514 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The staff of NewChurchHistory.org would like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The three holiday cards included here are from the Glencairn Museum Archives in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. The first card was created by Lawrence Bradford Saint (1885-1961) and sent out by his family in 1920. Saint was a stained glass artist who worked on the Bryn Athyn Cathedral project from 1917 until 1928, when he left to work on the Washington National Cathedral. The figures on this card bear some resemblance to a stained glass Christmas window he made for Bryn Athyn Cathedral in 1919.

The second card was sent to John and Gertrude Pitcairn in 1887 by Rev. F.W. Tuerk and his wife, Maria. Tuerk was the pastor of the Berlin (now Kitchener) society in Ontario, Canada. The card uses the unique New Church dating system in place at the time Continue reading » » » »

508 Theta Alpha Nativities

Theta Alpha, an organization for New Church women, began making Nativities in 1941, and continued the tradition until the early 1990s. The Nativities were sent to families who did not live near a New Church congregation. This was part of a larger initiative by Theta Alpha to send religious materials throughout the year to children who could not attend New Church schools. The women of Theta Alpha were inspired in their production of Nativity sets by Emanuel Swedenborg’s concept that children are especially receptive to visual images, and can be introduced into deeper concepts by means of them.

“Children [in heaven] are taught especially by images suited to their natures, images that are unbelievably lovely and full of wisdom from within. In this way, there is gradually instilled into them an intelligence that derives its essence from goodness” (Emanuel Swedenborg, Heaven and Hell ¶335).

The Nativity figures made during the 1940s were constructed from wire and crepe paper, but in 1951 Theta Alpha began a new initiative and started making chalkware figures. The sets assembled that first year included Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, one sheep, a manger, and a stable. They were initially made by teams of women working in the basement of Bryn Athyn Cathedral. Gypsum plaster (plaster of Paris) was poured into molds (see photos, below) and allowed to dry; then, after the figures had been extracted from the molds, they were carefully painted by hand (see photo, above). Continue reading » » » »