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This is From the Archives, where we present something from our extensive collection of archival photos, records and all manner of materials dating back to when the church was First Methodist Episcopal, to First Methodist, to Church of the Savior, to St. Paul's to Crossroads.
We talked about the importance of women in the church's history just a couple of weeks ago in this section of the Chronicle Weekly. But we also have ample evidence in our archives of the faithfulness and leadership of men throughout the church's past.
This week, three items: two photographs, and in keeping with last week's theme of tangible objects, one tangible object; all three related to men in the church and the study of the Bible.
The first is a picture of a men's Bible class taken sometime between 1903 and 1913. Once again, the steps on Cleveland Avenue that we still use today for pictures was a good place for the men in this group to pose outside. You will notice a couple of children in the foreground, presumably the children of someone near them in the picture. You may also notice what appears to be a wooden structure with a door leading to the lower Cleveland Avenue staircase. That staircase is still there today, but that door and structure are not, so at some point they were removed for some reason.
The second picture is very clearly labeled (thank you!) as being of the Mckinley men's Bible class in June of 1919. This time, there were so many men involved that they had to pose on the north side of the building in four or five long rows. Maybe there are even some of the same people in the two photos.
The last item is another tangible item, this time a pin with a little banner from the National Federation of Men's Bible Classes convention held in Canton in 1931. Members of the church must have gone to this convention for this item to have been saved in our archives. This being Canton, of course they used a picture of the McKinley memorial for the banner!
Apparently the NFMBC was an interdenominational group that flourished in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. The 1930 convention of that group was held in Washington, DC. Their conventions were said to have been attended by up to 10,000 people.
As people come to Canton for football tourism this month, our archives remind us that people once came to Canton by the thousands for very different reasons!
(Click to open the images in new windows.)
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