Religious News Service Photographs

Primary tabs

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.

Search In

For

Pages

Title:
Scripture tree.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45031 SCRIPTURE TREE NEW YORK -- People "untrim" a unique Christmas tree in the New York headquarters of the American Bible Society. The tree is laden with colorful Scripture selections of the first Christmas, in both English and Spanish, and visitors are invited to "untrim this tree." Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO by Chris Sheridan (CS-NY-12C-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362564
Title:
An empty chair.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45029 AN EMPTY CHAIR UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. -- An empty chair on the podium of the United Nations General Assembly was where United Methodist Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa was to have sat during the awarding of six U.N. Human Rights prizes. But the Rhodesian bishop was refused permission of his government to leave the country and his seat was left symbolically empty. Seated on the adjacent chair is Dr. Ahmed Esmat Abdel Meguid, who accepted the prize for the late Dr. Taha Hussein of Egypt. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-NY-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362563
Title:
Dr. Espy: Vatican II top ecumenical event.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45028 DR. ESPY: VATICAN II TOP ECUMENICAL EVENT NEW YORK -- The retiring chief executive of the National Council of Churches sees the Second Vatican Council's impact on relations between Roman Catholicism and the rest of Christianity as the most important development in his ecumenical experience. Dr. R.H. Edwin Espy, an American Baptist layman, has held national and international conciliar posts since 1939. As a student, he was ecumenically involved before that. General secretary of the Protestant-Orthodox National Council since 1963, Dr. Espy did not hesitate in naming Vatican II when asked to describe the most significant ecumenical development of the last three decades. After his retirement on Dec. 31, Dr. Espy will head an interreligious project on religion and the U.S. bicentennial. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (R-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362562
Title:
Black minister is N.J. Assembly Speaker.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45020 BLACK MINISTER IS N.J. ASSEMBLY SPEAKER TRENTON, N.J. -- State Assemblyman S. Howard Woodson, Jr., who is also pastor of Shiloh Baptist church in Trenton, has been unanimously designated the New Jersey Assembly's overwhelming Democratic majority to be Speaker of the Assembly, the first black to hold that post. The Mercer County Democrat, who was minority Assembly leader in 1968-69, is believed to be the first member of his race to reach a major leadership position in any state legislature in the country, at least since post-Reconstruction times. A former president of the Council of Churches of Greater Trenton, Mr. Woodson has been pastor of Shiloh Baptist church for more than 20 years. He is 57, a widower and has two children. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-TRE-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362561
Title:
Baptism by wire.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45015 BAPTISM BY WIRE TAMPA, Fla. -- How does a clergyman conduct a baptismal service in his Tampa church for his infant granddaughter who's nearly 10,000 miles away in the Philippine Islands? The answer is simple: he places a long-distance telephone call and performs a "baptism by wire." The unusual event occurred when the Rev. George E. Dressler, pastor of Faith Lutheran church in Tampa, called Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines and baptized Kathryn Ann Jakeman. The baby, born Sept. 7, thus became the fourth generation of her family to be baptized by a grandparent. Here, Mr. Dressler conducts the service in the church sanctuary. Facing him are the baby's sponsors, Mr. and Mrs. Rex Jakeman, brother and sister-in-law of Kathryn Ann's parents, Air Force Lt. and Mrs. Robert Jakeman. Friends and relatives are able to hear the responses from the Philippines over special amplification equipment. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-FLA-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362560
Title:
Agreement.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45004 AGREEMENT LONDON -- Prime Minister Liam Cosgrave of the Irish Republic (left) shakes hands with British Prime Minister Edward Heath at a conference at which the two nations and the moderate Protestant and Roman Catholic leadership of Northern Ireland agreed on sweeping proposals for the future of Ulster. Under the agreement, reached after talks at Berkshire, north of London, both the Republic of Ireland and Britain would make solemn pledges about the status of Northern Ireland and deposit them at the United Nations. Dublin will pledge its recognition that the present status of the North, with its link to Britain, cannot be changed except when a majority in the North so decides. For her part, Britain has pledged that if someday a majority in Ulster should decide to join a united Ireland, she will put no obstacles in the way. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-LON-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362559
Title:
"Amy's prayer book."
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45003 'AMY'S PRAYER BOOK' ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Amy Leyden, 8, a third grader at Nativity School in St. Paul, Minn., was frustrated by the big words she heard in church. "I'm going to write my own prayer book," she announced to her parents about a year ago. Amy's 16-page prayer book has been published as a Christmas card by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, Ind., a Roman Catholic publishing firm. Here, Amy offers an illustration of the first Christmas and a few comments on it. As the preface notes, the prayers should not be read "for their theological stability or historical accuracy, but for their sincerity and conviction." Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-OSV-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362558
