Religious News Service Photographs

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About this Collection

Conceived by journalist Louis Minsky (1909-1957), Religious News Service (RNS) was established in 1934 as an affiliated but independently managed agency of the National Conference of Jews and Christians (later the National Conference of Christians and Jews), and was dedicated to providing authoritative and bias-free news about religion and ethics to both the secular and religious press. This collection contains photographs documenting Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish groups. Coverage of Protestants (especially mainline Protestants) and Catholics constitutes the bulk of the images. View the collection guide to learn more. Digitization of some of the images in this collection made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Featured image: Father James Groppi, the civil rights activist priest from Milwaukee, and militant leader Rennie Davis are taken into custody during an anti war demonstration a block from the White House.

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Title:
Churchman gets ready for cold.
Creator:
Wide World Photos, Inc. (publisher)
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Foch, Martin C., National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America., Elmendorf Air Force Base (Alaska)
Topics:
Christmas., Interdenominational cooperation., Military chaplains--Alaska--Anchorage.
Geographic subjects:
Anchorage (Alaska)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288247
Title:
Dr. Blake in Alaska.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-20060. DR. BLAKE IN ALASKA. ANCHORAGE, ALASKA -- Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, President of the National Council of Churches, is fitted with arctic gear at Elmendorf Air Force Base here during his Christmas visit to American servicemen and chaplains of the Alaskan command. Assisting him is Chaplain (Col.) Martin C. Foch of the Alaskan Command. Dr. Blake made the journey as spiritual ambassador of the National Council's 30 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Communions and their 144,000 local churches. The visit marks the third consecutive year that he has spent the Christmas holidays with the men in the armed forces. CREDIT MUST READ: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (W-12C-56-NAB-P)
Creator:
Wide World Photos, Inc. (publisher)
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Foch, Martin C., National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America., Elmendorf Air Force Base (Alaska)
Topics:
Christmas., Interdenominational cooperation., Military chaplains--Alaska--Anchorage.
Geographic subjects:
Anchorage (Alaska)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:288246
Title:
As World Mission Assembly got under way.
Description:
Dr. Ralph E. Diffendorfer receives gavel from Dr. Toru Matsumoto at the World Mission Assembly held by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
Creator:
Trayte.
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Foreign Missions Conference of North America., Diffendorfer, Ralph E. (Ralph Eugene), 1879-1951., Matsumoto, Tōru.
Topics:
Interdenominational cooperation--Ohio--Columbus., Missions--Interdenominational cooperation., Meetings--Ohio--Columbus., Religious leaders--Ohio--Columbus.
Geographic subjects:
Columbus (Ohio)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:146244
Title:
World Mission Assembly in session.
Description:
General view of the World Mission Assembly held by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
Creator:
Trayte.
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
Topics:
Interdenominational cooperation--Ohio--Columbus., Missions--Interdenominational cooperation., Meetings--Ohio--Columbus.
Geographic subjects:
Columbus (Ohio)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:146237
Title:
East meets West at Mission Assembly.
Description:
Harold E. Stassen meets with Dr. Hilda Lazarus of India at the World Mission Assembly held by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America.
Creator:
Trayte.
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Foreign Missions Conference of North America., Stassen, Harold E. (Harold Edward), 1907-2001., Lazarus, Hilda Mary., 1890-1978.
Topics:
Interdenominational cooperation--Ohio--Columbus., Missions--Interdenominational cooperation., Meetings--Ohio--Columbus., Religious leaders--Ohio--Columbus.
Geographic subjects:
Columbus (Ohio)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:146228
Title:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Fifth General Synod of the United Church of Christ.
Description:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers a speech on the church's role in the Civil Rights Movement on July 6, 1965, at the Fifth General Synod of the United Church of Christ held in Chicago, Illinois, July 1-7, 1965. This speech marked the first time King used the phrase "we shall overcome."
Subject names:
United Church of Christ. General Synod., King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Civil rights--Religious aspects.--Christianity., Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.
Geographic subjects:
Chicago (Ill.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:143453
Title:
Bethlehem Lutheran Sunday Service.
