B. J. (Bert Joseph) Griswold

Born in 1873 and identified in library and public-domain records as Bert Joseph Griswold, B. J. Griswold was an American writer and illustrator whose published work is closely tied to Indiana, especially Fort Wayne. Surviving catalog records show him as the author of Some Fort Wayne phizes (1904), The Griswold-Phelps handbook and guide to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for 1913-1914, and The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1917).

His best-known book for many modern readers is Crayon and Character: Truth Made Clear Through Eye and Ear (1913). In its foreword, Griswold describes his own background in newspaper writing and illustration, which helps explain the book’s brisk, visual style. It was written as a guide to "chalk talks" for Christian teachers, parents, and speakers, blending simple drawing techniques with short moral lessons.

The available sources confirm his lifespan as 1873–1927, but they offer only a limited personal biography. Even so, the works that remain suggest a versatile figure: part journalist, part illustrator, part local historian, and a teacher at heart who liked to make ideas clear, visual, and memorable.