The iconic Red Kettle
How a Christmas tradition came to be In December 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee decided to provide a free Christmas dinner to San Francisco’s impoverished population, but needed money to pay for the food. Once a sailor in Liverpool, England,
Günter and Jean
‘O Boundless Salvation’ unites WWII enemies By Jacques Rouffet, Major - Originally from the south of Germany, Günter had the figure of an athlete—blond hair and blue eyes, yet genteel and remarkably humble. While a student of Tübingen University in Germany, I
The Salvationist Woman
How a handful of women changed the world By Kevin Jackson, Major - Salvation Army women redefined womanhood for many of their working class peers from 1880-1920. That said, these women should not be thought of as a static statistic for some
Mission in the mountains: circuit-riding pioneer Cecil Brown
Daisy “Cecil” Brown brings The Salvation Army to the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Early in the 20th century, Salvation Army officer Major Daisy “Cecil” Brown was a missionary. Her mission field was not an exotic foreign land, but her
Interacting with presidents
This Presidents’ Day, we look back on eight times Salvation Army representatives met U.S. presidents. Lt. Eliza Shirley held the first meeting of The Salvation in America in Philadelphia in 1879. The following year, reports of the work there convinced Founder
The impact of news on religious identity and philanthropy
From 1880 to World War I, the vast majority of Americans, those who did not come into contact with its street evangelism or were not direct beneficiaries of its services, knew about The Salvation Army through newspapers and magazines. Much