Forty-five scrapbooks consisting primarily of newsclippings obtained from various clipping bureaus regarding the founding of Zion City and John Alexander Dowie, his followers, his evangelization, and spiritual healing.

Dating mainly from 1899-1907, the scrapbooks document the building of Zion and its manufacturing industries including lace, candy, cookie, and furniture making, and its economic problems. They also cover Dowie's evangelical ministry, and his widely publicized New York and around the world "visitations." Such sensational elements as Dowie's proclaiming himself to be the prophet Elijah, and the suffering and death of his daughter Esther who received no medical treatment after being severely burned in a fire, are featured. Also mentioned is the death of D.L. Moody and Carrie Nation's connection with the church. A few loose issues of "The Zion Battle Axe" and printed pamphlets are also inserted in the scrapbooks.

Originally a variety of categories of scrapbooks were kept, including "Secular", "Religious", "Chicago", "Foreign", and others. Because spine labels are now almost totally faded and/or unreadable due to aging and wear, and because many volumes are lacking, it was not possible to reconstitute the original classifications. Where readable, the original labeling has been included in quotes in the folder-level descriptions.

Scrapbooks also available on microfilm at the Newberry Library.