Pearl Collections

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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:
1833
End date:
1950
Subject 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
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
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:
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, 1891-1975
Topics:
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
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
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:
1854
End date:
1906
Creator:
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
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
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:bookCollection
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
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
Title:
Description:
In the summer of 2013, the Presbyterian Historical Society began a partnership with the Internet Archive through their Archive-It program to curate and collect PC(USA) Web sites. The archive contains national, synod, presbytery, and related ecumenical Web sites captured at various intervals.
Featured image: Web site of the Presbytery of the Northwest Coast.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:webarchives

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