Blog | Presbyterian Historical Society

You are here

Blog

News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

November 1, 2024

Eleanor and I met by accident.

It was an ordinary day. I was browsing Pearl for eye-catching content, humming along to whatever song dribbled from my computer’s speakers. Scrolling, scrolling, endlessly scrolling, until—a specter, a ghostly figure in white, prompted me to pause, my finger hovering atop my mouse.

Or—no. Not a ghost. A woman. She is wearing a white, long-sleeved gown that brushes the forest floor. She is leaning against the bark of a slim young tree, her hands behind her back. A...

October 4, 2024
Thelma Adair photographed by Frank A. Kostyu, 1977. [Pearl ID:289460].

Currently, our Records Archivist David Staniunas is working on a batch of records from Margaret Towner. Surely you recognize the name. But, if not, here's a refresh.

Margaret Ellen Towner was the first...

October 1, 2024

Scattered throughout the PHS building on 425 Lombard Street are several museum items on display. If you've visited us, perhaps you've seen a few of them—like Cornelia, our small reed pump organ that sits on the first floor, welcoming researchers into our Reading Room.

But for those of you who are scattered across the country—across the globe, even—there may not be a chance to wander our halls or our Philadelphia city block. And so, we present: The Curio Cabinet. Here, you’ll find images and descriptions of some of the objects preserved and presented...

July 10, 2024
One of the early mission schools, Smithfield, Utah; image from Home Mission Monthly, October 1907 edition [Pearl ID:5512].

The history of denominational mission schools is lengthy and has legs in each U.S. state and in countries across the world — so perhaps it comes as no surprise that before there were Presbyterian churches in Utah, there were Presbyterian...

June 29, 2024
202nd General Assembly, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 1990. [Pearl ID: 6135]

This year, the PC(USA) General Assembly gathering is making its way west — the destination? Salt Lake City. This isn’t the first time the denominational meeting has crowded the streets of Salt Lake, though. Back in 1990, swaths of denim-clad congregants swarmed the beautiful, mountain-rimmed city, and,...

Featured Tags