PHS Awards Seven Heritage Preservation Grants to Churches

The Presbyterian Historical Society is pleased to award seven Heritage Preservation Grants to PC(USA) congregations in 2021. The winners come from six states:

Harvest Community Church (Madera, Calif.)
Chapel by the Sea (Pacific Beach, Wash.)
First Presbyterian Church (Iola, Kansas)
Central Presbyterian Church (Nevada, Iowa)
Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church (Kettering, Ohio)
Covenant-First Presbyterian Church (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Old Tennent Presbyterian Church (Tennent, N.J.)

The Heritage Preservation Grant program was established in 2001, PHS's 150th anniversary. Sustained by donations to the PHS annual fund, each in-kind grant provides $500 toward digitizing a congregation's vital records, including session minutes and church registers. Churches with fewer than 200 members that are at least 50 years old may apply.

Since 2001, PHS has awarded 74 grants to congregations; this year's 7 grants is a record for one year. This work is one way PHS supports the preservation of individual congregation histories, creating a digital copy of information previously committed to paper.

Watch the short video below to learn about PHS's trip to La Iglesia Presbiteriana (Rincon, P.R.) and about the records digitization process. Any PC(USA) congregation wishing to order digital copies of their records can find out more here.

We'd like to thank every congregation that took the time to prepare an application for last year's awards. The deadline for this year's cycle is October 31, 2021.

You can help support the Heritage Preservation Grants program or any of PHS's other vital programs by making an online contribution here.