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Title:
PC(USA) Self-Studies on Racism
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
Title:
Korea mission history
Description:
History of Presbyterian mission work and missionaries in Korea. Mission work began in 1884 and was primarily medical and educational. Early mission work centered in Seoul and Pyengyang and eventually nine stations were established. Work was done in cooperation with several other denominations, including Methodists and Southern, Canadian, and Australian Presbyterians. Featured image: Old Theological Seminary in Pyengyang, circa 1923.
Subject names:
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Korea Mission., United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Korea Mission.
Topics:
Missionaries--Korea., Presbyterian Church--Missions--Korea., Women missionaries--Korea., Missions, Medical--Korea., Missions--Educational work--Korea.
Geographic subjects:
Korea.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:korea_missions
Title:
Church World Service Records
Description:
In 1946, seventeen denominations formed Church World Service (CWS) as a relief agency. Churches throughout the United States provided over 11 million pounds of food and medical supplies to communities in Europe and Asia that were affected by World War II. Over the course of the next two decades, CWS expanded its work into Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, and the mission of the organization shifted from providing immediate disaster relief to creating long-term development projects in partnership with local communities. CWS also began to work in the United States to provide aid after natural disasters and established refugee resettlement offices around the country.

View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Hurricane Flora aftermath, Haiti, 1963.
Creator:
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Church World Service. (creator)
Subject names:
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Church World Service.
Topics:
Ecumenical movement--United States--20th century., Human rights--Religious aspects--Christianity--20th century., Disaster relief--United States--20th century., Church work with refugees--20th century., International relief--20th century., Church work with disaster victims--20th century.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:cws
Title:
Tehran Community School
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:
COVID-19 Pandemic
Description:
A collection of Presbyterian responses to the global COVID-19 pandemic, including sermons, worship services, and oral histories. See the following related collection: Easter COVID-19 collection.
Featured image: Oregon Trail Presbyterian Ministry (Marysville, Kan.) Easter worship video.
Topics:
COVID-19 (Disease)--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:pandemic
Title:
PCUSA Special Committee on Racism, Truth and Reconciliation
Description:
The Special Committee on Racism Truth and Reconciliation was created by the 222nd General Assembly (2016) with a mandate to interrogate institutional racism within the Church. In support of the committee’s work, this collection brings together records of the Presbyterian Church’s responses to the Confession of 1967, the Black Manifesto, and other passages from the long-standing struggles of Black, Brown and indigenous power movements against white supremacy. The committee presents its full report and recommendations to the 225th General Assembly (2022).
Topics:
Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity., Civil rights--Religious aspects--Christianity.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:scrtr
Title:
Building Knowledge and Breaking Barriers
Description:
This collection consists of materials digitized for use in Building Knowledge and Breaking Barriers (BKBB), an archives-based learning project that brings students, educators, and student-support networks from Community College of Philadelphia together with the resources of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Learn more about how these digitized materials are used in the project and the Building Knowledge and Breaking Barriers student exhibit. Support for BKBB has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Topics:
Study and teaching.--History, Archives and education., Libraries and education.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:bkbb
Title:
Katie G. Cannon Collection
Description:
Katie Geneva Cannon was the first Black woman ordained a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church. She was born in 1950 in the Fisher Town neighborhood of Kannapolis, N.C., one of the seven children of Corine and Esau Cannon. She graduated from Barber-Scotia College (Concord, N.C.), completed a Doctor of Divinity at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and was the first African American to complete a Doctor of Philosophy at Union Theological Seminary (New York, N.Y.). She was ordained by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Presbytery of Catawba in 1974. A founding voice in Womanist theology, Cannon taught at Temple University, and Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, Va.). In 2018 she founded the Center for Womanist Ethics at Union in Richmond; she died August 8, 2018. This collection represents in a single online location personal records of Katie's that she intended to distribute among Presbyterian Historical Society, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Featured image: Katie G. Cannon preaching, circa 1993.
Creator:
Cannon, Katie G. (creator)
Subject names:
Cannon, Katie G.
Topics:
African American Presbyterians., Presbyterian women--United States., African American women., Womanist theology.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:kgc
Title:
Racial justice collection
Description:
In 2020, moved by the nationwide uprising in the wake of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, PHS staff began curating publicly-accessible Presbyterian responses to the renascent Black Lives Matter movement. This collection includes video of worship services and Bible studies, personal messages from pastors, and news coverage of Presbyterian responses to and with BLM from 2015 to 2021.
