Pearl Collections

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Description:
The Ballston Female Heathen School Society was founded in 1817 by fifty-seven women from the Ballston region of New York to support the work of the Princeton Theological Seminary and American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions' (ABCFM) work in Brainerd, North Carolina and Ceylon. Its scope later broadened to include support for mission work in Beirut, Syria, Iran, and with Native Americans near Detroit. The collection includes the Society’s constitution, annual reports, a subscriber roll with contributions, acknowledgments of contributions, and correspondence from recipients of support. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Ballston Female Heathen School Society constitution, 1817.
Creator:
Ballston Female Heathen School Society.
Subject names:
Ballston Female Heathen School Society., American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions., Princeton Theological Seminary.
Topics:
Women in missionary work., Women--Societies and clubs.
Geographic subjects:
Ballston (N.Y. : Town)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg422
Description:
Born as Sarah Belknap Sherwood, Belle Hawkes was appointed to the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. East Persia Mission in 1883. In 1884, she married the Reverend James W. Hawkes, also of the East Persia Mission. Stationed in Hamadān for 36 years, she ministered to the needs of Armenian, Jewish, and Muslim women and children. Her home became a center of missionary service and hospitality to the flow of travelers between Tehran and Baghdad. She died in service in 1919. The collection consists primarily of Belle Hawkes' outgoing correspondence addressed to her family during her years in Hamadān, and her diaries. It also contains photographs of the East Persia missionaries, including Belle herself. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Belle Hawkes on her pet horse.
Creator:
Hawkes, Belle, 1854-1919. (creator), Hawkes, James W. (creator)
Subject names:
Hawkes, Belle, 1854-1919--Archives., Hawkes, Belle, 1854-1919--Diaries., Hawkes, James W., Sherwood, Margaret Pollock, 1864-1955.
Topics:
Women missionaries--Iran., Missionaries--Iran., Women missionaries--Iran--Diaries.
Geographic subjects:
Iran--Missions.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg116
Description:
In 1836, Henry Harmon and Eliza Hart Spalding, under appointment by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to the Osage Indians, met Marcus Whitman and were persuaded to go to the Northwest as Presbyterian missionaries. The Spaldings and Whitmans made a hazardous six months journey, the wives being the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains. The Spaldings established a mission among the Nez Percé in the Lapwai Valley (present Idaho). They opened a school, set up the first printing press in the Northwest, and trained the Indians in farming. In 1847, they escaped the massacre which claimed the lives of the Whitmans. The collection consists of eight original letters by Henry and Eliza Spalding to family members. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Portrait of Henry Harmon Spalding by Matthew Brady, 1871.
Creator:
Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874. (creator), Spalding, Eliza Hart, 1807-1851. (creator)
Subject names:
Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874., Spalding, Eliza Hart, 1807-1851., American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Topics:
Indians of North America--Missions.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:spalding
Description:
Phineas Gurley was born in 1816 in Hamilton, N.Y. Gurley served as chaplain of the United States Senate in 1858 and as moderator of the General Assembly in 1867. He is perhaps best remembered for having been the pastor in attendance at the deathbed of Abraham Lincoln and for the sermon he preached at the President's funeral. The Phineas Densmore Gurley Papers include photographs, correspondence, and manuscript sermons, including a facsimile and transcript of "Faith in God," the sermon Gurley preached at the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, and a transcript of the sermon he preached at the funeral of Lincoln's young son, William. View the collection guide to learn more. The entire physical collection has been digitized.
Featured image: Portrait of Reverend Phineas D. Gurley. Photographed byJohn Goldin and Company, 1867.
Creator:
Gurley, P. D. (Phineas Densmore), 1816-1868. (creator)
Subject names:
Gurley, P. D. (Phineas Densmore), 1816-1868., Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865., Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (Old School). General Assembly (79th : 1867 : Cincinnati, Ohio), Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (Old School). General Assembly. Moderator (1867-1868 : Gurley), F Street Presbyterian Church (Washington, D.C.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:gurley
Description:
Born in February 1837, Rachel Kerr Johnson and her husband William F. (Will) Johnson served as Presbyterian missionaries in the northwestern provinces of India from 1860-1884. Upon their return to the United States, Rachel became a frequent speaker at women's missionary society meetings in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. She died in 1888 of injuries sustained in a buggy accident. The collection consists of correspondence from Rachel Kerr Johnson to her family members from 1856, her first year at the Female Seminary in Steubenville, Ohio, until 1888. Her letters reveal the dynamics of family relations and provide colorful descriptions and keen insight about India and mission life. The collection includes a few letters written by her husband Will (William F.) and daughters Mary (Mary Ella) and Jane (Jennie). View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Rachel Kerr Johnson correspondence, 1886-1888.
Start date:
1854
Creator:
Johnson, Rachel Kerr, 1837-1888., Johnson, William F., 1838-1926., Johnson, Mary Ella, 1864-, Johnson, Jane, 1870-
Subject names:
Johnson, Rachel Kerr, 1837-1888--Archives., Kerr, Frank., Kerr, Samuel., Kerr, Stella., Johnson, Edwin, 1865-1890., Biddle University., Steubenville Female Seminary.
Topics:
Missions--Presbyterian Church--India., Evangelistic work--India., Female seminaries--Ohio--Steubenville., Returned missionaries--Charlotte.--North Carolina, Women in missionary work--India--19th century., Women missionaries--India--19th century.
Geographic subjects:
India., Steubenville (Ohio)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg392
Description:
Thomas LeRoy Kirkpatrick was a Presbyterian missionary to Iran and a United States Navy chaplain. He was appointed to the PCUSA West Persia Mission, sailing for Tabriz in 1911. Kirkpatrick undertook evangelistic work in Tabriz and Urumiyah and traveled in present-day Armenia and Azerbaijan and elsewhere in the Caucasus. He remained in Iran until 1915. From 1918 to 1941 he served as a United States Navy chaplain. Kirkpatrick died on the USS Arizona in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. This collection includes Kirkpatrick's photographs of Iran.
Featured image: Thomas Kirkpatrick photograph album, no. 2, North West view from Ark, ca. 1911-1914.
Creator:
Kirkpatrick, Thomas LeRoy, 1887-1941. (photographer)
Subject names:
Kirkpatrick, Thomas LeRoy, 1887-1941--Archives., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. West Persia Mission.
Topics:
Missionaries--Iran., Missions--Iran.
Geographic subjects:
Iran--Description and travel.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:tlkirkpatrick

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