Blog

Thanks to PHS Board member Michael Livingston, we've recently digitized a collection of the records of Edler Hawkins, the first Black moderator of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A (UPCUSA). Included in the digitized collection are two pocket-size commonplace books Hawkins read from when called upon to speak. One is chiefly his typescripts of Langston Hughes poems, the other a book of songs, including the "Internationale."

Born in 1908 in the Bronx, Hawkins...

I support the Presbyterian Historical Society because of what I didn’t know.

Although a life-long Presbyterian, I didn’t really know much about PHS when I joined the Board. I knew it was the National Archives of the PC(USA) with responsibility for preserving official congregational and denominational records.

However, among other things, I didn’t know that PHS actively seeks to expand under-represented portions of its collection with efforts like the...