Why I Give: Ernest R. Higginbotham

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 African American Leaders & Congregations Collecting Initiative and the Pam Byers Memorial Collection.  

PHS has such an impressive and professional staff dedicated to preserving and sharing the historical records.

PHS is driven by an institutional commitment to make our Presbyterian history--good and bad-–available not only to researchers but also to our congregations and the general public.

PHS reaches beyond our denomination, for example, to work with the Community College of Philadelphia to give its students the opportunity to learn research skills and how to tell historical stories by using original source documents.

PHS relies on private donations for a portion of their budget.

I have learned that the more I know about the PHS and its work, the more I want to support PHS.