this research, the book A Separate Identity, and also the very informative blog truthhistory.blogspot.gr  all of which are bringing the theocratic history so close to us. 

Now, the reason that I'm writing you is because I'm trying to perform a research which has to do with the theocratic history in Spain. Do you have any contacts in Spain?

E. C. Gruss

Some of you have read his Apostles of Denial, in our opinion a really disreputable book. But I'm more interested in  your observations than in my own. Comments?

Photo Drama Handbill

 

Currently on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fantastic-Photodrama-of-Creation-Advertising-Card-WATCHTOWER-Jehovah-ORIGINAL-/372109175128?hash=item56a36f6958:g:e8AAAOSwKytZHiP~

Can you help pin this down?

            Stroup [Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1945, page 8] wrote: “Even some of Russell’s own followers came to consider him as ‘this boldly-conceited teacher,’ whose claim to divine inspiration surpassed that of the Bible writers; in 1909 twenty-nine believers seceded because of it.”

            He cites J. Burridge’s Pastor Russell’s Position and credentials and His Methods of Interpretation, page 20. Nothing like this appears on page twenty or anywhere else in Burridge’s pamphlet. From where does the quotation “boldly-conceited teacher” come?

Updated Preface. Still a work in progress ...

Comments please:



This temporary post has been deleted

Also on ebay

Rufus Wendell was Jonas Wendell's nephew and a long-time associate of George Storrs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1886-The-HOLY-BIBLE-Rufus-Wendell-REVISED-VERSION-vs-KING-JAMES-Diacritical-/272833039759?hash=item3f861dcd8f:g:bxEAAOSwZrtZqNi7

On ebay

Some of you may be interested, though the price is very high

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Second-Adventists-Terrys-Island-1873-ASCENSION-END-of-WORLD-Art-Print-Engraving-/362129184058?hash=item545094d53a:g:v8QAAOSwPK1ZPZ9F

Bunches of Questions ...

            I don’t feel well, and I belong in bed, but I’m writing this anyway. We sometimes get research questions in the comment trail. A reoccurring one is, “Where can I find that online?” or “Send me a link to that please.” Some things are online. Many more are not. If they’re not on the Internet somewhere, we usually have no way of sharing material with you.

            You are responsible for your own research. My students tended to use me as a living encyclopedia. I learned years ago to respond to questions with: “Where have you looked? What did you find? Where will you look next?” I usually can’t do more for you here. But I have some suggestions.

           Someone asked where they can find books such as those in the video. Ignoring the cost, which is immense, I suggest:

            1. Ebay. Items such as you saw in the archive video show up on ebay. Many of them cost more than a sane person will spend. But let’s assume you’re filthy rich. So currently on ebay you can buy a single page of a Latin Bible published in 1500. The opening bid is 250.00 US dollars. Or you can buy the 1837 reprint of Tyndale’s Bible for a surprisingly low $750.00. Or the 1938 reprint for $600.00

            Rarer Watchtower items show up too, mixed in with the more common material. The full set of Studies in the Scriptures in red binding, pocket edition is on ebay for $850.00. We have that set, and ours includes the first printing of The Finished Mystery. I’d happily sell it to you for $400.00. Not that I expect any takers. The 1910 heart bookmark from the convention that year is on ebay for about $300.00. I have one. Want it? How about $200? Ridiculous, no? But if you want these things, that’s where you find them. Be patient, a lower-priced version may show up.

            We built our research collection when prices were lower, and occasionally we had kind help from interested parties. In the preface posted below, B mentions The Christian Observer and The Literalist. Both show up on ebay, usually for enough money to make one blink twice. But be inventive. Use search terms beyond “Watchtower.” And sometimes you will find a scarce item for cheap. Our red covered What Say the Scriptures about Hell came to us for $5.00 because it was improperly described.

            2. Online book search. There are several. These include

                        abe.com ; addall.com/used ; bookfinder.com and alibris.com

Again, expect to pay for what you find. One of Morton Edgar’s books on the Great Pyramid shows up on bookfinder for a relatively reasonable fifty dollars. But be aware that the online book market is awash with modern reprints. These are sometimes more expensive than an original.

            3. So you don’t want to spend your life’s savings for a book? You’d be happy with a good scan? Search the title put in quotations: “the truth will make you free.” Hathitrust, google books, and other archives have scanned copies of thousands and thousands of books. We expect you to do your own search. Usually, we cannot photocopy things for you. And we’re in the same boat you are. I found this book on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1836-Athens-TENNESSEE-imprint-Presbyterian-Minister-Prophecies-Beast-TN-/162708495037?hash=item25e22e9abd:g:8rgAAOSwTw5Z3ZZH

I’ve been looking for this book for maybe three years. I want this book. It is important to our research. I cannot afford it.