Creator:
Padersen. (photographer)
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Lutheran church buildings--United States., Public worship--Lutheran Church
Geographic subjects:
United States.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:139023
Title:
"Black Catholics Concerned."
Description:
'Black Catholics Concerned.' Washington, D.C. -- Black Roman Catholics across the country -- about 1 million -- are being asked to contribute to a special collection on Sunday, Oct. 8, as part of a "Black Catholics Concerned" program sponsored by the National Office of Black Catholics (NOBC). The campaign is seeking to support several major programs being developed by the NOBC, including recruiting black vocations to religious life, developing black Catholic lay leadership, underwriting continuing education for black nuns, priests and Brothers, and the establishment of a national training center for black priests. This panel illustrates the aims of the campaign. Top left -- A black layman at prayer. One of the aims of the program is the development of strong black Catholic lay leadership. Top center -- Brother Anthony Clark, S.V.D. (center), tells two young men about the religious life at the Society of the Divine Word's recruiting booth at Black Expo in Chicago. A successful campaign will enable black Catholics, for the first time, to develop their own direct effort to encourage more vocations from among black Catholics. Top right -- Using a tiger pelt as an altar cloth, Father Kenneth Brigham, Father George Clements and Father Dominic Caromon (left to right) celebrate a "black unity Mass" at Holy Angels church in Chicago. A goal of "Black Catholics Concerned" is to stimulate an authentic black contribution to Catholic worship. Bottom left -- Father Ivan Hughes, O.S.B., confers his first blessing after ordination to the priesthood at the Benedictine St. Pius X Monastery in Pevely, Mo. Through the establishment of a training center for priests, the program hopes to prepare black candidates for the priesthood. Bottom center -- Auxiliary Bishop Harold Perry of New Orleans (center), the nation's only black bishop, is principal celebrant at a Mass during a meeting of the National Black Sisters Conference in Pittsburgh. Black nuns bring the Offertory gifts to the altar. Continuing education programs for black religious is another of the program's aims. Bottom right -- Artists Eugene Edaw (left) and William Walker stand in front of the facade of Detroit's St. Bernard church, which they designed. The work depicts the struggle of blacks, including a painting showing a black Moses confronting a black Pharaoh, demanding that he "let my people go." Black Catholics are being urged to combine Afro-American cultural elements and their Catholic heritage in worship and the arts.
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Clark, Anthony., Brigham, Kenneth., Clements, George., Caromon, Dominic., Hughes, Ivan., Perry, Harold., Edaw, Eugene., Walker, William.
Topics:
African American Catholics., Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.
Geographic subjects:
Washington (D.C.), Chicago (Ill.), Pevely (Mo.), Pittsburgh (Pa.), Detroit (Mich.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:139022
Title:
A North Vietnamese nun.
Description:
Hanoi -- A North Vietnamese nun, Ntuyen Tkhi Choung, looks sadly at signs of war in Hanoi. The city's workers, unlike the nun, all bear arms. Ringed with anti-aircraft guns and missile sites, the city is on a constant alert for air raids.
Creator:
Daily express (London, England) (photographer)
Subject names:
Religious News Service, Archives.
Topics:
Nuns--Vietnam--Hanoi., War--Religious aspects--Catholic Church., Vietnam War, 1961-1975., War and society--Vietnam--Hanoi.
Geographic subjects:
Hanoi (Vietnam)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:139021
Title:
Pope marks Polish Christian millennium, 1966.
Description:
Vatican City -- Amid the grandeur of St. Peter's Basilica's main alter, Pope Paul VI addresses a huge congregation at a Mass marking the 1,000th anniversary of Christianity in Poland. Thousands of Polish pilgrims from various parts of the world were gathered in the basilica, along with many church and other dignitaries. Pope Paul criticized as "not justified" the Polish government's refusal to permit a papal visit to millennium observances.
Creator:
United Press International. (photographer)
Subject names:
1897-1978., VI, Paul, Pope, Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano., Religious News Service--Archives., Catholic Church--History--20th century.
