(1891–1984). A former evangelistic journal circulated chiefly in the eastern half of North America. It contained 36 pages each issue and was printed at the Southern Publishing Association in Nashville, Tennessee, but originated as the Southern Agent 10 years before the publishing house itself was founded. The first number, a four-page mimeographed colporteur newsletter, was issued on Dec. 1, 1891, at the Atlanta, Georgia, branch of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association (the Review and Herald) of Battle Creek, Michigan. Publication was continuous, under several titles, except for two temporary gaps in the 1890s (caused by the burning of the Atlanta branch in 1895 and by lack of money in 1897–1898). While the paper was being published as the Southern Review in Atlanta, two other journals were being printed in Nashville: in 1900 the Tennessee River Conference began publishing the Tennessee River Watchman, often called simply The Watchman; then in January 1901 James Edson White’s new Gospel Herald Publishing Company began to issue volume 3 of the Gospel Herald (transferred from Battle Creek, Michigan; published earlier in Mississippi).
After the General Conference session of April 1901, at which the Southern Union Conference was organized, the Atlanta branch and J. E. White’s Herald Publishing Company at Nashville were combined to form the Southern Publishing Association, which was incorporated on June 4, 1901, at Nashville.
The Southern Review , formerly issued by the Atlanta branch, was brought into the SPA on July 23, 1901, as “the church organ of the Southern Union Conference.” On Oct. 2, 1901, the Tennessee River Watchman was combined with the Southern Review to form the Southern Watchman , with the purpose “to unify and strengthen the work in the whole Southern Field.” For a time the SPA continued the Gospel Herald —originally the organ of the Southern Missionary Society, promoting the mission work among Blacks, but since 1901 issued with contents of a more general evangelistic character, with mission news confined to a supplement. Then in 1903 the Gospel Herald was absorbed by the Southern Watchman. Ellen White wrote in 1904: “ The Watchman is to have a place in the field at large. It bears the message of truth as verily as do the Review and the Signs of the Times. . . . Its field is wherever subscribers can be found for it” ( CW 136).
Another time she wrote: “ The Southern Watchman is an excellent paper, and one way in which you can help is by getting subscriptions for it. I urge our church members to take this paper, and to ask others to take it. . . . Are there not children who will try to get subscribers for the Watchman?” ( ibid. 114).
The Watchman (the title was officially shortened in 1905) devoted less space to church news, and when the Southern Union Conference established Report of Progress as its church organ in July 1907, the place of The Watchman as an evangelistic journal was established.
The Watchman , which had been a weekly, changed to monthly publication, announcing that in January 1909 it would graduate “into a higher class of journalism—that of the monthly magazine.” The word “magazine” was added officially in January 1917. Through World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, The Watchman Magazine continued as a prophetic voice of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In 1917 began the printing of a special number of The Watchman Magazine as the Ingathering magazine. Later, as These Times , the magazine published two extra issues a year: the regular Ingathering magazine and the Ingathering caroling leaflet.
January 1946 saw a new name for The Watchman. To avoid confusion with a publication by the Jehovah’s Witnesses bearing a somewhat similar name, the Adventist journal took the name Our Times. However, when it was discovered that this was the name of another periodical, it became in May 1951 These Times .
In 1952 These Times was given the Award of Merit in Washington, D.C., at the convention of the Associated Church Press.
In January 1961 a new feature was introduced simultaneously in These Times and the Message magazine-a series of four-page center inserts covering the basic truths of the last gospel message. The first series, called Messages for These Times, consisted of 24 articles written by SDA leaders. By 1963 more than 7 million of these had been sold. A second series of 12, entitled A Faith for Today, was written by TV pastor W. A. Fagal. This was followed by a third series of 24, called Hope for These Times, written by 24 different church leaders.
Three more series followed—Truth for These Times, Messages of Faith, and Emphasis Eternity—making a total center-spread printing of 20 million by 1975.
In 1952, 1969, and 1971–1974, These Times received awards for excellence from the Associated Church Press. In 1975 the magazine received three gold awards and six silver awards for excellence in design at the Nashville Art Directors’ Show.
In 1970 These Times began a series of special issues, each devoted to one topic: “God’s Preview of the Future” (Daniel), 1970; “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation), 1971; “How Life Began” (Creation), 1971; “Good Health,” 1971; “Seventh-day Adventists,” 1972; “The Invitation” (Sabbath), 1973; “The Bible,” 1974; “Jesus and the Land He Lived In,” 1974; and “Jesus Is Coming,” 1975.
These Times produced four 24-page supplements in four colors: “Enlist in the War Against Drugs,” 1971; “How to Stop Smoking Without Gaining Weight,” 1972; “Enlist in the War Against Alcohol,” 1974; and “Enlist in the War Against VD,” 1974.
In 1975 These Times produced Special Series Tracts—pocket-sized tracts for varied situations, not only doctrinal, but oriented to special calendar events.
In many ways the 1970s were an “Indian summer” for These Times. Leadership, format, and circulation all remained stable. Awards from organizations such as the Associated Church Press as well as numerous articles reprinted in Reader’s Digest all testified to the great respect and affection in which the magazine was held.
But the 1980s brought change. With the merger of the Southern Publishing Association with the Review and Herald Publishing Association, These Times had to leave Nashville, moving first to Washington, D.C., in 1981, and then to Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1983.
While its editorial offices were moving north, however, the circulation of the magazine was heading south, with circulation dropping from 218,000 in 1980 to 125,000 in 1984. Economic recession and changing demographics played a part in this. There also was the problem of price: a 12-month subscription that had cost $6 in 1970 cost $12 in 1980 and $18.95 in 1984.
As a result, the General Conference decided to merge These Times with Signs of the Times. While the Review and Herald Publishing Association retained the name for use in Ingathering brochures, These Times ended publication as an independent monthly with its March 1984 issue.
Editors: A. F. Harrison; C. F. Curtis; C. N. Woodward; N. W. Allee ( Southern Review, 1890s); C. P. Bollman, 1901–1902; G. I. Butler, 1902–1906; L. A. Smith, 1906–1918; A. W. Spalding, 1918–1922; L. E. Froom, 1922–1925; R. B. Thurber, 1925–1935; J. E. Shultz, 1935–1942; Frank A. Coffin (acting), 1942–1943; R. L. Odom, 1943–1946; Stanley C. Harris, 1946–1950; R. E. Finney, Jr., 1950–1957; Kenneth J. Holland, 1957–1984.