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Collection 100 Ephemera of Charles E. Fuller

 Collection
Identifier: CN 100

Scope and Contents

Newspaper clippings, sermons, radio logs, form letters to supporters, publicity materials of Charles Fuller's Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio programs, and audio tapes and phonograph records of the program and of gospel music.

Dates

  • Created: 1940-1968

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Charles Edward Fuller, born on April 25, 1887, was the fourth and last son of Henry and Helen Day Fuller. Henry Fuller was a furniture store owner in Los Angeles. He had set aside special funds which he used to support various overseas missionaries. The trust fund set up when he died passed into the care of Charles Fuller's organization, the Fuller Evangelistic Association. The trust money was used to support foreign missions in radio work, missionary salaries, and Bible reading programs at home and abroad.

Fuller graduated from Pomona College in 1910 with a B.S. The next October he married Grace Leone Payton, the daughter of one of the area's prominent doctors. Raising oranges occupied Fuller from 1912-1918 as he served as manager of the Southern California Citrus Packing Association. The Fullers moved to Placentia, California, where they became members of the Placentia Presbyterian Church. Fuller held several leadership positions in the church: elder, Sunday school superintendent, and clerk of the Session. To increase his knowledge of the Bible, Fuller attended the Bible Institue of Los Angeles (BIOLA), but left the college in 1921 to teach a Bible class at the Placentia Presbyterian Church. His Bible class grew so large it became necessary to hold meetings in the town hall. Following a break with the Presbyterian Church, Fuller was ordained a Baptist minister in 1925. Some members of his Bible class organized a new church, Calvary. Fuller pastored the church for eight years, when he resigned and committed himself to a gospel radio ministry. Supplemental income for his radio ministry came from speaking engagements at conferences and his own evangelistic campaigns. Fuller's first evangelistic campaign was held at Ocean Beach, California, during January and February, 1927. Los Angeles Baptist Seminary hired Fuller as a faculty member in 1928. He continued his teaching in addition to assuming the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1927 to 1934.

Fuller's radio ministry began in January 1930 with broadcasts of the Sunday evening worship services of his church. The Gospel Broadcasting Association was established in 1933 and, in October 1934, the first Old Fashioned Revival Hour program was aired. Fuller joined the Mutual radio network in 1937, expanding until the program was aired on every Mutual network. The response to Fuller's radio ministry necessitated the establishment of an Association to conduct the business and help maintain other evangelistic efforts and, in 1943, the Fuller Evangelistic Association (FEA) was established. Fuller also felt burdened to establish young men to preach, and soon after the FEA was established, he purchased property in Pasadena. Original plans called for classes to begin in 1945 with courses available for a Bachelor in Theology and postgraduate studies. Plans were changed as World War II continued, but the school finally opened in 1947 as Fuller Seminary. The present seminary buildings were occupied in 1953. Classes were held in the Lake Avenue Congregational Church until a permanent location was purchased and developed.

Fuller continued his active radio ministry, served on the Seminary Board of Trustees, and as a director of the Gospel Broadcasting Association until his death in 1968. Charles Fuller's ministry was continued under the direction of his son, Daniel P. Fuller, Dean at the Seminary.

Extent

1 Box

58 Audio Tapes

17 phonograph_records

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement of Material

The materials in this collection contain a few miscellaneous items relating to the life and ministry of Charles Fuller. Sermons, newspaper clippings, audio tapes, phonographs, brochures, newsletters, publicity materials, and correspondence are all to be found among the collection materials. Folder 1-1 contains a letter and brochure sent to one of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour (OFRH) listeners who wished to make the Fuller organization beneficiary to an insurance policy. Folders 1-2 and 1-3 contain news clippings and bulletins on Charles Fuller's death.

Several folders contain materials on the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Form letters sent to listeners and contributors to Fuller's program are contained in folder 1-4. Publicity material found in folder 1-5 announced special meetings and items available from the Fuller organization. Listeners were able to locate the nearest radio station and the broadcast time by consulting various radio logs sent out by the radio program. Folder 1-7 holds the 1953 twenty-eighth anniversary souvenir pamphlet in honor of Fuller's radio ministry.

