New and Living Way Publishing
The New and Living Way Publishing Company was established at Nashville, Tennessee in 1923. Founded by Mary Lena Lewis Tate and Felix Early Lewis, the publishing facility initially published church literature, song ballads, and missives from the Founder. In October, 1983, the M.L. Tate, W.C. and F.E. Lewis Foundation entered an agreement with the Moorland-Spingharn Research Center at Howard University, Washington, D.C.(see Howard University Libraries Home Page), which established the center as the repository for the personal papers, historical documents, and artifacts of the publishing house, the founders, and archieval materials relating to the church. The Moorland-Spingharn Center contains one of the largest collections of African-American History and literature in the United States. Historical literature about the Church can also be found in other important African-American History collections and major libraries across the country.
PUBLISHING HOUSE HISTORY
The church's first General Headquarters was established when, in 1923, the Founder and First Chief Overseer, Bishop Mary Lena Lewis Tate, commissioned Bishops F.E. Lewis and B.L. McLeod to locate suitable properties in Nashville, Tennessee upon which to construct and operate Church physical facilities. With the help of God, these two bishops located and negotiated the purchase of a plot of land containing eleven 50 x 140 ft. city lots on Heiman Street. The property, located at 1915 Heiman Street, was known as the old "Fairfax property" and was purchased from a Dr. Henry H. Fairfax of Birmingham, Alabama. The bishops were able to report to the Chief Overseer the suitability of the location for General Headquarters operations. The land contained the old brick structure (pictured) composed of five very large rooms. This building was renovated for use as the publishing house.
Thus, The New and Living Way Publishing Company, the first Pentecostal publishing company in the United States, was established on the aforementioned site, originally as the publishing facility for the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. (see The Church of the Living God). The company served as the primary source of information about the Church, church history, and the doctrine of True Holiness and Sanctification as espoused by Mary Lena Lewis Tate (1871-1930), Founder. Missives, pamphlets, brochures, church music, and other literature were produced.
PRESENT TRUTH GOSPEL PREACHER NEWSLETTER
From around 1923 through the early 1940s, the Church operated the New and Living Way Publishing Company supplying the general church with Sunday Bible School literature, music, the publication of three periodicals (The Present Truth Gospel Preacher, Another Comforter, and The Official Organ), a Church General Decree Book (1924), and other printed materials. The publishing house contained two large printing presses, paper cutters, print type and type-setting equipment, and considerable other office equipment and furniture. Because of financial exigencies and property litigation, formal operations were suspended around 1944.
Business Description: Publishers of Church literature and other religious printed materials. Archivial of Church historical documents and documentation.
[Note: The NLW Pub. Co. is not a retail bookseller. Its publications are available to churches, schools, libraries, researchers, other non-profit entities, and retailers. Be sure to identify your entity. Others please contact your retail bookstore.