Topics:
Christianity--Poland., Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages--Vatican City., Mass.
Geographic subjects:
Vatican City.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:139020
Title:
Famine in India.
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Famines--India.
Geographic subjects:
India.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:139019
Title:
Portrait of Reinhold Niebuhr.
Description:
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, vice president emeritus of New York's Union Theological Seminary.
Subject names:
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 1892-1971., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Theologians--United States--20th century.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:14456
Title:
March leaders confer with president.
Description:
The March chairmen spent an hour with the Chief Executive following the demonstration which drew over 200,000 people to the capital. Shown here, from left, are: Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson; Floyd B. McKissick, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality; Matthew Ahmann, executive director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; Whitney M. Young Jr., executive director of the National Urban League; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., founder and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; John Lewis (in rear), chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; Rabbi Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake (in rear), chief executive officer of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and acting chairman of the National Council of Churches' Commission on Religion and Race; A. Philip Randolph, founder and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, director of the March; President Kennedy, and Walter P. Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers Union.
Subject names:
Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963., Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973., McKissick, Floyd B. (Floyd Bixler), 1922-1991., Young, Whitney M., Lewis, John, 1940 February 21-, Prinz, Joachim, 1902-1988., King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968., March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963 : Washington, D.C.), Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Civil rights--Religious aspects., Civil rights demonstrations--Washington (D.C.)--1960-1970.
Geographic subjects:
Washington (D.C.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:12190
Title:
American churchmen visit Moscow gallery.
Description:
Moscow--American church leaders visit the Tretiakov Gallery here during their ten-day stay in the Soviet Union. Shown in front row are, left to right: Dr. Roswell P. Barnes of New York, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Charles C. Parlin of Englewood, N.J., a member of the National Council's general board; the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill of New York, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, president of the National Council; Bishop D. Ward Nichols of New York, head of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's First Episcopal District; Paul B. Anderson of New York, secretary of the YMCA International Committee; and Dr. Franklin Clark Fry of New York, president of the United Lutheran Church in America.
Creator:
Sovfoto/Eastfoto, Inc. (photographer)
Subject names:
Sherrill, Henry Knox, 1890-1980., Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Nichols, D. Ward (Decatur Ward), 1900-, Anderson, Paul B., 1894-1985., Fry, Franklin Clark, 1900-1968., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--Soviet Union.
Geographic subjects:
Soviet Union.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11060
Title:
Alexei gets American church gift.
Description:
Moscow--Patriarch Alexei, head of the Russian Orthodoc Church (right), was presented with this large silver chalice by a group of nine American Protestant leaders who were on a 10-day visit to Moscow. Shown translating the inscription on the cup is Paul B. Anderson of New York, a member of the visiting delegation, who speaks Russian. The trip was sponsored by the National Council of Churches at the invitation of Patriarch Alexei. Heading the delegation was Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, president of the National Council.
Creator:
Sovfoto/Eastfoto, Inc. (photographer)
Subject names:
Anderson, Paul B., 1894-1985., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--Soviet Union.
Geographic subjects:
Soviet Union.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11059
Title:
American churchmen sight-seeing in Moscow.
Description:
Moscow--Seven of nine American Protestant leaders on a ten-day visit to Moscow go sight-seeing in Red Square accompanied by a Russian Orthodox churchman and two interpreters. Left to right are: Charles C. Parlin of Englewood, N.J., an attorney; Dr. Roswell P. Barnes of New York, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. Franklin C. Fry of New York, President of the United Lutheran Church in America; the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill of New York, presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church; an unidentified interpreter; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, president of the National Council; Archimandrite Pemin of the Russian Orthodox Church; unidentified interpreter; Dr. Hubert Gezork of Newton Center, Mass., president of Andover Newtown Theological Seminary; and Paul B. Anderson of New York, secretary of the YMCA International Committee. The visit was sponsored by the National Council at the invitation of the Patriarch Alexei, head of the Russian church.
