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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.

April 25, 2024

On Tuesday, March 29, in the late afternoon, a very exciting shipment arrived at the PHS building on Lombard Street: 64 boxes of records from More Light Presbyterians (MLP).

Several of our staff assisted Records Archivist David Staniunas in getting the five-dozen boxes of archival materials into the building. At the request of More Light Presbyterians leadership and with the enthusiastic support of the records’ original donor, Jim Anderson, the records made their way to the Presbyterian Historical Society from Rutgers University Special Collections and University Archives....

April 25, 2024

The only Christian hospital in Gaza, Al Ahli Hospital was organized in 1882 by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. In the aftermath of the 1948 war and Egyptian occupation of Gaza, the hospital was operated by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. The Baptists withdrew in 1982, a century after the hospital's founding, and an international coalition of funders stepped in, among them Church World Service, Dan-Church-Aid, and the...

April 22, 2024

1970: the year that saw the birth of the modern environmental movement. And now here we are, in 2024, celebrating that birth for the 54th year in a row. On April 22nd, we'll be singing—not happy birthday, but happy Earth Day!

The modern environmental movement was a long time coming. In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day protest, the possible negative effects of the ever-turning wheel of progress and industry on the surrounding environment were not given much thought. Rather, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns, not...

April 10, 2024

On April 4, Executive Director Nancy J. Taylor was joined by Dr. Hooman Estelami and descendants of John Haskell Shedd for a discussion on the history of Presbyterian missions in Persia.

John Haskell Shedd served as a missionary in the city of Urmia in Northwestern Persia beginning in 1859. During his time in Urmia, Shedd methodically recorded his observations and experiences as he conducted missionary work among Christian populations in the Turco-Persian border region during the late nineteenth century.

Following a presentation on the first community of Presbyterian...

April 8, 2024

On March 21, guests gathered at PHS to view the traveling exhibit, Assyrians from Persia (Iran) to the United States, 1887-1923, and hear more about Presbyterian missionaries in Urmia. At the event, Dr. Hooman Estelami of Fordham University presented a lecture titled, "Presbyterians Missionaries and the Assyrian Bridge to America During the Qajar Era."

The lecture discussed the work of the first community of Presbyterian missionaries based in the city of Urmia in northwestern Persia during the Qajar era. Focusing on the domains of education, medicine, and evangelism,...

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