Researching Charles Russell

In July 1879, Russell began publishing a monthly religious magazine, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. In 1881, he co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society with William Henry Conley as president; in 1884 the corporation was officially registered, with Russell as president. Russell wrote many articles, books, tracts, pamphlets and sermons, totaling approximately 50,000 printed pages. From 1886 to 1904, he published a six-volume Bible study series originally titled Millennial Dawn, later renamed Studies in the Scriptures, nearly 20 million copies of which were printed and distributed around the world in several languages during his lifetime. (A seventh volume was commissioned by his successor as society president, Joseph Rutherford, and published in 1917.) The Watch Tower Society ceased publication of Russell's writings in 1927, though his books are still published by several independent groups.

After Russell's death, a crisis arose surrounding Rutherford's leadership of the society, culminating in a movement-wide schism. As many as three-quarters of the approximately 50,000 Bible Students who had been associating in 1917 had left by 1931. This shift resulted in the formation of several groups that retained variations on the name Bible Students. Those who maintained fellowship with the Watch Tower Society adopted the name Jehovah's witnesses in 1931, while those who severed ties with the Society formed their own groups including the Pastoral Bible Institute in 1918, the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement in 1919, and the Dawn Bible Students Association in 1929.

The C. M. Russell Museum Complex in Great Falls, Montana houses more than 2,000 Russell artworks, personal objects, and artifacts. Other major collections are held at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth. His mural Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians hangs in the state capitol building in Helena, and his 1918 painting Piegans sold for $5.6 million at a 2005 auction. In 1955, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Born in New York City, Russell made his debut in an uncredited part as a ball player in Ladies' Day (1943). His last film was Chinatown at Midnight (1949). He originated the role of insurance investigator Johnny Dollar in the CBS Radio series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar in 1949, playing the role until being replaced by Edmond O'Brien in 1950.

Russell married fellow 20th Century-Fox contract player Nancy Guild in 1947, and they had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1949. They divorced in 1950.

Russell died in Beverly Hills, California.

The son of Charles Russell and Mary Drover, he was born in Bay Roberts and was educated there and at the Central Training School in St. John's. From 1890 to 1895, Russell apprenticed as a printer with the Evening Telegram. He next worked as a clerk and then moved to Toronto, where he worked in real estate and printing. In 1901, he married Frances M. Pike. Little returned to Newfoundland in 1908 and bought a small printing plant from Harris and Wesley Mosdell in 1909, establishing the Bay Roberts Guardian in July of that year. Russell ran unsuccessfully for the Newfoundland assembly as an independent candidate in 1919. He was elected to the assembly in 1924 as a Liberal-Conservative. Russell was named to the Newfoundland cabinet as Minister of Public Works. He resigned from the government in 1926 due to disagreements about policy and sat as an independent until 1928. He did not run for reelection. After leaving politics, he wrote newspaper articles that advocated honesty in government and better roads for the outports.

Russell was a freemason and member of the Orange Order in Bay Roberts. He later married Otilia A. Leitland. He died in Bay Roberts at the age of 60.

The Bay Roberts Guardian was published weekly from July 1909 to July 1949; publication was suspended from October 27, 1920 to January 12, 1923. It was known simply as the Guardian until November 11, 1939; after that, it was called the Bay Roberts Guardian. The newspaper remained in the Russell family until it ceased operation in 1949.