RNS Digitization Project Update

We are back again to share some more updates from the Religious News Service Photographs Digitization Project.

During the third quarter of 2024, PHS was thrilled to welcome Lauren Pash to the team as our new RNS Project Archivist. Working alongside Megan, the two of them were busy appraising, rehousing, scanning, and describing historical RNS photographs from 1974 through 1976. The result is over 1,300 new records to Pearl, which also includes related documents such as newspaper clippings and press releases. You can view these new records and more in the Religious News Service Photographs Digital Collection.

Enjoy some highlights below!

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RNS RG 1, image no. PC-45525

“At the Colesville (Southern) Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Md., a sign has been erected to provide a fair warning and an additional “penalty” for violators who discard rubbish on the church property.” (1974)

RNS RG 1, image no. PCJ-47302

“The National Bicentennial Day of Prayer was observed at an interreligious service at the Church Center for the United Nations.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. C-47359

“Some 800 Catholic sisters attending the annual convention of the National Assembly of Women Religious at the University of San Francisco passed resolutions calling for the inclusion of women in “decision-making bodies at all levels” of the Church and for the ordination of women. They also picketed the University to show support for the United Farm Workers boycott of lettuce.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-46767

“Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzo Booker stand behind their son, Vaughan Booker, as he is ordained an Episcopal deacon in the chapel of Graterford, Pa., State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-46979

RNS RG 1, image no. C-46003

“Worshippers gather outside the Chapel of the Madonna, which is probably the smallest church in the world, for Mass on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the only time during the year in which the church is used. The tiny nine-by-nine foot structure, located in Bayou Goula, a community 24 miles from Louisiana’s state capital at Baton Rouge, is so small that in addition to its altar, only a priest and an altar boy can fit inside.” (1974)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-46760

“The Indians are demanding that Navajos laid off recently at the Fairchild [Semiconductor Corporation electronics] plant be rehired and are protesting what they call inadequate medical care at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital at Shiprock.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-47219

“With a blessing from Anglican Bishop Maurice Wood of Norwich, mobile clergymen speed out to spread the good news with crash helmets on their heads and a prayer in their hearts.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-46793

“Women carry the banner of the International Women’s Day Coalition as they march down New York’s Fifth Avenue to a rally.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PCJ-47456

“Temple Emanu-El in New York was symbolically “closed” at an interreligious demonstration to show unified support for Soviet Jews who are barred from holding High Holy Day services in the USSR.” (1975)

RNS RG 1, image no. PC-45583

“Supporters of the Ulster Workers Council form a human barrier across a Belfast street to halt traffic during the general strike which brought Northern Ireland to a standstill.” (1974)

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For more information on the RNS Digitization Project and to view the digitized online collection in Pearl, click here.