Pam Byers Memorial Collection | Presbyterian Historical Society

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Pam Byers Memorial Collection

The Pam Byers Memorial Collection (PBMC) documents all sides and perspectives on the forty-year movement for gay ordination and LGBTQ marriage rites in the church. The collection includes personal papers, organization records, oral histories, audio-visual materials, and websites.

Collection materials and resources are described below.

Contact the Reference Desk if you have materials to donate.

The Pam Byers Memorial Collection honors the life and work of Pam Byers. To contribute to this ongoing work, make a donation here.

COLLECTION MATERIALS & RESOURCES

Explore Pearl online digital materials, PHS blog posts and stories, and PHS Living History videos. Also clickable: links to a timeline of LGBTQIA+ history in the PC(USA), catalog records and collection guides of PBMC processed and accessioned collections, publications using PBMC materials, and additional resources.

Timeline

Click on the image below to view a timeline of the movement for an inclusive church:

Publications Using PBMC Materials

Smith, David Brandon. 2022. "Calling the Question: The Role of Ministries of Presence and Polity Principles in the Struggle for LGBTQIA+ Inclusion, Ordination, and Marriage in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Its Predecessor Denominations" Religions 13, no. 11: 1119. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111119

Wilkinson, John. 2020. "Peace, Unity, and Purity and the Presbyterian Church's Fifty-Year Journey on Human Sexuality" Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 74, no. 3: 275-288. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020964320921966

Additional Resources

LGBTQ Religious Archives Network website and Collections Catalog of PC(USA) related papers at other institutions

Out of Order documentary

Shower of Stoles digital exhibit

That All May Freely Serve interview series