Title:
Hospital opens playroom.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-45000 HOSPITAL OPENS PLAYROOM NEW YORK -- A playroom has been opened at the Downstate Medical Center hospital in New York to help children cope with hospitalization. Here, children play at the water table, a wooden stand with a plastic tray full of water which is usually surrounded by children sailing various objects or filling and emptying assorted cups and containers. Playroom supervisors said children often reveal their fears and misconceptions while playing with the puppets or the toy hospital that has been constructed in a bookcase. The miniature hospital includes scraps of wood, empty thread spools and bits of rubber tubing to suggest the treatment facilities of a hospital. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-NY-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362557
Title:
Protestant, Catholic hospitals protest Phase IV.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-44999 PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC HOSPITALS PROTEST PHASE IV WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Terming the proposed Phase IV regulations scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1 for the nation's hospitals as "economic insanity" and rank discrimination, the National Protestant-Catholic Hospitals' Action Committee has asked the Federal Cost of Living Council to make a number of changes in the regulations or else face court action. The committee, which represents those hospitals operated by various Protestant denominations and Catholic religious orders and dioceses, asserted at a Washington, D.C., news conference that a system of price controls which is fair and equitable is a vital necessity to all community hospitals to enable them to continue to provide high quality care for their patients. Attending the news conference were, from left: Sister Mary Maurita, R.S,M., executive vice president of the Catholic Hospital Association; John F. Harty, legal counsel for the committee; Dr. Charles D. Phillips, executive director of the American Protestant Hospital Association; and L. Rush Jordan, chairman of the committee. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-WAS-12B-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362556
Title:
Most happy family.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-44996 MOST HAPPY FAMILY WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Vice President Gerald R. Ford laughs along with his wife Betty and daughter Susan Elizabeth during a reception in his honor following his swearing-in as the 40th Vice President of the United States. Mr. Ford, 60, had been minority leader of the House of Representatives. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-WAS-12A-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362555
Title:
Swearing-in of new vice president.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-44995 SWEARING-IN OF NEW VICE PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gerald R. Ford is sworn in as the 40th Vice President of the United States in the House of Representatives Chamber of the Capitol. Chief Justice Warren Burger (left) swears Mr. Ford in as Mrs. Ford holds the Bible for her husband. President Nixon (right) watches the ceremony along with House Speaker Carl Albert (upper left) and Sen. James O. Eastland (upper right), president pro tem of the Senate. Vice President Ford, who had been minority leader of the House, succeeds Spiro T. Agnew, who resigned the Vice Presidency. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-WAS-12A-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362554
Title:
"Painless Sunday School" on CBS.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-44992 'PAINLESS SUNDAY SCHOOL' ON CBS NEW YORK --- "Be fruitful and multiply,'' Marshall Efron commands his friends Mr. 0wl, Mr. Woodpecker and other creatures during his reenactment of the fifth day in the creation of the world. The scene was shown on a new television series for children called "Marshall Efron's Illustrated, Simplified and Painless Sunday School" on CBS-TV. Launched on the first Sunday of December, the first five 30-minute segments will be shown weekly through Jan. 13. The other two parts will be shown in the Spring. Written by Mr. Efron, the character actor, and Alfa-Betty Olsen, the series features the telling of Bible stories and various "field trips" designed to underscore spiritual and moral values in the modern world. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-NY-12A-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362553
Title:
"Christmas Comet"
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: PC-44987 'CHRISTMAS COMET' NEW YORK -- The appearance of the Comet Kohoutek, hailed by some as the "Christmas comet," is stimulating renewed discussions on the origin of the first Christmas star -- the star of Bethlehem. Astronomers expect the blazing Kohoutek, which is now appearing in southeastern skies before dawn, to be at its brightest around Christmas. It will disappear from view until Dec. 29 when it will be seen in the southwest. By the end of February, Kohoutek is expected to fade from view. Astronomers at the Hayden Planetarium in New York point out that three common theories are given to explain the star of Bethlehem: that it was a nova (a star that suddenly increases greatly in brilliance); that it was a comet; and that it was the "conjunction" of three planets aligned together and resulting in unusual brilliancy. While no explanation has been proven correct, Hayden Planetarium says astronomers appear to favor the conjunction theory -- mainly because comets were seen as an evil omen in ancient times, and there is no known comet appearing in the Middle East at the time of the birth of Jesus. This view of Kohoutek was made with the 48-inch Schmidt telescope at the Hale Observatories on Palomar Mountain, Calif. The small white lines were caused by stars during a 12-minute time exposure. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-LA-12A-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362552
Title:
