Evan Call Family - 1932-article-y

Historical Context

This article was likely published in a local Salem, Massachusetts newspaper in 1932.

The Hawthorne Hotel is a famous historic hotel located in Salem, Massachusetts (opened in 1925). In the early 20th century, hotels like the Hawthorne were common local venues for civic lectures, traveling presentations, and religious gatherings.

The Presenter, Elder Collin W. Lowder (from Ogden, Utah) was serving as a young proselyting missionary and designated "mission lecturer" assigned to the Eastern States Mission. During the Great Depression, the Eastern States Mission (under the leadership of President James H. Moyle) heavily utilized "illustrated lectures" as a proselyting tool. Young elders who were articulate public speakers, like Collin, were designated as mission lecturers.

Armed with a stereopticon (an early slide projector) and glass lantern slides, these lecturers traveled across New York, Pennsylvania, and New England. They booked civic spaces, public libraries, and hotels—such as the Hawthorne Hotel mentioned in your article—to present evidence of the Book of Mormon to non-LDS audiences. This approach was highly successful at drawing curious crowds who might otherwise ignore traditional tracting.

Date: [Circa 1932.]

Talk on Ancient America Monday By Mormon Elder

An illustrated lecture on “Ancient America’s contribution to the gospel of Christ,” will be given Monday evening at the Hawthorne hotel by Elder Collin W. Lowder of Ogden, Utah. Elder Lowder is mission lecturer of the Easter States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.

He will deal with pre-Columbian civilization of America; its ancient people and their religious, political and social customs as revealed by the records they have left and the archeological discoveries now being made in Mexico and Central America. He will tell of the discovery and translation of a particular record that has been kept by the ancient inhabitants of America and its contribution to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pictures of the archeological evidence which tend to prove the authenticity of this record will be flashed on the screen.

Much interesting and enlightening material has been gathered by Pres. James H. Moyle of the Eastern States Mission, who but recently recently returned from an extensive trip into Mexico and Central America, where he has been studying many of the ancient ruins and works of masonry recently uncovered.

Theories, sound and unsound, suppositions, many of them plausible, more unplausible, have been advanced as to where the American Indian came from. Many think he originated in the Bering straits, others in Northern Europe, coming here via Greenland. Even mythical islands and continents are invented as an easy way of determining where the red men came from before they landed in this country. The only satisfactory explanation will be found in the record which was kept by the people themselves. The story of that record and of what it contains will be told by Elder Lowder at the lecture Monday evening. It is free to the public.

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