Folder 1-8 contains copies of two sermons Fuller preached on the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. One, printed on yellow paper, is a facsimile of the way Fuller wrote his sermons, on yellow lined paper with a blue-green pen. This sermon was aired in February 1952. The other sermon is a typed copy from Fuller's unedited notes, used April 10, 1955, titled "The First Resurrection--Three Stages." An article in folder 1-9 provides "Highlights in the Life of Chas. E. Fuller," and folder 1-10 has a 1959 commemorative booklet, Grateful to God, on the work of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Also in the collection is an OFRH newsletter, titled "Heart to Heart Talk" (folder 1-13), Christmas greetings, perhaps also from a newsletter, with pictures of Fuller's grandchildren, from 1960 and 1961 (folder 1-11), and a tract with two sermons from Fuller's radio broadcasts titled "Storehouse Tithing" and "Christian Giving" (folder 1-15). Folder 1-14 features correspondence, a building lease, and form letters relating to an Old Fashioned Revival Service held on May 28, 1942, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Correspondents include J. Elwin Wright and P. J. Zondervan.

Several phonograph records in the collection contain various song selections and sermons used in the Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio ministry and messages by Charles Fuller. The collection also contains audio tapes of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Each program contains songs, a sermon by Charles Fuller, and the reading of listener's letters by Mrs. Fuller. A number of tapes are recordings from phonograph records. Material on the tapes T 16 and T 17 include songs, sermons, and various people's reminiscences of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Several tapes contain music with unidentified people, but may be the Old Fashioned Revival Hour choir conducted by H. Leland Green, the quartet, and soloists, with Rudy Atwood at the piano and George Broadbent at the organ.

Accruals and Additions

Materials in this collection were received by the Billy Graham Center Archives in October and December 1979; additional materials were received from the Billy Graham Center Museum in October 1983; Museum staff had purchased the original recording discs from a dealer in June 1980, and copied the programs on the discs onto cassette tape. The Archives staff then copied the contents of the cassette onto reels. Additional materials were received from P. J. Zondervan in November 1983, from a private donor in January 1984 (the disc from the private donor was copied directly onto a reel), from Esther Kelly in February 1985 and December 1987, from Jeannette Thiessen in May 1987, and from Ronald Nelson in February 1990.

Accession 79-110, 79-120, 79-143, 83-105, 83-144,

84-2, 84-108, 85-14, 86-3, 87-44, 87-151, 90-22

February 4, 1980

Mary Ann Buffington

S. Kouns

January 11, 1984, revised

Robert Shuster

J. Nasgowitz

June 8, 1987, revised

Paul A. Ericksen

J. Nasgowitz

February 12, 1990, revised

L. Beloz

September 15, 1995, updated

Janyce H. Nasgowitz

Related Materials

The following items have been given to the Evangelism & Missions Collection: The following items are all pamphlets.

About Fuller and Old Fashioned Revival Hour. N.d.

Booth, F. Carlton. Old Fashioned Revival Hour Personal Evangelism Fellowship: Helps and Hints to Soul Winning. N.d.

Explore and Discover: A Series of Bible Studies on the Prison Epistles. Introduction and Series 1, 2, 3. N.d.

Financial Integrity of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour, The. Reprint from the Sunday School Times, May 27, 1944.

Fuller Evangelistic Foundation: Purpose, Activities, Results. N.d.

Fuller, Charles E. Storehouse Tithing and Christian Giving. N.d.

______. 35 Quiet Time Promises. N.d.

Fuller, Daniel P. The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. N.d.

Grateful to God. Los Angeles: Gospel Broadcasting Association. 1959.

Prophetic Bible Lessons, The (Bible Studies). No. 1-12. N.d.

Smith, Wilbur M. The Secret of Christmas Joy. N.d.

Bulletin of Fuller Theological Seminary

Vol. XV, No. 2 - April 1965

Vol. XV, No. 3 - July 1965

Vol. XVI, No. 3 - July 1966

Vol. XVI, No. 5 - October 1966

Vol. XVII, No. 2 - May 1967

Vol. XVIII, No. 3 - April 1968

Heart to Heart Talk

April - December 1950-1956

January - July 1957

September - December 1957-1959

January - October 1960

December 1960-1962

January - November 1963-1971

January - April 1972 (Newsletter)

Old Fashioned Revival Hour News

Vol. I, No. 1 - June 1957

Trust

June 1965

Fall 1965

Summer and Winter 1966

June 1967

Title
Collection 100 Ephemera of Charles E. Fuller
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Roman Script

Repository Details

Part of the Evangelism & Missions Archives Repository

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