Who is the most prolific illustrator of the Book of Mormon? Not C.C.A. Christensen, with his brightly colored 1890 paintings. Not Minerva Teichert with her wonderful pastels. Not even Arnold Friberg with his muscle-bound old men and striplings.
My candidate for that title is a man you have possibly never heard of, and whose work you almost certainly haven’t seen: John Philip Dalby.
In 1909, after months of preparation, Ben E. Rich of the Eastern States Mission (with headquarters at New York) and German E. Ellsworth of the Northern States Mission (with headquarters at Chicago), jointly published a tract to be used as a missionary tool.
The 24-page (8×12) brochure wasn’t especially exciting on its face — this stiff brown cover, tied with string and announcing the hymn “O, My Father,” is what greeted readers. It was also expensive, costing nearly a dollar to produce in contrast to the usual 2- or 3-cent cost of normal missionary tracts, and so could not be widely and indiscriminately distributed. Instead, it was offered for sale and was given to civic and social leaders and others whose good opinion the missionaries especially sought.
So what was so special about it?
Continue reading The Loveliest Missionary Tract Ever Published