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Ahead of the ecumenical curve
Gift of war hero grad’s rare Bibles forms core of STH library’s collection

By Dawn Piscitello

“The chaplain is a man of many talents -- or is supposed to be.” Clyde E. Kimball wrote these words while serving his country as a chaplain in World War II. His diary tells of the varied and challenging duties of that post and only occasionally expresses weariness or displeasure. The Reverend Kimball (STH’33) was indeed a man of many talents, distinguished for his strong spiritual leadership and for his alternate role as the unofficial librarian of his regiment, the 1128th Engineer Combat Group of the U.S. Army. He died ministering to his flock in the Ardennes forest in 1944.

Reverend Clyde E. Kimball (STH’33), from the frontispiece of his book, A Diary of My Work Overseas, printed in Nashua, N.H., in 1947.

Kimball graduated from the School of Theology in 1933 and was a member of the New Hampshire Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In June 1941 he entered the army as a chaplain, serving in France, Holland, Belgium, England, and Luxembourg. He performed the traditional duties of a chaplain, but with a degree of energy and devotion that surprised chaplains from other regiments. His monthly report for April 1943 reveals that through preaching or Communion services, hospital visits, and personal interviews, he had contact with 8,836 individuals. By the end of 1943, he reportedly had given over 500 services. Resourcefulness was often necessary, and Kimball improvised when certain elements of worship were lacking. He described his 1944 Good Friday service in a Congregational village church in England as a “mingling of faiths”: 150 African-American soldiers sang spirituals and wine was borrowed from a Catholic priest and “wafers from some Episcopalians.”

In a typical day Kimball gave two to three services (sometimes traveling 40 miles through bad weather in an open Jeep), held Bible study groups, attended prescribed exercise drills, provided spiritual direction and counseling for individual soldiers, and while in Iceland, gave sermons on Radio Reykjavik.

	Engraving of the sacrifice of Isaac from a 1644 Icelandic Bible, purchased in Iceland in 1943 by Kimball. The flyleaf is inscribed, “Anything dearly enough bought is worth its price.”

Village priest from afar
Kimball’s ministry was not limited to his regiment. The local civilian population in the various villages and cities where he was stationed sometimes attended his services, and his fluency in French and familiarity with Icelandic attracted the natives. Local people expressed their affection and respect by requesting that he sign their Bibles. Some even gave him their Bibles (a few of which were rare) out of gratitude.

In addition to his consuming religious duties, Kimball served as his regiment’s unofficial librarian; he was responsible for obtaining and distributing Bibles and prayer books to the soldiers. During National Bible Week in October 1943, his supply of Bibles disappeared “in short order.” Kimball found this especially gratifying; at home in New Hampshire, he had been a passionate bibliophile, seeking early New England imprints. Overseas, he continued collecting, rummaging through old-book shops and making contact with printers and dealers. After one particularly successful book-buying excursion in Luxembourg, he declared: “Guess Bibles are my whiskey.” He was most interested in rare Bibles with early European imprints.

Kimball was known throughout his regiment as a savvy collector, and in Luxembourg a few soldiers requested his assistance and expertise in finding older Bibles with local imprints to take back to the States. Acting as their agent, he bought a handful of “ancient” Bibles, two of which he kept for himself. Kimball’s book-buying excursions took place during brief periods of leave or when he went into town to purchase supplies for the soldiers. His diary entries are peppered with exhilarated references to his book pursuits and his antiquarian interests.

Title page of the Biblia Sacra, printed in Antwerp in 1574 at the firm of Christopher Plantin. It was purchased in Belgium by Kimball; the flyleaf is inscribed September 22, 1944.

He also had a great fondness for antiques and historic sites and his observations were invariably accompanied by concern for their state of preservation. During a stay at a Luxembourg chateau, for example, he wrote stiffly of any soldier who did not pause to admire the objects adorning the interior and penned heavy criticism of those who handled them carelessly. Kimball was interested in genealogical research as well. While on leave in England he visited his ancestral home (observing security regulations, he never wrote down the names of the villages or towns he visited) and carefully searched church records dating as far back as 1562.

Kimball’s wartime book-hunting yielded a handful of superior finds. In London during January 1944 he acquired two such treasures, a Latin Bible printed at Venice in 1497 and the famous “Treacle Bible” of 1568, so called because the word treacle is used instead of balm. He came across both books by scouring old bookshops, but these exertions were accompanied by other footwork. On the day he found the Venice and Treacle bibles, he visited the British Museum for some bibliographic research before making any purchases. His markedly careful and methodical manner enabled Kimball to develop a small (about 150 volumes) but distinguished rare Bible collection.

A matter of life -- and death
Kimball died during the Battle of the Bulge on December 19, 1944. During battles, he brought personal supplies and offered spiritual comfort to detachments of isolated soldiers, an obviously dangerous duty. Amidst fierce combat, he set out to help rescue a group of wounded soldiers unable to get medical attention, and he was mortally wounded by German gunfire. Kimball was awarded the Silver Star for his gallant service and the Purple Heart.

	Engraving of creation from a Dutch Bible, printed in 1553. Kimball purchased it in Belgium; the flyleaf is inscribed September 22, 1944.

Although Kimball sent many of his most cherished Bibles home to his wife as he acquired them (with much anxiety over their safe arrival), many were still among his personal effects at the time of his death. A sympathy letter from Colonel George C. Reinhardt to Kimball’s wife, Ellen, makes particular reference to the Bibles, reinforcing their importance to the heroic chaplain.
In 1947, Ellen Kimball donated the Bibles to the School of Theology in memory of her husband and of George L. Fox and Raymond L. Hall, two other chaplains who gave their lives in World War II. Clyde E. Kimball’s collection forms the core of the School of Theology Library’s collection of early Bibles.

Dawn Piscitello is research collections librarian at the Boston University School of Theology Library.

25 October 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations