Reed Gallery Exhibition: Children of God

The next Reed Gallery exhibition explores Christian books written with the primary intention of instilling a strong religious education and faith in children. 

The donor of the Reed Collections, Alfred Hamish Reed, began his distinguished publishing career as a small-time supplier of imported Sunday school materials in Dunedin in the early 1900s. His Sunday School Supply Stores boasted that they offered “everything for the modern Sunday school”.

Reed’s early ventures into religious education were essentially a hobby with minimal profits gained. Alfred and his wife Isabel were devout Christians with immense enthusiasm for doing what they felt was God’s work.

From 1922, the company became A.H. Reed and expanded into secular works as a source of income. Yet Alfred was driven by his desire to improve the effectiveness of Sunday school teaching and began his Sunday School Progress periodical. In 1934, when Alfred teamed up with his nephew Alexander Wyclif (‘Clif’) Reed to form A.H. & A.W. Reed Ltd., their first and many subsequent publications were aimed at Sunday schools.

Through his wide research aimed at improving the effectiveness of Sunday school teaching methods and class materials, Alfred played a major role in the modernisation of religious education in New Zealand.

Alongside this merry toil, Alfred devoted significant time and money to build up his collection of rare books and manuscripts, chiefly of a Biblical hue. His original 1948 gift to Dunedin Public Libraries was followed by further donations until his death in 1975. In 1981, the Libraries welcomed the opportunity to complement its Biblical collections with a gathering of work frequently based on Biblical texts – the Colin Gibson Hymnology Collection, which continues to grow through further purchases and donations.

The exhibition Children of God: the Christian Education of Children Through Books thus features a diverse range of children’s religious books from the Reed and Special Collections, including some of Reed’s own publications in Christian education. Displays are organised into broad genres including children’s Bibles, biblical stories, catechisms, liturgies, devotional literature, instructional works, moral stories, Christmas carols, and Hymns and sacred songs.

Children of God: The Christian Education of Children Through Books
20 November 2015 to 14 February 2016
Reed Gallery, 3rd Floor, City Library