A copy of Norman Rockwell’s autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator (1960), archived in our Rare Book Collection (SC-10), boasts an intriguing inscription: “My best wishes to the art department at Wheaton College, sincerely, Norman Rockwell. My late and beloved wife, Mary Barstow Rockwell, was a native of Wheaton.” At the bottom of the page is another handwritten note, declaring that the book is dedicated to Mary, and directs the reader’s attention to her portrait on page 9, seen here.

Mary was the daughter of Alfred E. Barstow of California, and (Dora) Bernice Gary of Wheaton, IL; Dora, who took science courses at Wheaton College, was the niece of the famed U.S. Steel founder and Gary, Indiana namesake, Elbert Gary. Mary, born November 26, 1907, studied education at Stanford University Graduate School.

The circumstance under which the book was signed is not known. Rockwell divorced his first wife, Irene, in 1930. He was married to Mary from 1930 until her death in 1959, after which he married Molly Punderson in 1961. The famed Saturday Evening Post illustrator died in 1978 at his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Two years after Joseph Smith, the Mormon seer and revelator, was murdered by a mob in Nauvoo, Illinois, another failed utopia took root 100 miles north in Henry County–this one founded by Erik Jansson, the Swedish pietistic prophet with hypnotic eyes who, claiming “sinless perfection,” publicly burned the works of Martin Luther. Fleeing Europe three hundred years after Luther’s death in 1846 with 1200 followers, he embarked on a perilous migration to the United States. From New York the Janssonists sailed via the Great Lakes to Chicago, then rode wagons 180 miles west across rolling grasslands before halting on a fertile patch not far from the Mississippi. Here they settled the village of Bishop Hill, farming and constructing brick buildings in the same style as those of their homeland. In fact, the church, harness shop, hotel and other structures yet stand. A quick terminus arrived in 1850 when Jansson was shot and killed by John Root, who had married the prophet’s cousin with intent to move away with her, but had been prevented by the commune. Janssonist activities generated such disturbance that Jonathan Blanchard, then-president of Knox College in nearby Galesburg, asked Milton Badger, secretary for the American Home Missionary Society, in an 1848 letter if any ministry could be extended to “these Swedes,” in addition to recommending that a Swedish Lutheran pastor work with “refugees” from the Janssonists. The village struggled after the death of its founder, and was dissolved in 1861.

In 1921 Wheaton College proudly hosted William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925). The former Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, three-time Democratic presidential nominee, social reformer, lawyer and unswerving Presbyterian fundamentalist addressed a standing-room-only assembly for an evening service in Blanchard Hall’s compact Fischer Chapel, which had seen the likes of D. L. Moody and Jane Addams. According to student Edward Coray, Bryan “was a fascinating speaker and spiced his message with some good humor.” Known as The Great Commoner for championing causes like prohibition and women’s suffrage, he lectured forcefully to faculty and students against the theory of evolution, later using those very arguments in his seminal debate with attorney Clarence Darrow during the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. Exhausted, Bryan expired in his sleep five days after the verdict was declared, his death compounded by weight and cerebral hemorrhaging. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. To this generation when one thinks of Democratic Conventions the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention can come readily to mind, but in 1896 Bryan, at age 36, addressed a less-raucous, but no-less significant Democratic Convention in Chicago with his historic “Cross of Gold” speech, which responded to the those demanding a currency based upon a gold standard. Bryan shouted, “we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” (The Billy Graham Center Archives contains a recording of Bryan redelivering this speech) Sadly, many don’t remember the compassionate statesman. Bryan is cruelly satirized as the oafish “Matthew Harrison Brady” in the 1955 Broadway smash, Inherit the Wind. However, R. G. Lee, the eminent Southern Baptist pastor and convention president, memorialized him as “a mighty statesman eagle, quarreled at but not hindered in his lofty flight, by the noisy human sparrows of his day who envied but could not attain unto his eminence.”

Upon graduating from Wheaton College in 1923, Muriel Fuller studied journalism at various universities before embarking on a celebrated career as editor, writer, and reviewer. A keen litterateur, she was employed with Rand McNally, Thomas Nelson and the Greystone Press. At Wheaton her roommate was Margaret Landon, author of Anna and the King. In fact, it was Fuller who encouraged Landon to write it. Fuller possessed a rare gift for not only placing her finger on exactly what was wrong with a manuscript, but also offering pointedly useful suggestions toward correcting the problem. Fifteen published books are dedicated to her, with further evidence of her high regard seen in a short 1950 typewritten reply from Ray Bradbury, archived in the Fuller Family Papers (SC-87). As a professional reader for both Redbook Magazine and the O. Henry Memorial Award, she evidently tendered a few friendly remarks, including advice about assembling his stories into an anthology. Bradbury responded with gratitude and availed himself to chat as opportunity allowed. Recently the 88-year-old Los Angeles-based author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles was alerted to the fact that Wheaton College’s Special Collections has the letter. “I want it!” he said. The staff sent a copy to Bradbury. When it was read to him, he exclaimed, “That’s wonderful!” before tucking it into his voluminous files.

