Collection 109 Ephemera of Gipsy Smith
Scope and Contents
Newspaper clippings, audio tapes and phonograph records of Smith singing hymns, and photographs. Newspaper clippings are about meetings held by Smith in Denver, Colorado (1909) and with Billy Sunday in Boston, Massachusetts (1935); included are extended excerpts from both men's sermons.
This collection consists of newspaper clipping of Smith's 1909 evangelistic meetings in Denver (folder 1-16), scrapbook pages (folders 1-1 through 1-13) containing newspaper reports about Smith's 1935 meetings in Boston, phonograph records of Smith singing, and a tape of Smith singing. A complete list of the songs sung by Smith can be found in the location records which follow. A scrapbook of newspaper clippings from 1929 recounts Smith's Boston campaign in March (folder 1-15); a few clippings are from meetings held by Billy Sunday in Boston during 1931. Two 1947 clippings (folder 1-17) contain articles about Smith's death and the ministry of Gipsy Smith, Jr. A postcard photograph of Gipsy and Annie Smith is also included, as well as one of Smith with three unidentified people, and Smith's meeting of the First Congregational Church at the Uline Arena in Washington, D.C.
Dates
- Created: 1909-1935
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.
Biographical Information
Full Name: Rodney "Gipsy" Smith
Birth: March 31, 1860, near London, England
Death: August 4, 1947, aboard the ship Queen Mary while traveling from England to New York
Family:
Parents: Cornelius Smith and Mary Welch
Siblings: Four sisters and one brother
Marital Status: Married Annie Pennock, December 17, 1879 (d. 1937); Married Mary Alice Shaw, June 2, 1938
Children: Albany Rodney (b.1880), Alfred Hanley (b.1882), Rhoda Zillah (b.1884)
Conversion: At the age of sixteen
Career:
1877 Joined the Salvation Army as an evangelist at William Booth's invitation
1880-1883 Preaching assignments in Chathan, Hull, and Hanley (England)
1882 Dismissed from the Salvation Army for accepting a gold watch and money from friends
1889 First evangelistic trip to America preaching in New York City, Philadelphia, Denver, Washington, Nashville, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Winston-Salem, Dallas, and other smaller cities.
1892 Founded the Gipsy Gospel Wagon Mission
Preached in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland
1894 Held evangelistic meetings in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, Australia
1904 Meetings in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa and Boston, Massachusetts
1914-1918 Ministered to the British troops in France
1939-1945 Toured the United States and Canada with his second wife
Other significant information:
1917 Made a member of the Order of the British Empire by King George V
Authored: As Jesus Passed By (1905), Gipsy Smith: His Work and Life (1906), Evangelistic Talks (1922), Real Religion (1929), The Beauty of Jesus (1932), The Lost Christ.
Extent
0.60 Cubic Feet
1 Box
1 Audio Tape
3 Phonograph Records
1 Photograph File
Language of Materials
English
Accruals and Additions
The materials for this collection were received by the Billy Graham Center Archives in July, October, and November 1979, May 1980, February, April, and September 1984, November 1986, June and August 1999, and September 2009 (Elisabeth Mason).
Accession 79-80, 79-118, 79-133, 80-31, 80-71, 84-27, 84-56, 84-115, 86-127, 88-35, 09-52
April 7, 1980
Robert Shuster
M. Hilton
S. Kouns
June 23, 1980, revised
M. Buffington
S. Kouns
September 28, 1984, revised
J. Nasgowitz
November 25, 1986, revised
J. Nasgowitz
Accession 99-40, 99-56
June 3, 2002, updated
Wayne D. Weber
Accession 09-52
September 18, 2009
Bob Shuster
- Belief and doubt -- Sermons.
- Belief and doubt.
- Booth, F. Carlton.
- Boston (Mass.)
- Christian life -- Hymns.
- Christian life.
- Conversion -- Christianity -- Hymns.
- Conversion -- Christianity.
- Conversion -- Sermons.
- Denver (Colo.)
- Emery, Allan C., Jr. (1919-2010)
- Evangelistic invitations.
- Evangelistic sermons.
- Evangelistic work -- Massachusetts -- Boston.
- Evangelistic work -- Washington (D.C.)
- Evangelistic work.
- Faith -- Hymns.
- Faith -- Sermons.
- Faith.
- Gospel music.
- Gospel musicians -- United States.
- Gospel musicians.
- Hymns, English
- Hymns, English -- United States.
- Mass media in religion -- United States.
- Mass media in religion.
- Music -- Christianity.
- Music -- United States.
- Preaching.
- Prohibition
- Prohibition -- United States.
- Repentance -- Sermons.
- Repentance.
- Salvation -- Hymns.
- Salvation -- Sermons.
- Salvation.
- Sermons, American.
- Smith, Annie Pennock.
- Smith, Gipsy, 1860-1947 -- Sermons. Selections.
- Smith, Gipsy, 1860-1947.
- Sunday, Billy, 1862-1935 -- Sermons. Selections.
- Sunday, Billy, 1862-1935.
- Tremont Temple (Boston, Mass.)
- Title
- Collection 109 Ephemera of Gipsy Smith
- 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