One of the unique strengths – and challenges – of archival records is their multifaceted nature. Rather than presenting a single, carefully shaped narrative, archival records, from letters to pamphlets to oral histories, offer small, sometimes contradictory glimpses into the larger stories of individuals, communities, and historical eras. This month, Wheaton Archives & Special Collections highlights a few items from our collections that shed a small personal light on one of the most defining and consequential eras of modern American history – the Great Depression.
Much has been written about the stock market crash, bread lines, the New Deal, and the Dust Bowl. Our particular collections, however, offer a view of the Depression through the lenses of evangelism and missions: How did pastors and evangelists address the crisis in their sermons? How did some Christians connect spiritual concerns to the economic and emotional stresses of the era? What effect did the Depression have on shaping the direction and vitality of evangelistic efforts? What was it like to experience the Depression as a missionary, far from home? And how did churches and evangelists respond to the needs—and opportunities—of the period?
E. J. Pace Collection (CN 702)
From 1916 to 1946, E. J. Pace, newspaper illustrator, cartoonist, and former missionary, contributed a weekly cartoon to the influential Christian publication The Sunday School Times. The subjects of his cartoons were usually centered on different aspects of Christian life or theology, but also occasionally spoke to current events. In the below cartoons, from March and May of 1932, Pace frames the Depression in the context of Christian faithfulness in God’s provision.
From the Vault 