When President Charles Blanchard died from a heart attack at age 77 in 1925, Dr. John Wallace Welsh, pastor of College Church, college trustee and occasional instructor, was called to serve as acting president ad interim. Blanchard’s successor was originally intended to be W.H. Griffith-Thomas, the Reformed Episcopal author, Keswick Conference preacher and co-founder (with Lewis Sperry Chafer) of Dallas Theological Seminary. The plan was that Griffith-Thomas, when asked to join the teaching staff in 1923, would eventually assume the presidency; but the eminent theologian declined the offer.

Before coming to Wheaton, Welsh, a native of Elmira, N.Y., pastored in Princeton, IL, at the church once led by abolitionist Owen Lovejoy, an original trustee of Wheaton College. During his Princeton years, Welsh enjoyed close association with evangelist Billy Sunday, who preached a sweeping revival from Welsh’s church. The 1927 Tower describes Welsh as “…resourceful, self-reliant, aggressive, unceasing…” He had two sons: John, Jr, who became the college’s first physician, and Evan, who also served as pastor of College Church (1933-46), and later as chaplain for Wheaton College Alumni Relations. John W. Welsh served faithfully during uncertain days until a young evangelist named J. Oliver Buswell was unanimously elected as Wheaton’s third president in 1926. Shortly thereafter Welsh retired from College Church and moved west to do field work for the Los Angeles Bible School. He received an honorary degree in 1925 from Wheaton College. Welsh died in 1947 at age 73 in Newton, Kansas, following a stroke. In addition to his sons, Welsh was survived by his wife, Mary.

Margaret Landon first read the writings of Anna Leonowens in 1935, while laboring with her husband, Kenneth, as missionaries in Siam. Enthralled by this exotic tale of a young English widow and her son living among Siamese royalty, Margaret determined to edit and recast Leonowens’ autobiographies, The English Governess at the Siamese Court (1870) and The Romance of the Harem (1872), as historical fiction, removing lengthy expository sections and sequentially arranging incidents. But those books were long out-of-print. Where might she secure copies? After extensive searching, Kenneth spied an edition of Romance at the Economy Bookstore in Chicago; a few weeks later, Margaret happened upon Governess at the Marshall Field flagship store on State Street, after a half-hour hunt among tottering stacks of books. Delighted, she paid fifty cents. Margaret then collected correspondence and other material pertaining to Leonowens, and set about her arduous task. Finally, in 1945 she published Anna and the King of Siam, providing the basis for a yet another successful re-tooling, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I. “If I were asked to give the fabric content of the book,” she commented, “I should say it is seventy-five percent fact, and twenty-five percent fiction based on fact.”

Leanne Payne’s autobiography, Heaven’s Calling: A Memoir of One Soul’s Steep Ascent (2008), unfolds the ever-rolling road of an extraordinarily rich and adventurous faith-life, moving gracefully from her childhood to her years as a student at Wheaton College, and finally to her role as author and founder of Pastoral Care Ministries. She describes her passion for healing prayer and sacramental worship, emphasizing the necessity of Christian emblems when re-educating the paganized, or “bent,” mind toward contemplating the holy things of Christ. Along the way she recognizes mentors such as her mother, Charismatic pioneer Richard Winkler and author/teacher Agnes Sanford, Payne devotes an entire chapter to the late Dr. Clyde Kilby. “To say that my debt to Dr. Kilby is very great indeed is to understate the case,” she writes. Payne highlights his efforts in publicizing the works of C.S. Lewis, in addition to describing the unhurried simplicity of Kilby’s classroom teaching and devotional life, both a continuing inspiration to students and notable graduates, including pastor John Piper, author Thomas Howard and poet Luci Shaw. Payne’s prose is musical and distinctly feminine. Her walk of faith is an upward path, and she inspires her readers to a celebration of life in Christ. Leanne Payne’s papers are classified as SC-125 in Wheaton’s Special Collections.