Creator:
Sovfoto/Eastfoto, Inc. (photographer)
Subject names:
Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Fry, Franklin Clark, 1900-1968., Sherrill, Henry Knox, 1890-1980., Gezork, Herbert Johannes, 1900-1984., Anderson, Paul B., 1894-1985., Religious News Service--Archives., National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--Soviet Union.
Geographic subjects:
Soviet Union.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11058
Title:
Protestant churchmen in Moscow.
Description:
Moscow--Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsky and Kolomna, second-ranking official of the Moscow patriarchate, greets Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, president of the National Council of Churches, on the arrival here of nine American church officials for a ten-day visit. Dr. Blake is head of the delegation. The trip was sponsored by the National Council at the invitation of patriarch Alexei of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The American visit will be returned in June by a Russian Orthodox group. While in Moscow, the churchmen will confer and seek to establish continuing with Christian leaders of the Soviet Union. (Clergymen in background not identified.)
Creator:
Sovfoto/Eastfoto, Inc. (photographer), Wide World Photos, Inc. (photographer)
Subject names:
Blake, Eugene Carson, 1906-1985., Nikolaĭ, Metropolitan of Krutit︠s︡y and Kolomna, 1892-1961, Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--Soviet Union.
Geographic subjects:
Soviet Union.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11057
Title:
Churchmen visiting Russia.
Description:
These nine American Protestant leaders left here March 9 to visit Moscow where they will hold talks with Christian leaders there. Their 10-day trip marks the first phase of a two-way visit that will bring Russian churchmen to this country next June as guests of the National Council of Churches. Shown left to right are: front row, Bishop D. Ward Nichols of New York, head of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's First Episcopal District; the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill of New York, presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal District; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA and president of the National Council; and Charles C. Parlin of Englewood, N.J. (Methodist), an attorney and member of the National Council's General Board. In rear: Dr. Walter W. Van Kirk of Mt. Vernon, N.Y. (Methodist), executive director of the National Council's Department of International Affairs; Dr. Herbet Gezork of Newton Center, Mass. (Baptist), president of Andover Newton Theological Seminary; Dr. Roswell P. Barnes of New York (Presbyterian), the National Council's associate general secretary; Dr. Franklin Clark Fry of New York, president of the United Lutheran Church in America; and Paul B. Anderson of New York (Congregational Christian), secretary of the YMCA International Committee.
Creator:
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. (photographer)
Subject names:
Blake, Eugene Carson, Nichols, D. Ward (Decatur Ward), 1900-, Sherrill, Henry Knox, 1890-1980., Van Kirk, Walter W. (Walter William), 1891-1956., Gezork, Herbert Johannes, 1900-1984., Fry, Franklin Clark, 1900-1968., Anderson, Paul B., 1894-1985., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--Soviet Union.
Geographic subjects:
Soviet Union.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11056
Title:
Iron Curtain gets Christmas programs.
Description:
New York--A special Christmas Day program broadcast to Poland by Radio Free Europe is recorded in a studio here by Polish-American children. Similar messages of sympathy and Christmas cheer were broadcast to Catholics and Protestants in other countries behind the Iron Curtain by RFE and the Voice of America. Among the countries receiving the programs were Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Creator:
Radio Free Europe. (photographer)
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Christmas radio programs--Poland., Children's radio programs--Poland., Communist countries.
Geographic subjects:
Poland.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11029
Title:
Autonomous church formed in East Africa.
Description:
Nairobi, Kenya Colony--An autonomous Presbyterian Church of East Africa was established at a simple ceremony in St. Andrew's Church here with the Rev. R.G.M. Calderwood elected as its first moderator. In this photo, Mr. Calderwood, a recognized expert on the Kikuyu Tribe, addresses the congregation after his election. The new United Church comprises the former (native) Presbyterian Church of East Africa and the Church of Scotland's Overseas Presbytery of Kenya Colony.
Creator:
Hawkins, Dudley. (photographer), Kenya Information Office. (photographer)
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church of East Africa., Religious News Service--Archives.
Topics:
Kikuyu (African people)
Geographic subjects:
Nairobi (Kenya)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:11028

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