Biography of Berenice Myers Shotwell
Berenice M. Shotwell was born in Chicago in 1894 and spent her childhood in Berwyn, Illinois. A lifelong student of the Bible, she augmented her biblical scholarship through studies at the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. She married in 1919 and relocated to the East Coast, where she raised a family. Beginning in 1934, Mrs. Shotwell presented her nondenominational Bible Course, Getting Better Acquainted with Your Bible, for over fifty years in cities from coast to coast.
The audio recording of her lectures was made in 1976 and has been in continuous demand since that time. As an outgrowth of her own ongoing research and her travels in the Holy Land, Mrs. Shotwell also published an award-winning guide to the Bible in book form in 1972. It too is titled Getting Better Acquainted with Your Bible, though the content of the book supplements rather than repeats the material in the audio course.
After living in New York for many years, she moved to the home she had built to her own specifications in Kennebunkport, Maine. She continued her studying and teaching from that base until her passing in 1990.
Under the terms of her will, Mrs. Shotwell established the fund that now bears the name The Berenice M. Shotwell Endowed Student Aid Fund. Its purpose is to provide scholarships for worthy young men and women undertaking a religious education. It was the hope of the original Trustees of the Fund that the recipients may, through sharing in Mrs. Shotwell’s generosity, gain a sense of the love and dedication that was a hallmark of her life work.
Two Further Special Testimonials to the Work of Berenice Myers Shotwell
The archives of Shadwold Press hold many enthusiastic responses to Berenice Myers Shotwell’s work in unfolding the history and structure of the Bible. The following are just a few that may be of interest to her students.
The famed spiritual teacher L. Ivimy Gwalter wrote Berenice Myers Shotwell in November 1972 to say:
Your beautiful book on the Bible is giving us such joy that I cannot wait to tell you. Norma Beyer, the dear friend who shares the home with me, ordered one which came a few days ago, and we are reading it aloud. We are both thrilled with it; the beauty of the text, your spiritual concept of your subject, and the make-up of the book itself are so satisfying. In reading it I feel the same glow and inspiration I felt in taking your course those many years ago!
Thank you so much for the love and devotion you have put into this publication.
P.S. I am tonight ordering 3 more copies to send to friends.
She wrote again in 1975:
Thought the enclosed from a young man, studying at . . . for the chaplaincy, would interest you. I agree with his estimate of the book!
The archives still have the slip of paper that Ms. Gwalter enclosed. It reads:
Thanks so much for recommending Berenice Shotwell's Getting Better Acquainted with Your Bible. I bought the book and it's terrific! Hope to get through it before July 1976--a rather bold goal for studying with such a monumental book.
Another note, from someone believed to be a relative of the famed Mary Beecher Longyear, is written on an undated slip of paper, perhaps enclosed with the original payment for a copy of the book:
I am so pleased and astonished. I received my book on Monday. I have been turning pages ever since; now I am ready to begin. I am overwhelmed at God's goodness to me. I have often thru the years longed for just such a book & here I have it. [Signed] Mrs. Longyear