Topics:
Racism--United States., Police brutality--United States., Police-community relations--United States.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:blm
Title:
Easter COVID-19 collection
Description:
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, churches across the nation have shown themselves to be beacons of hope—providing food and social services, pastoral care, and online worship. The Presbyterian Historical Society has responded to this unprecedented moment by gathering 2020 Easter Sunday worship services and sermons from PC(USA) congregations and other worshiping communities. The COVID-19 collection is a curated selection of these contributions, including services from congregations in California, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania -- including Arabic and Hakha Chin services from First Presbyterian Church (Allentown, Pa.) -- Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Topics:
COVID-19 (Disease)--United States., Easter sermons--United States--21st century., COVID-19--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:covid19
Title:
Nursing history
Description:
In recognition of the incredible work being done by healthcare workers in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in honor of National Nurses Week (May 6-12, 2020), we have curated a collection that celebrates the long history of Presbyterian involvement in nursing, from training prospective nurses in Presbyterian schools and hospitals, to hands-on work with the sick and suffering.
Featured image: Taegu Nurses' School dedication, June 1952.
Topics:
Nurses,, Nursing--History., Missions, Medical.--Presbyterian Church, COVID-19.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:nurses
Title:
African American history
Description:
African American history, including church, mid council, and national agency records; personal papers; photographs; publications; and oral histories collected as part of the African American Leaders and Congregations Initiative. Featured image: Student minister with boys, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, Charlotte, N.C., circa 1950.
Topics:
African American Presbyterians.
Geographic subjects:
United States.--Race relations--Religious aspects--Presbyterian Church, United States.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:afam
Title:
Presbyterian women
Description:
This collection documents the role women have played in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its predecessor denominations, at home and abroad.
Topics:
Presbyterian women., Women in the Presbyterian Church., Women missionaries., Women in church work--Presbyterian Church., Women in missionary work.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:women
Title:
Ballston Female Heathen School Society Records.
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
Title:
Rachel Kerr Johnson Papers.
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
Title:
Mary Louise Blatchley Papers.
Description:
Little is known about Mary Louise Blatchley's life. In 1889 she joined the Wayne Presbyterian Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania with her parents, Charles and Mary Blatchley, and older siblings, Henry, Charles and Clara Blatchley. From 1897-1910, she served as Secretary for Young Peoples' Work for the Presbytery of Chester's branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. In that capacity, she spoke frequently before various women's and children's societies on the subject of foreign missions. In addition, until at least 1923, she was active in the Wayne Presbyterian Church, supervising several youth groups. On numerous occasions, she hosted foreign missionaries in her home and spoke on the subject of foreign missions to diverse groups within the church. Her papers reflect her interest in foreign missions. Of particular importance are the speeches she made to various Christian Endeavor societies at local Presbyterian churches throughout the Presbytery of Chester from 1902-1935. Her incoming correspondence, which dates from 1889-1907, is primarily of a personal nature but also includes letters from individuals associated with the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of Philadelphia, the oldest and largest of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.'s women's missionary boards. View the collection guide to learn more.
Featured image: Mary Louise Blatchley personal notebook, 1890-1894.
Creator:
Blatchley, Mary Louise. (author), Blatchley, Charles Gilbert. (author), Blatchley, Henry Gilbert. (author), Blatchley, Charles Alfred. (author)
Subject names:
Blatchley, Mary Louise--Archives., Blatchley, Mary Louise--Diaries., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Presbytery of Chester--Missions., Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Home Missions., Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.)
Topics:
Presbyterian Church--Missions., Presbyterian women--Diaries., Women in church work--Pennsylvania.--Presbyterian Church, Women in missionary work., Women--Societies and clubs.
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:rg225
Title:
Belle Hawkes Papers
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
Title:
American history
Description:
Images, documents and sound and video recordings pertaining to American history, with a particular emphasis on the role of Presbyterians and Presbyterianism in the spiritual, social, political and cultural life of the nation.
Featured image: "This is our land, now" (ca. 1948) from the Religious News Service Photograph Collection.
Geographic subjects:
United States--History--19th century, United States--History--20th century
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:americanhistory
Title:
McCartee Family Papers
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
Title:
Stewardship resources
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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