The digitization team at PHS has had a busy, busy year!

This winter we wrapped up an inter-institutional effort to publish the personal records of the founding voice of womanist theology through the Katie Geneva Cannon Digital Collection.

In April, PHS was awarded a NEH grant-funded project to digitize the Religious News Service photograph collection. The multi-year project expands access to the historical photograph collection through the digitization of 22,500 images, which spotlight the intersection of religion and society during pivotal 20th century historic events.

On top of this exciting news, we continued to grow our existing digital collections. As we close the chapter on another year, we’re highlighting some of those additions to Pearl, our digital archives.

Mission history

• The Peiho and Peking (1860), a history of the Peking (Beijing) Mission. Written by W.A.P. Martin, a Presbyterian missionary to China.
• At Work Among the Indians, a 1925 report of the Board of National Missions highlighting mission work to Native Americans.
• A 1907 letter from Woodrow Wilson addressed to the Board of Foreign Missions, in which he recommends the appointment of Howard Baskerville as a teacher in Tabriz.
• Egbert W. Smith files related to the Korean Independence Movement, 1919, which includes Korean and missionary statements.
• Oral histories with former students of the Tehran Community School in Iran. Conducted by Matthew K. Shannon as part of the Community School Oral History Project.
• Bulletins, reports, and minutes of the Interboard Committee for Christian Work in Japan, 1948-1954.
• Dwight Indian Training School (Marble City, Okla.) records, 1900-1989, including correspondence, vouchers, and a scrapbook with photos of the students and campus.

Social and political issues and activism

• Files from the Eugene Carson Blake papers related to the planning of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Includes a telegram from William A. Morrison, General Secretary of the Board of Christian Education, to President John F. Kennedy, urging the President and the White House to organize a conference on civil rights issues in the country.
• Digitized content from the recently processed Advisory Council on Church and Society records, including 1974 letters from Cesar Chavez and James J. Cochran to Dean H. Lewis and a 1964 letter to U.S. Congress from the Board of Christian Education.
• Sanctuary: A Question of Conscience (1985) – PC(USA) video on the Sanctuary movement of the 1980s, featuring John Fife, Southside Presbyterian Church (Tucson, Ariz.), and Riverside Church (New York, N.Y.)
• Audio from 1964 of Malcolm X in conversation with executives from various Presbyterian agencies and boards. Executives present include Dr. Archie R. Crouch, Rev. Bryant George, Dr. Kenneth Neigh, Dr. David Ramage, Dr. Harry Stearns, Rev. Matthew H. Thies, Dr. Gayraud S. Willmore, Jr.
• A Presbyterian Town Meeting on a Just Political Economy, 1983 – footage of the live broadcast of panel and audience convened by the Committee on a Just Political Economy.

Church history

• Oral history interviews of Stated Clerk Emeritus Cliff Kirkpatrick, 2023. The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick is an ordained minister who served for fifteen years as the Director of the Worldwide Ministries Division before becoming Stated Clerk from 1996-2008.
• Audio of the 50th anniversary worship service of Hollis Presbyterian Church in Queens, New York, 1972.
• Dakota Community Presbyterian Church – History of Dakota Community Presbyterian Church in Dakota, Illinois. Includes images of the church campus and congregation, plat maps, and other documentation throughout.
• From the recently processed Ralph Carter papers, records that document the push for the ordination of gay and lesbian Presbyterians, including brochures and pamphlets of the Presbyterian Gay Caucus and Presbyterians for Gay Concerns.
• Video of the memorial service for Melva Costen, who passed away in September at 90 years old. Dr. Melva Wilson Costen was a Presbyterian intellectual and leader in the study of African American church music and worship.

Thanks goes out to the many hands and minds that helped Pearl Digital Collections grow over the past year and to the generous donors whose support makes this work possible. Make your year-end gift today and help us make Presbyterian history digitally available for fans around the world. See you all in 2024!