            4. So ... you can’t find what you want from one of the internet archives? Do it the old fashioned way. Major libraries have their catalogues online. The Library of Congress, the British Library and others allow online searches. If you live in the United States, much of the material in the Library of Congress is available through Interlibrary Loan. However, most of the items you may want to see will not be, and you’ll have to pay very high copy fees.

            Many libraries share their catalogues through the OCLC system. [The Ohio Catalogue of Library Catalogues.] You can access it at worldcat.org . You will need to be inventive, and it won’t take you to a scan of the book you want. It will tell you which libraries, if any, have it. A few libraries will scan for free if your request is small and they think you’re a serious researcher. I always tell them why I want something, what I intend to do with it, and I sign my email with my professional title. That’s a bit of overkill, but it paves the way. Usually, there’s a huge fee. We had to pay fifty-five dollars for a photocopy that I could have made myself for about four dollars. But, then, I don’t live in Georgia, USA. So If you want to see something – be prepared to pay.

            5. Ask. Much of our research library came from smiling sweetly and asking if anyone had something relevant. Big chunks of it were just given to us. Most of my personal copies of The Watch Tower back to 1919 were a gift.

            6. Final thought: If you live in Mexico, Central or South America, expect what you order to be stolen out of the mail. Pay for registered, insured mail. This is true if you live in some areas of Europe, especially Russia and Eastern Europe. The Middle East is hopeless, except for Israel. But mail to and from Israel transits through Italy. If it is not registered-insured, you won’t see it. I do not mean to insult any country, but this is a fact of life.

Temporary Post for Comments

This in very rough draft is an extract of Bruce's preface to volume 2 of Separate Identity. It is here for comment. We need your input. ... So be really nice and leave a comment up or down, critical or helpful. Just comment.

This post has been deleted.

A Reminder ...

Opposition voices are part of Watch Tower history. We need scans of tracts and articles written by those opposing the Watch Tower. We're interested in any, no matter how silly, up to 1940.

We also need scans of J. W. Brite's tracts. We've located some but cannot afford the copy fees. If you have one, please scan it for us.

Nelson Barbour book ...

To buy our biography of Nelson Barbour, click on the image to the left of your screen. It will take you to the sales page.

Update of Sorts

            We’ve revised our outline, dividing a chapter finished in rough draft in two and enlarging the new chapter. This is difficult writing, so you won’t see much from me for a while. We’re raising issues that some will find ‘sensitive.’ And we’re incorporating material we intended for volume three, shortening the discussion to a few paragraphs.

            Our goal is to clarify the nature of the earliest congregations and fellowships. Most groups were small fellowships, a few individuals who met together, often without clear leadership. We will explore how Watch Tower adherents viewed Russell before 1894. Research has led us in a new direction; or I should say it has taken us into a wider field.

            If you want to help, scour the letters in the early issues of Zion’s Watch Tower of comments about Russell or praise for the Tower and Russell’s other writings – Millennial Dawn, Food for Thinking Christians, Old Theology Quarterly, etc.

            It is essential that we be absolutely accurate. If you can help, that would be stellar.

AT THE MOVIES

by Jerome

(Republished and updated from Blog 2)

The Bible Students embraced the new medium of motion pictures to spread their message. This article is about six examples that were released between 1914-1922. Some of this information has already been presented in more detail on this blog in years gone by, but this will present a brief overview and give links to where a modern viewer can see in whole or part, five of the six examples.

Photodrama of Creation

This approximately eight hour production, normally shown in four parts on consecutive weeks or evenings, will require no introduction to readers here.

There are a number of places on YouTube where you can watch it, including some surviving films of CTR in action. Sound was on disc so CTR mimed to the recordings, not always with complete success. There are also a number of places where you can buy a DVD set of the production. However, it must be noted that all the work of restoration over the last 40 years has really been performed by one person, Brian K. This has been a labor of love and the work is still ongoing, and an even better version in Blue-Ray will appear in due course.

Unfortunately, because the source material is out of copyright, others have felt no qualms about copying earlier restorations (perhaps from inferior VHS videos) and marketing them commercially. Leaving aside the ethics of this, if you want the very best version possible from surviving material, you really need to obtain one that bears Brian’s name.

