Tent Hall preacher Bobby McCrae outside Dunn & Co's clothes shop at 23 Jamaica Street, 1955.
Tent Hall was built in Steel Street, Calton, in 1876 for the United Evangelical Association. Evangelists believe that the gospel should be preached to all men irrespective of creed and that they must seize every opportunity to bear witness to their faith, so they preach in public places as well as in established church buildings. Billy Graham, perhaps the best-known evangelist of the second half of the 20th century, came to Scotland in the spring of 1955 on the "All-Scotland - Billy Graham Crusade". Graham attracted 2.5 million people to his meetings, including 90,000 on just one evening at Hampden Park. The Kelvin Hall was filled to capacity every night during the six weeks that he preached there.
In 1955 Partick Camera Club set out to create a photographic survey of Glasgow. As the project progressed, other camera clubs joined and each was allocated a district of the city to photograph. Glasgow Museums exhibited the photographs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and at the People's Place, and in 1956 the exhibition was shown at the Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park. The photographs are now part of Glasgow Museums' collections.
Reference: 1005.97.105/ OG.1955.121.[105]
Reproduced with the permission of the Partick Camera Club
Keywords:
All-Scotland - Billy Graham Crusade, clothing, coats, Dunn & Co, evangelism, evangelists, hats, hatters, preachers, preaching, shops, streetscenes, Tent Hall, United Evangelical Association