Anna Branch Binford
Lecturer on Sunday School Pedagogy, 1914 to 1921
In the words of Elizabeth Allen Appleby, class of 1930: "Anna Branch Binford was the most incredible person I ever had classes under." She taught the Vacation Bible School skills that we used during the summer field work. "She had many mannerism, that were very annoying, she always wore a hat in class, she had a way of pulling down her hat like (I assume a downward motion) that when she got ready to make a point. One time my husband to be and I were having lunch in the Miller Rhoads tearoom and I looked across and there was Anna Branch ( pronounced with an English accent), as she called herself, I punched him (he had heard me talk about Anna Branch and her eccentricities) and I said, 'who is that?' He answered, 'Anna Branch Binford' - he had never seen her before.
Anna Branch Binford was one of the first full time faculty members of ATS (1914-20) and continued to give yearly lectures up until 1936. From 1909 to 1936, she worked for Presbyterian Publications located at 6 N. 6th Street, Richmond, as the full-time editor of "Onward", a weekly publication for teenagers. She was also the editor of the Intermediate Quarterly to the Uniform Series, wrote lesson materials for all the periodicals in the Young People's Division and was assigned a large portion of the field visitations. In a report entitled "Appointment of Women to Official Positions" prepared by the Presbyterian Committee of Publications (PCP) it states that she was hired for her " knowledge of the interest and capacities of the adolescent age group, plus teaching ability, and a thorough knowledge of the Bible and an acquaintance with the work of our church."
The following is an excerpt from Anna Branch Binford's unpublished autobiography "For the next strenuous five years my life was crowded with work and play, all of which brought me pleasure. Dr. Phillips and I were doing stenuous work at the Assembly's Training School at the corner of Westwood and Chamberlayne. In those days transportation via streetcars was a difficult and slow proposition, with transfers and waits galore. This meant hard labor but was, I trust, worth what we put into it. For this work Dr. Phillips and I received no compensation except the satisfaction of starting what we believed was worthwhile. When salaries were paid at the Assembly's Training School, I was glad to shift the teaching of materials and methods in the Young People's Division of the Church to others with more time for the job. For the job that I had at the Committee was taking all that I had and then some."
Another story about Anna Branch Binford comes to us via the report prepared by the PCP: "She (Miss Binford) rendered a service of inestimable value, and at the time when the Church was strongly opposed to women speaking in public before mixed audiences. A typical experience occurred in the church of a good brother who was so careful lest his women should transgress the tradition (not the law) of the Church that he would not permit the Ladies Aid to conduct their own devotionals, but was always present to lead in audible prayer. A conference for leaders of Sunday School and Young People's Work (led by Miss Binford) was arranged for his church rather against the wishes of Pastor and Session. As a compromise the women workers were segregated and met in a basement where a frail wooden partition divided the barn-like space into two rooms. The subject was, "Training the Boys and Girls for Service", and it was so vital for the men as well as the women it was discovered such a throng of men gathered around the doors and windows outside the room, that they almost broke down the flimsy partition, much to the horror of the conscientious Pastor. Such days are happily behind us."
Anna Branch Binford was one of the first full time faculty members of ATS (1914-20) and continued to give yearly lectures up until 1936. From 1909 to 1936, she worked for Presbyterian Publications located at 6 N. 6th Street, Richmond, as the full-time editor of "Onward", a weekly publication for teenagers. She was also the editor of the Intermediate Quarterly to the Uniform Series, wrote lesson materials for all the periodicals in the Young People's Division and was assigned a large portion of the field visitations. In a report entitled "Appointment of Women to Official Positions" prepared by the Presbyterian Committee of Publications (PCP) it states that she was hired for her " knowledge of the interest and capacities of the adolescent age group, plus teaching ability, and a thorough knowledge of the Bible and an acquaintance with the work of our church."
The following is an excerpt from Anna Branch Binford's unpublished autobiography "For the next strenuous five years my life was crowded with work and play, all of which brought me pleasure. Dr. Phillips and I were doing stenuous work at the Assembly's Training School at the corner of Westwood and Chamberlayne. In those days transportation via streetcars was a difficult and slow proposition, with transfers and waits galore. This meant hard labor but was, I trust, worth what we put into it. For this work Dr. Phillips and I received no compensation except the satisfaction of starting what we believed was worthwhile. When salaries were paid at the Assembly's Training School, I was glad to shift the teaching of materials and methods in the Young People's Division of the Church to others with more time for the job. For the job that I had at the Committee was taking all that I had and then some."
Another story about Anna Branch Binford comes to us via the report prepared by the PCP: "She (Miss Binford) rendered a service of inestimable value, and at the time when the Church was strongly opposed to women speaking in public before mixed audiences. A typical experience occurred in the church of a good brother who was so careful lest his women should transgress the tradition (not the law) of the Church that he would not permit the Ladies Aid to conduct their own devotionals, but was always present to lead in audible prayer. A conference for leaders of Sunday School and Young People's Work (led by Miss Binford) was arranged for his church rather against the wishes of Pastor and Session. As a compromise the women workers were segregated and met in a basement where a frail wooden partition divided the barn-like space into two rooms. The subject was, "Training the Boys and Girls for Service", and it was so vital for the men as well as the women it was discovered such a throng of men gathered around the doors and windows outside the room, that they almost broke down the flimsy partition, much to the horror of the conscientious Pastor. Such days are happily behind us."