Here is a link to one of the films of CTR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpsUfzihjo

Restitution - Mena Film Company

This writer plans to do a whole article on just this film and its history one day. But in brief, the company was put together by Bible Students in 1917. It had no direct connection with the Watch Tower Society, although the original Photodrama was briefly sold to Mena by the Society before everyone thought better of the deal. Unlike the Photodrama this was commercially produced, and needed to be shown to paying audiences in a commercial setting to succeed. By all accounts, it didn’t. It was shown to a non-paying audience at an IBSA convention in Seattle in July 1918, but then with the difficulties of the day - the Society directors jailed, others leaving association with the IBSA - it sank. It was reissued commercially under a new title The Conquering Christ and by the end of the 1920s one of the former Mena directors, Leslie Jones, was selling off 16mm prints in seven minute segments as a serial, now rebranded as Redemption. Just one of those segments has recently been rediscovered.

The sequence is Herod’s plans to massacre the innocents. While still primitive by modern day standards, film technique had advanced considerably since the Photodrama of Creation. The director, who obligingly also cast himself as Jesus Christ, had worked with D W Griffith on his epic Intolerance.

But enough of such details for perhaps another time. Here is the clip that only recently has been put on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGBMw45CBk&feature=youtu.be

Kinemo

Moving forward from 1918, we come to Kinemo. The Society produced a series of three films on the soon to be doomed 17.5mm gauge, and sold them to Watch Tower readers and the public in general via the Kinemo Company. Three were produced. The history and description of this venture, with its ups and downs, has been described in past articles on this blog and can be checked there. They were filmed over 1920-21 but not sold to the public until the fall of 1922.

Here are links to all three films. The Imperial Valley one is missing a bit of footage, the other two appear complete. All three films include footage of J F Rutherford. Perhaps the most entertaining is the end of the pyramid film. It must have been like a furnace inside the Great Pyramid, and JFR apparently ventured inside wearing a three-piece suit. Watch him as he leaves! (15:28 on the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIClU8TQtM&t=11s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCebb9bg6Q&t=24s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2snV8SyQVU&t=22s

Cedar Point

One final film completes this article, but alas, has not come to light. The Kinemo system of 17.5 mm film offered a film from the 1922 Cedar Point Ohio convention. The panoramic view of the audience out of doors hearing J F Rutherford speak includes a film crew. Here is a close-up from that photograph.

The subsequent films were offered for sale in the New Era Enterprise newspaper.

The same paper (October 31, 1922) also mentioned that the original Kinemo films had been shown on a large screen at the Cedar Point convention, along with footage of “the Bible House and other organization buildings and offices in Brooklyn, the Bethel Home, etc. the printing and binding of booklets and pamphlets etc.”

I know for certain that the modern Watchtower Society has no copies of any of this material, and I suspect had never heard of it until it was brought to their attention. While it would be silent footage, it would of great historical interest to see it. That is, of course, if it still exists.

Come on now. Anyone out there?

The Changing Faces of the French Watch Tower

by Franco

The first issue of the French Watch Tower was printed in October 1903 and was identical to the first issue in Italian. It was called:

"LE PHARE DE LA TOUR DE SION

Messager de la Présence de Christ "

The second number was printed in January 1904 and was thereafter published monthly.  (The Italian edition remained a quarterly).

From the January 1905 issue an "et" was added before "Messager" and "LE" was removed before "PHARE."   It now became:

"PHARE DE LA TOUR DE SION

et

Messager de la Présence de Christ "

This title remained until June 1909. Then in July 1909 it became:

"TOUR DE GARDE

et

Messager de la Présence de Christ "

This had 2/3 different covers. This title was used until December 1912.

In January 1913 the magazine changed its cover again and before the title was added a "LA." It was now called:

"LA TOUR DE GARDE

et

Messager de la prèsence de Christ"

This is the cover design that will be familiar to most readers.

(edited by Jerome)

Please review

French Watch Tower

Prospectus

(previously on Blog 2)

A 1904 edition of Divine Plan of the Ages with the prospectus for all six volumes bound as the covers.

Henry Grew

We need a readable scan of Grew's Bank Street tract from 1836. Anyone?

Up to adventure, the challenge of research ??!!

I'd accept a well researched article on Russell's Jewish mass meeting .... Even two or three if they're well researched and footnoted. Up to it?

Someone in the Pittsburgh area ...

This may be of doubtful worth but we'd like a copy

In the Peter E. Soderbergh Collection of Jehovah's Witnesses Materials, AIS.1972.08, 1914-1995, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh.

Box 1

Item

1

Jehovah's first witness: Pastor Charles Taze Russell, by Peter A. Soderbergh, 1966

Claude Brown

Do any blog readers have any information about Claude Brown, outside what can be found in the Society's Watchtower library? He was a Jamaican, a conscientious objector during WW1 who served time in a British prison (Wandsworth) and went to Africa to support W R Brown (Bible Brown) in missionary work in Nigeria, Gold Coast (Ghana), Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc.

