Christmas Library 2024: Christmas with Lilie A. Faris

New Testament Stories Retold For Children (1936) by Lillie A. Faris. Published by Platt & Munk Co. 
Cover scan from Blogger's Collection. A digitized version is available from the Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/newtestamentstor00fari 

Lillie A. Faris (1869 - 1945) was a pioneering book author, publisher and storyteller in Christian education. In some accounts she introduced flannel board educational products for Bible teaching. Most of her books were published by the Standard Publishing Company of Ohio. 

A few years ago I shared illustrations by Arthur O. Scott from her 1936 collection of New Testament Stories for Children. 

As a frequent thrift store customer, it is still possible to acquire works by Ms. Faris in good condition. I recently found this Bible Story Reader and wanted to share a portion for Christmas. 

Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Two (1935, rev. 1947). Standard Publishing Company.

It is a 1947 revision with edits by Dorothy Kay Foster of a 1935 edition by Faris. I hope to find more of Faris' works in bookstores and thrift shops. 

Sources:

Lillie A. Faris. Find-A-Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74492302/lillie-a-faris

Nickell, Pamela. Historical Society celebrates 50th year of Highland House Museum. Highland County Press. January 15, 2016. https://highlandcountypress.com/social/historical-society-celebrates-50th-year-highland-house-museum-10#gsc.tab=0  

 

Building a Marshall Family Collection - Part 002

9 Books by the Marshall family, including "A Man Called Peter" by Catherine Marhsall, and "The Light and the Glory" by Peter John Marshall.

For nearly a decade I have collected books and audio visual media by or about the family of Peter and Catherine Marshall.

Rev. Peter Marshall. Image from Wikipedia Commons

The Rev. Peter Marshall (1902-1949) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister who became the chaplain for the U.S. Senate. After he passed away at the age of 46, his wife Catherine (1914-1983) wrote a book about his journey. Titled " A Man Called Peter" (1951) it was a bestseller and led to a motion picture from 20th Century Fox in 1955. His life was also adapted as serialized story on the Moody Bible series "Stories of Great Christians". Their son Peter John Marshall (1940-2010) would also become a pastor. 

The success of her first book encouraged Catherine to write many additional books like Christy (1967) which was later turned into a 1990s tv series starring Kellie Martin. Catherine Marshall also wrote children's books and devotionals. She later married editor Leonard LeSourd. The LeSourd were co-founders with John and Elizabeth Sherrill of Chosen Books.

My Marshall Family Collection is still in storage, but I just came across the top image from my former library. 

Part of my former library shelf, with books about Bible Storytelling Media. 

Who was June Hadley - The Bible Story Lady?

 

Image from Discogs.com

While researching the history of women storytellers, or "Story Ladies" I learned about a single record album from 1955 with Bible stories narrated by a June Hadley "The Bible Story Lady". I have not found a reference so far suggesting that she was a radio or TV story teller. 

Image from Discogs.com

The label and sleeve for album says that the recording was produced by "Hadley Productions, Inc" in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A June Hadley for TV station WANE was a winner of the Grocery Manufacturers of America award for outstanding TV series in 1955. So after this, I began searching for "June Hadley" of Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

This led to the obituary for Douglass Hadley Bateman who passed away in 2004. Bateman was a long time figure in broadcast advertising and a believer in Jesus Christ. His first wife was a June "Hadley" Bateman who passed away in 1976. The Batemans were a hard working couple in radio, television and advertising, and yes including time in Ft. Wayne at station WANE. 

Finally after taking another closer look at the record label edges on the internet, I could read "Copyright 1952 Winifred June Batmen" was printed around the edges.

So could June Hadley, or Winifred June Bateman (1917 - 1976) have also produced a Bible children's series for radio or TV in Ft. Wayne, or was this series only for released on records? More research is needed. 

Also, Hadley was not the only "Bible Story Lady", and that can wait for another post.  

Building A Marshall Family Collection

For nearly a decade I have collected books and audio visual media by or about the family of Peter and Catherine Marshall.

The Rev. Peter Marshall (1902-1949) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister who became the chaplain for the U.S. Senate. After he passed away at the age of 46, his wife Catherine (1914-1983) wrote a book about his journey. Titled " A Man Called Peter" (1951) it was a bestseller and led to a motion picture from 20th Century Fox in 1955. His life was also adapted as serialized story on the Moody Bible series "Stories of Great Christians". Their son Peter John Marshall (1940-2010) would also become a pastor. 

The success of her first book encouraged Catherine to write many additional books like Christy (1967) which was later turned into a 1990s tv series starring Kellie Martin. Catherine Marshall also wrote children's books and devotionals. 

Among the materials in my collection on The Marshall family is this signed copy of her children's book "God Loves You". It was purchased at a thrift store for just .99 cents.

This edition is particularly special as it was used by more than one generation.

Right now, the whole collection is in storage and I hope to share more of it in the future.