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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.

Presbyterian Women: Then and Now

July 14, 2015

Last month I was lucky enough to travel to Minneapolis, MN, to represent the Presbyterian Historical Society at the triennial Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women. As a new employee at PHS, I looked forward to learning about PW firsthand.

At the OGA booth, I joined my PHS colleagues Lisa Jacobson and Beth Hessel, as well as other representatives from the Office of the General Assembly. Throughout the Gathering we spoke with many wonderful women who had invested terrific amounts of time and...

Author:

Deana S

Tags:

American History, Womens History

William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Monkey Trial

June 12, 2015

July 2015 marks the 90^th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial, one of the most famous court cases in American history. Defending substitute high school teacher John Thomas Scopes was Clarence Darrow, one of the celebrity lawyers of the day. William Jennings Bryan—the “Great Commoner,” three-time Democratic nominee for President, and Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. ruling elder—argued for the prosecution, the State of Tennessee, which alleged that Scopes had broken the...

Author:

David K

Tags:

American History, Fundamentalism

Minnesota Adventure

May 14, 2015

A year ago, PHS Board Director Cheri Register secured an invitation for the Society to present an adult education class at Westminster Presbyterian Church, her Minneapolis congregation. Throughout the year Cheri and I planned for that class and other parts of a PHS Minnesota adventure.

After morning services on Sunday, May 3^rd, it was time for class. We used items from the PHS archives to provide students with new information about Westminster and other Minnesota congregations, including diary entries and...

Author:

Sam

Tags:

American History, Congregations

Blake and Barnes Go To Moscow

April 15, 2015

On November 9, 1982, former Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and former General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Eugene Carson Blake sat down in the board room of the Presbyterian Historical Society to talk about his 1956 trip to Moscow. PHS staffers Bill Miller and Gerald Gillette recorded the conversation among Blake, his wife, and Roswell Barnes, who accompanied Blake to the Soviet Union. An hour into the conversation, Blake drops a bombshell:

And, this is the kind of thing that I don't know whether...

Author:

David S

Tags:

Russia, Religious News Service, American History

The Presbyterian Beginnings of Fundamentalism

April 13, 2015

Note: The following blog post is the first of three that will run this year on Fundamentalism and Presbyterians. The second, on the Scopes Monkey Trial, will run in June and the third in September--DK

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Millions of Americans identify themselves as Christian fundamentalists. The size of the fundamentalist movement and the participatory zeal of many of its adherents allow it to shape national conversations over issues such as marriage, education, and foreign affairs. Fundamentalists exert huge power in nominating and electing public officials, including presidents....

Author:

David K

Tags:

American History, Fundamentalism

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Blog

Presbyterian Women: Then and Now

William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Monkey Trial

Minnesota Adventure

Blake and Barnes Go To Moscow

The Presbyterian Beginnings of Fundamentalism