We need this and can't afford it. Anyone have it?

http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.330863

S. O. Blunden

From: The Independent Press and Bloomfield [New Jersey] Citizen, November 1915.

The Independent Press [Bloomfield] May 23, 1913

On Blog 2

For those readers who have access to the restricted blog, there is an article up there now called Pictorial Memories. This is made up from photographs (with a bit of text) that have recently come my way relating to individuals in the UK. Since there might just be the potential for privacy issues with individuals and descendants, I have put it there rather than on this open blog.

Not from the Era we Research but Intersting

From Roberto

Roberto continues to research the events of 1881:

Barbour, Russell, and the year 1881, another point of contrast.

Barbour and Russell finally separated in June 1879 over the doctrine of the ransom. They had another point of contrast over the year 1881. With the article “THE PARALLELS” published in the June1880 Herald, Barbour denied the thought of an invisible Parousia. According to him the second presence didn’t begin autumn of 1874, nor would there be a later invisible presence. Jesus would personally come in the Autumn of 1881, not seen by the world, but seen by his true disciples, that is, the Herald of the Morning believers.

Russell immediately replied with the July issue of the Watch Tower, confirming his belief that Christ’s invisible presence began in October 1874. Here’s extracts from the two magazines.

Herald of the Morning, June 1880, pp. 85-86, “THE PARALLELS”

“The scapegoat work in cleansing the sanctuary, is an invisible work, seen only in its manifestations; but the appearing of our High Priest, “unto them that look for him,” is never spoken of directly or indirectly, in a way in which we have the least authority to suppose that he will come in an invisible manner. But always the contrary; “He will appear to (optomai, be seen of) us;” he comes in the manner they saw him go, etc. It is true. He will not show himself to the world, when he comes to his church, but he will “be seen” by them that look for him, is the teaching of the law and the testimony.

I warn our readers not to be deceived in this matter; Christ left the church as her High Priest; and he returns to her as such. And after ascending into the presence of God there is no intermediate personal coming in any way, to his church, until he shall appear to them that look for him, Heb. 9:28.

Again, there was a separation of chaff and wheat, and a gathering of the wheat out of the rejected Jewish church, after the crucifixion: and there was a remnant of time still due, for that purpose. And although the half week was left obscure, and there is an equal want of absolute Scripture here pointing us to the end of this last half of the harvest, still the parallel, and the clear indication that the work belonging to this part of the harvest is in process of fulfilment, in the cleaning of the sanctuary, not only by the separation of wise and foolish virgins , but between the letter and the spirit, in all our views; is, all together, evidence enough to make us “look for him, to appear to us in the autumn of 1881.”

Herald of the Morning, July 1880, p. 4, “HAS CHRIST COME?”

“The Parousia, or presence of Christ, when “he shall appear (optomai, be seen),” by “them that look for him,” demands his personal presence; and this is his return in, not the invisible antitypical scapegoat work, but as the High Priest in person. And this coming of Christ, or his parousia, we have reason to expect, will occur in the autumn of 1881. That he did not come, in the autumn of 1874, or at the beginning of the gospel harvest, as we once supposed, is as certain as is the word of Jesus himself.”

The Watch Tower July 1880, p. 2, “AS THE LIGHTNING”

“ … the Lord informs us that there will be in these "days of the Son of man," false teachers who will be very powerful and exercise much influence upon the church, . . . We believe we find them in those who claim that Jesus is to appear shortly in the wilderness of Judea (Palestine) and that all who love him and expect to be part of his kingdom should go there and be on hand to receive and welcome him. . . . But there is to be more than one of these deceiving teachers; While one says He is coming in the desert, another says: "Behold he is in the secret chambers." Do we find teaching of this kind now, in the days of the Son of man? Yes, it seems to us that this is being fulfilled; a brother whom we knew well and loved much, thinks that God has given him what he terms "New Oil" (perhaps he does not notice that the virgins of Matt. 25, do not get any new oil; it is the same oil they had at first). But this brother is we think fulfilling this scripture. He is teaching that after 1881, Christ will appear in the flesh secretly, to be seen only by himself and those who believe exactly as he believes. This teaching not only leads to unscriptural expectations, but seems to open the minds of those who receive it to a perilous snare of the devil, which snare is referred to in the "Three Worlds," a book written by this very brother, in 1876, now out of print but possessed by many of our readers, extracts from which will follow this article. The wide diversity of views as stated in that article, and his present view as stated above seems to make good his claim that he has new oil; but it does not commend itself to us as being as good as the old "The old is better."