Elated group.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-45140 ELATED GROUP MINNEAPOLIS -- Dr,. Paul Boe (left) is congratulated by attorney William Kunstler (right), his wife (center) and American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks at a Minneapolis press conference after it was announced that the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis had reversed a contempt-of-court citation against him. Dr. Boe had been held in contempt when he refused to answer certain questions asked him by a grand jury about what he saw during the occupation of Wounded Knee. He also announced that he plans to "work for justice for American Indians” when his job as director of social services for the American Lutheran Church is terminated Jan 31. His position is being eliminated in a restructuring of ALC national offices in Minneapolis. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-MIN-1C-74-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362551
Title:
Dr. Ralph Freed dies at 81.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-45101 DR. RALPH FREED DIES AT 81 CHATHAM, N.J. -- Dr. Ralph Freed, a veteran missionary and general director of Trans World Radio, the international Christian broadcasting organization, died in Monte Carlo, Monaco, at the age of 81. His missionary career spanned nearly five decades of service in the Middle East, Morocco, and finally in Monte Carlo, where he was working until his death. He was affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Dr. Freed's death Dec. 29 was announced in Chatham, N.J., at the international headquarters of the station by his son, Dr. Paul E. Freed, a Southern Baptist clergyman and president and founder of Trans World Radio. Founded in1952 as a non-profit interdenominational ministry, Trans World Radio broadcasts programs in some 35 languages from complexes at Monte Carlo and the Netherlands Antilles. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (C-NJ-1B-74-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362550
Title:
Ministers on 'Pineapple Island.'
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-45090 MINISTERS ON 'PINEAPPLE ISLAND' LANAI, Hawaii -- The Rev. A.G. Rietdorf (left) and the Rev. Foy King are a special kind of men -- they have to be. They work in a special kind of place. The two men are the "before and after" of Southern Baptist Mission work on lonely, remote Lanai, a Hawaiian island completely owned by the Dole Pineapple Company. Lanai, with less than 2,500 permanent residents -- mostly Filipinos who work in the pineapple fields -- is connected to Honolulu only by air; the boats that dock at the island are pineapple barges. Mr. Rietdorf a retired pastor from Arkansas, came to Lanai six years ago and as one of only two clergymen on the island, he has been a counselor, comforter and wedding official. Taking his place now is Mr. King, who is retiring from Kaunakakai (Southern) Baptist church on nearby Molokai to come to Lanai. Here, the two ministers discuss the transition while walking along a familiar trail on "Pineapple Island." Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO by Don Rutledge (DR-GA-1A- 74-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362549
Title:
Reformed Church's first woman minister.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-45037 REFORMED CHURCH'S FIRST WOMAN MINISTER ACCORD, N.Y. -- Mrs. Joyce Stedge, 47, was ordained in Accord, N.Y., as the first woman minister in the Reformed Church in America. The mother of six children, who graduated with a masters in divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York last Spring, was ordained into the ministry by the Classis (local governing board) of Mid-Hudson and has been installed as pastor of the Rochester Reformed church of Accord. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-NY-12C-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362548
Title:
At forming of new denomination.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: P-44990 AT FORMING OF NEW DENOMINATION BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Leaders of the new National Presbyterian Church confer before the opening of the conservative group's first general assembly in Birmingham. From left are: Dr. Morton Smith of Jackson, Miss., a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary who was elected stated clerk of the new Church; Jack Williamson, a Greenville, Ala., lawyer, chosen as moderator; and the Rev. Frank M. Barker, Jr., pastor of the host Briarwood Presbyterian church in Mountain Brook, a Birmingham suburb. The new denomination, a break-off from the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern), consists of 75,000 worshipers from 275 congregations in 14 Southern and border states. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (LC-BIR-12A-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362547
Title:
Supports the president.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: J-45049 SUPPORTS THE PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, D .C. -- Rabbi Baruch Korff (right), chairman of the National Citizens Committee for Fairness to the President, shows President Nixon a newspaper advertisement his organization has been running. Rabbi Korff, of Rehoboth, Mass., called on Mr. Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House. His committee has been sponsoring ads charging that the news media has been unfair to the office of the Presidency during the Watergate scandal. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (A-WAS-12C-73-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362546
Title:
Father Peyton: Rosary making comeback.
Description:
Text transcribed from caption: C-45097 FATHER PEYTON: ROSARY MAKING COMEBACK PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., the head of the Family Rosary Crusade, gets down on his knees to explain the rosary to six-year-old Paul Rheinfelder during a visit to Phoenix. During his stay in the Arizona city, the famed "Rosary Priest" indicated that more people than ever are reciting the rosary and said that 99 percent of Catholic priests are saying the rosary daily. Father Peyton stated that devotion to the rosary was in "eclipse" for a short time because he felt that the devotion was handled too routinely, but, he said, it is now returning with more fervor on the part of the faithful. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (HFU-PHO-1B-74-DS)
URL:
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:362545

Pages

Bookmark

BookBags: