B. J. (Bert Joseph) Griswold

Born in 1873, Bert Joseph Griswold is best remembered as a Fort Wayne writer, illustrator, and local historian. Records of his books show that he published Crayon and Character in 1913, a guide to short illustrated talks with colored chalks, and went on to compile and illustrate The Griswold-Phelps Handbook and Guide to Fort Wayne, Indiana and the substantial Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A local history profile describes him as originally from Iowa and says he moved with his wife to Fort Wayne in 1902. There he worked as a cartoonist for the Fort Wayne Daily News and the Fort Wayne Sentinel, later started an advertising agency, and developed his growing interest in the history of Fort Wayne and Allen County.

His best-known work reflects that blend of artist and historian: a large-scale history of Fort Wayne that combined narrative with halftone images, pen drawings, and maps made by Griswold himself. He died in 1927, but his books remain useful to readers interested in regional history and in older forms of visual teaching.