The End of BAR’s First Year

002

It’s hard to believe that with this issue the BAR has completed its first year of publication.

For those who have been intimately involved in its creation, probably no other year will be as challenging as this one has been. Now we’ve made it. The potential has been made actual. In short, we’re a success.

We’ve proved that there is an abundance of exciting material that can he made understandable to the non-professional, without sacrificing accuracy or depth. And we’ve proved that there is a wide readership of people who are as eager and enthusiastic about this material as we are.

A year ago we thought this would be the case, but we weren’t sure. Now we know. But the lingering doubt is what made the year so challenging.

We venture to guess that there is no other magazine whose readers are as much a part of the communication process as ours are. It’s definitely a two-way street. And this gives those of us who put out the BAR a special dedication to our readers. We know you’re there.

The most difficult problem we’ve had during the year has been with the mails. So many people wrote us that they didn’t get the magazine that after the second issue, we sent a first-class postcard to the entire segment of subscribers involved asking them to return the postcard if they failed to receive either or both issues. Almost 8% of the recipients returned the card indicating that they had failed to receive one or both issues. Copies were promptly sent to these people.

However, the added expense and aggravation resulting from this mail problem had a silver lining in a way. Many of the people who received our postcard and who had received both issues took the occasion to write us how much they enjoyed them. Many (like Joseph Suozzi of Northvale, New Jersey) thanked us for being concerned enough to send the postcard. Others commented on the magazine: “Enjoy it immensely” (David Wolf, Bayonne, New Jersey) was as a common theme. Others 032expressed themselves in a similar vein: “I am most pleased with the Review. I found the articles interesting and informative, and, as a layman, had no difficulty understanding them” (Olive Brewster, San Antonio, Texas). “I thoroughly enjoyed the first issue of the BAR, and the second even more so” (Richard Bates, Arlington, Massachusetts). “Interesting and worthwhile” (Mary Miller, Annandale, Virginia). “Most informative” (George Sexton, Ventura, California). “Great reading” (Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Cruff, Detroit, Michigan). “Unbiased sound scholarship” (Toyozo W. Nakarai, Milligan College, Tennessee). “Good report” (Carl Stricklin, Massachusetts Bible Society, Boston, Massachusetts).

One reader wrote, “At 88, I enjoy your new magazine very much and will continue until I get too old to dream” (Rev. George C. Pullman, Miami, Florida).

A common closing to many of these notes was “Keep up the good work” (Pastor Gregory Morony, San Joaquin, California; Dr. Charles F. Pfeiffer, Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Karl G. Mohr, East Meadow, New York; Rev. Rene Minshew, Leesburg, Florida; W. E. Taylor, Jr., Miami, Florida; H. Arnold Karo, Bethesda, Maryland).

On the other side, we received two subscription cancellations, and a letter from Joan Sievers of Pembroke Pines, Florida, who felt “thoroughly disappointed” and “thoroughly ripped off”, she found the BAR a “Mickey Mouse publication” that was “next to worthless.”

Many readers have written us about subjects they would like to see discussed in future issues, and we have made careful note of them. We were pleased to see that we had anticipated some of them. For example, Mrs. D. M. Guthrie of Las Vegas, Nevada wanted to know more about the ten lost tribes and whether they might have been absorbed, a subject which we dealt with in our third issue. Irving Hirsch of Brooklyn, New York, wanted suggestions for a basic archaeological library, the subject of an article which Professor West had already written for the current issue. Dr. Agustin Torres of Dearborn, Michigan, wanted something on the archaeological evidence for the miracle of the Red Sea, and we had already prepared a report for our third issue on the alleged drowning of the Exodus Pharaoh. In the current issue, we have begun to satisfy a number of requests (Leslie Reggel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; M. C. Brand Levittown, Pennsylvania) for material on the Dead Sea Scrolls. More will come.

Which brings us to the future. In one short sentence, the material for next year already in hand assures an even more exciting, controversial, and stimulating BAR than this year’s has been. We look forward to it. We hope you do too.

It’s hard to believe that with this issue the BAR has completed its first year of publication.
For those who have been intimately involved in its creation, probably no other year will be as challenging as this one has been. Now we’ve made it. The potential has been made actual. In short, we’re a success.