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. 

From The Collections: Ilustrated by Adele Garneret

Bible storybooks and readers for children are favorite finds from local thrift stores, especially ones that fund ministries for Christ.In my quest for creative Bible Storytelling media, I learn about a new author or artist every week. 

Title page for "New Testament Crosswords" (1973) by Marian Bennett, illustrated by Adele Garneret

 Today I picked up a copy of "New Testament Crosswords" (1973) by Marian Bennett*, and published by the Standard Publishing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The black and white illustrations were "by Adele Garneret". That was distinct name and her illustrations are terrific, so I became curious. 

Adele Garneret (1920-2023) was a very familiar and prolific artist to the Cincinnati arts community and she had only this year gone home to be with the Lord. Her name is reference in multiple art exhibits and events across 6 decades in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Mrs. Garneret was a former president of the Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati and founded an arts club called "The Brushettes".  From what I read she specialized in watercolors, which confirms she also illustrated the cover of this book. 

According to her obituary, she loved art and her church. With more research, I may write a "Phil 3:17 Portrait". Also in the meanwhile when I am look for Bible storytelling media, I will be on the lookout for the words "illustrated by Adele Garneret" 

* Marian Bennett is the author of several Christian books for children. More information is also wanted about her and her works. 

Updates to the Television Page - September 2, 2023

Dear Readers, 

It has been a while since I have regularly worked on this blog post. I am happy to see that the resource pages for radio and TV are still widely use. A strong goal is to continue to update them to help others find the best in Christian creative storytelling today, and to learn from the best series from the past. 

Today I have added the following series to the TELEVISON page:

Cowboy Dan's Frontier (2013 - 2021) TCT, SMILE

Owlegories (2014 - present)

Bibleman: The Animated Adventures

Links to the Gospel Bill YouTube Channel were added to:

The Gospel Bill Show 

Bill Gunther, US Marshall. 

Also, I have continued to find and collect many unique artifacts and broadcast from the best Christian storytellers, and God willing, I will have posts about them soon. 

Best,

James

70th Anniversary of Cathedral Film''s "I Beheld His Glory"

 

I Beheld His Glory is a TV Movie produced by Cathedral Films and was generally released over 70 years ago on April 5th, 1953 as a episode of Family Theatre. The 55 minute film reportedly cost $100,000 to produce. It fell into public domain status and continues to inspire viewers to this day. The film depicts the events of the resurrection as told by Cornelius a Roman Centurion, (actor George McCready) who will share the Gospel.

The episode was directed by John T. Coyle (1890 - 1970). Coyle also directed several other productions for Cathedral Films including the feature film Day of Triumph (1954), The Living Christ Series (or serial), and The Life of Paul Series (1949). 

Jesus is portrayed by Robert Wilson (1919-1996) [real name Robert Holton] as son of a Texas minister who portrayed Christ for the majority of his film career. 

Snippet of the Rev. James K. Friedrich, from Radio Annual 1953. CLICK HERE for full page from the Media History Digital Library.

Cathedral Films was the ministry of The Rev. James K. Friedrich a prolific Christian film and educational media producer. Friedrich was also the first Protestant minister to produce a feature length Christian Film The Great Commandment (1939). 

As a stand alone film, "I Beheld His Glory" was released to the educational and home film market that same year. Newspaper listings reveal that the film was popular at church screenings around Easter Sunday.

EXTRA LINKS:

Chronicling America "I Beheld His Glory" Search: 1953-1963. - A selection of newspapers from 1953-1963 that list this film as part of church screening schedules: 

Happy Easter and Resurrection Sunday 2023

Christmas Library 2022: Give Your Child A Bible For Christmas and Tell Your Children The True Christmas Story

"Christmas Bible Child". Original Art by James R. Stewart Jr., 2022. 

A Little Girl's Bible gifted 65 Christmases ago.
Found in a thrift store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

For over six years, I have shared a post about giving a Bible and Bible study books to children for Christmas.

Your child, grandchild, pupil, sibling, or friend is never too young for their first Bible, or Bible story book, and having a copy that comes from someone they love will have a special meaning. In my quest for Bible media, I do come across used Bibles and other media from many Christmas long past. The 1955 Christmas Bible pictured above is a favorite and I am reposting it again as part of the 2020 Christmas Library.

For Christmas Eve, and an especially cold one for many people, begin with the True Christmas Story of Jesus and his birth. Don't stop there and tell your young ones the whole story of who Jesus is. 

Christmas Library 2022: The ToyMaker's Space, A Creative Idea For Ministry

Image by James R. Stewart  Jr., c. 2013

 

When I was a working on my MLIS degree, I was enrolled in a Learning and Makerspace class. During this course I developed a marketing plan for what I hope to one day be a fun ministerial collaborative project for crafters and toymakers. The "Toy Maker's Space" is a concept for a Christmas season based makerspace, with missionary potential.  This makerspace would be set up annually in libraries, churches and other community locations for groups of people to create toys, gifts, food packages, cards, ornaments and so much more for the less fortunate.

A Makerspace is simply a collaborative space for making and creating things, from works of art, to digital technology.

Below is my original proposal for The ToyMaker's Space.m, c. 2013. Im

Image by James R. Stewart Jr.

The makerspace is said to promote “playfulness” and I have a long history of creating playful tools, toys and games therefore, I plan to develop a “Toy Maker’s Space”.  This would be a center where families, groups, congregations and classes could come together to create toys, ornaments, gifts,  puppets, board games, electronic toys, dolls, educational toys, instructional technology, educational projects and even assistive devices for children (and adults) of all ages.  

This makerspace would start off as an annual event during the Christmas holiday season, starting after Thanksgiving, which is a time when people want to make personalized gifts for family and friends.  In addition, church groups, charities and missions could use the space to create custom items for care packages.  With the missionary potential of this makerspace as well as the fun family nature,likely partners for supplies and funding could be The Salvation Army, Greensboro Urban Ministries, Hobby Lobby, Toys & Company, Melissa & Doug, Lifeway Bookstores,Lowe Hardware Stores, Habitat For Humanity, various local churches, radio & television stations, Samaritan’s Purse, and other missionary groups.   ----- Introduction to "The Toy Maker's Space: A Proposal"

Image by James R. Stewart Jr. 

It my hope to see more makerspace ministries in the church in the future, as well as learning about "toymakers for The King".