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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.

Past PHS LIVE: Saving Your Congregation's Records

July 21, 2021

On July 15, 2021, Records Archivist David Staniunas hosted a webinar on Zoom and Facebook Live about preserving original records of PC(USA) congregations.

Almost uniquely among large national archives, PHS collects and preserves records at the local level, bringing in more than 200 churches’ records in more than 350 cubic feet every year. In this webinar, David Staniunas shared simple tricks and lifehacks for keeping your original records decently and in order before they are...

Author:

Kristen

Tags:

PHS Live, Congregational Records, Digitization, Preservation

Restoring the William Tennent House

May 8, 2020

The William Tennent House. Photo by Dan Yowell of MeganDan Photography

--by Wendy Wirsch

In 1735, the Reverend William Tennent purchased a hundred-acre plantation in Warminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Near his home, he built a log cabin structure for the training of Presbyterian ministers. This school, known as the Log College, became the first college in Pennsylvania. In this rustic building, Tennent educated young men for the ministry. Shortly after his death on May 6, 1746, the doors of this rural school closed.

I’m sure...

Author:

Guest Blogger

Tags:

American History, Preservation

PHS Awards Five Heritage Preservation Grants

January 4, 2017

The Presbyterian Historical Society is pleased to report that we have awarded Heritage Preservation Grants to five PC(USA) congregations. The winners are:

Community United Presbyterian Church (New Alexandria, Pa.), organized in 1805.
First Presbyterian Church (Perrysville, Ohio), organized in 1818.
First African Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, Pa.), organized in 1825.
First Presbyterian Church (Lincoln, Ill.), organized in 1866.
First Presbyterian Church (Kalispell, Mont.), organized in 1892.

The Heritage...

Author:

David S

Tags:

Congregations, Preservation

NEH Supports Archival Preservation at PHS

February 8, 2016

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a $6,000 Preservation Assistance Grant to the Presbyterian Historical Society, the national archives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The NEH grant will fund a 2016 conservation environment assessment of PHS’s archival facility in Society Hill—the first such study of the building in 25 years.

Natalie Shilstut, PHS Preservation Archivist, believes the assessment is a crucial step in providing for the future well-being of...

Author:

Fred T

Tags:

News and Events, Preservation

Calder Conservation Project Update

January 15, 2016

In the late 1890s, six statues representing famous early American Presbyterians were designed by Alexander Stirling Calder, fabricated in North Philadelphia, and transported by horse and buggy to the heart of Center City. As if unsettled by their future placements high on the Witherspoon Building, each...

Author:

Fred T

Tags:

American History, Preservation, News and Events