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Description:Missionary correspondence written to the secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions documenting the mission work among Native Americans. Letters are official in nature but often contain personal comment and experiences. A smaller portion of the collection consists of reports, including school and mission station reports and statistics; financial statements, accounts, and vouchers; agreements/contracts; and maps. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Letter to F.F. Ellenwood from Herbert Welsh, November 11, 1887. Letter to F.F. Ellenwood from Herbert Welsh, November 11, 1887.Start date:1833End date:1950Subject names:Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions., Western Foreign Missionary Society., American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.Topics:Ojibwa Indians--Missions--19th century., Indians of North America--Missions--19th century., Presbyterian Church--Missions--19th century., Indians of North America--History--19th century.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg224
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Title:Description:Images of animals from the Presbyterian Historical Society's collection.Topics:Animals., Pets.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:animals
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Title:URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:audio_collection
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Title:Description:Images of church buildings.
Featured image: Church at Emerson Institute, Blackville, South Carolina.Topics:Church architecture., Church buildings., Presbyterian church buildings.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:churchbuildings
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Description:
The PCUSA's Board of Foreign Missions was organized in 1837 to convey the Gospel throughout the "heathen and anti-Christian world." This collection documents the Board of Foreign Mission's work through photographs, glass slides, and negatives. Subjects depicted include missionaries, mission stations, educational institutions, churches, medical facilities, projects and certain prominent events. The bulk of the collection is from the twentieth century.
Featured image: Korean conspiracy trial prisoners.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg223
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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
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Title:Description:The Leiper Family Papers document the professional and personal life of Henry Smith Leiper, and the lives of several of his family members. The collection includes photographs, audio, writings, and correspondence. The Carrell Leiper Hall autograph collection consists of letters written to Henry Smith Leiper by church leaders of many denominations, statesmen, philanthropists, and other notable public figures. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Portrait of Henry Smith Leiper.Creator:Leiper (Family : Leiper, Henry Smith, 1891-1975), Leiper, Henry Smith, 1891-1975. (author), Hall, Carrell Leiper, 1916-2006. (compiler), Leiper, Fanny Smith, 1863-1896. (artist)Subject names:Leiper, Henry Smith, 1891-1975Topics:Christian union., Communism and Christianity., Ecumenists--United States., Interdenominational cooperation., Missionaries--Oklahoma., Missionaries--China--20th century.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg490
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Title:Description:LGBTQIA+ history across the theological spectrum, including Presbyterian national agency records, personal papers, photographs, and oral histories collected as part of the LGBTQIA+ Collecting Initiative.
Featured image: Chicago Gay Pride Parade, 1987.Topics:Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church., Ordination of gays--Presbyterian Church., Ordination of lesbians--Presbyterian Church., Church work with gays--Presbyterian Church., Lesbian clergy--United States., Gay clergy--United States., Gay rights--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church., Sexual orientation--Religious aspects--Christianity., Christian sexual minorities--United States.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:lgbtqia
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Title:Description:Featured image: Presbyterian Church in the U.S. map of church extension, ca. 1950s.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:maps
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Title:Description:Dr. Divie Bethune McCartee (1820-1900) and his wife Juana M. Knight McCartee (d. 1906) served as missionaries in China and Japan for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions from 1844 until their retirement in 1900. Dr. McCartee served as a physician and also performed consular services. This collection consists primarily of the correspondence of Divie Bethune McCartee and his wife, Juana Knight McCartee, 1854-1906. The correspondence is mostly outgoing and includes letters to the Board of Foreign Missions, to Henry William Rankin, the McCartee's nephew, and to Franklin Knight, Juan McCartee's father. Also included is correspondence relating to Dr. McCartee's consular service. View the collection guide to learn more. The entire physical collection has been digitized.
Featured image: Portrait of Divie Bethune McCartee, 1843.Start date:1854End date:1906Creator:McCartee family. (creator)Subject names:Knight, Franklin., Rankin, Henry William., McCartee, Divie Bethune, 1820-1900., McCartee, Juana Knight, d. 1906., United States. Office of Consular Affairs., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Japan Mission.Topics:Diplomatic and consular service--China., Diplomatic and consular service--Japan., Missionaries, Medical--China., Missionaries, Medical--Japan., Presbyterian Church--Missions, Medical--China., Mission, Medical--Presbyterian Church--Japan.Geographic subjects:China., Japan.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg177
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Description:The 224th General Assembly in June 2020 passed item 00-29, "On the Church in this moment in history," which called Presbyterians to corporate repentance: "Repenting, both personally and corporately, for the role we as individuals and as a predominantly White-dominated church played in history and continue to perpetuate today, even if unknowingly, in systemic racism and White Supremacy, especially in terms of our own local silence, silencing those who attempt to speak or act, and our failure to act regarding police brutality, voter suppression, educational and healthcare inequality, and other acts of systemic racism on federal, state, and local levels." This is a collection of published materials created by PC(USA) congregations who have undertaken research in order to repair past action against or inaction for racial justice.Topics:Presbyterian Church--United States--History., Race relations--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church., Anti-racism--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church., African American Presbyterians--History., Slavery and the church--Presbyterian Church.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:self_study_racism
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Title:Description:Featured image: Portrait of Maggie Kuhn by Julie Jensen Bryan, undated.Topics:Presbyterians.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:portraits
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Title:Description:The 115th General Assembly (1903) of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. appointed the Special Committee on Forms of Service to prepare a manual that would standardize the form of special services, such as marriage, baptism, and communion services. Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. (1852-1933) was appointed Chair and the Committee produced a manual in 1906 entitled: The Book of Common Worship. This collection contains minutes, reports, publications, correspondence, manuscripts, and other material relating to the work of the committee. View the collection guide to learn more. The entire physical collection has been digitized.
Featured image: Title page of the Book of Common Worship, 1906.Creator:Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Special Committee on Forms and Services. (creator)Subject names:Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.--Liturgy., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Special Committee on Forms and Services., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Book of common worship (1906), Benson, Louis F. (Louis FitzGerald), 1855-1930.Topics:Worship programs., Public worship., Presbyterian Church--Liturgy.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg65
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Title:URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:bookCollection
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Description: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.Creator:Religious News Service. (creator)Subject names:Catholic Church--History--20th century., National Conference of Christians and Jews., Orthodox Eastern Church--History--20th century., Religious News Service.Topics:Catholics--History--20th century., Foreign news--History--United States--20th century., Jews--History--20th century., Journalism, Religious--History--20th century., Judaism--History--20th century., Protestantism--History--20th century., Protestants--History--20th century., Religion--Photographs., Religion and politics--History--20th century., Religion and sociology--History--20th century., Religion and international relations--History--20th century., Religious institutions--History--20th century., Religious leaders., Social movements--Religious aspects--History--20th century.Geographic subjects:United States--Social policy--20th century., United States--Politics and government--20th century., United States--Religion--20th century., United States--Social conditions--20th century.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rns
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Title:Description:Mission and stewardship resource packets published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Stewardship and Communication Development Ministry Unit.URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:pma
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Title:Description:Community School was a Presbyterian boarding school in Tehran, Iran, from 1935 to 1980. What began as a school for “mish kids” (the children of Presbyterian missionaries) eventually enrolled Americans of all backgrounds; English-speaking students of dozens of nationalities and different faiths; and, of course, Iranians, who constituted most of the student body by the 1960s. The faculty and staff were just as diverse. At its height in the 1970s, some 1,500 students attended Community School each year. This collection includes oral histories with alumni and faculty who attended the school as well as photographs and floor plans. Featured image: Southwest view of Tehran Community School.Subject names:Community School (Tehran, Iran)Topics:Community schools--Iran--Tehran., Presbyterian Church--Missions--Iran--Tehran., Missions--Educational work--Iran--Tehran.Geographic subjects:Tehran (Iran)URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:tehran_community_school
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Title: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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Title:URL:https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:video_collection
