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News, events, updates, and tidbits from the Presbyterian Historical Society. Use tags to read related articles or sort by author for similar posts written by PHS staff members and volunteers.

November 13, 2014

On September 20, 2014, friends of the Presbyterian Historical Society gathered at Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church for a special event, In the Midst of Them: Shaping Sacred Spaces. The event explored how churches and church leaders define and create sacred spaces within different communities.

The gathering featured a unique worship service with music by the Old Pine Sacred Jazz Ensemble, led by Warren Cooper. After a welcome message from Old Pine’s pastor...

July 10, 2014

The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia holds a special place in the history of the faith. In an 1830 letter to Albert Barnes, Samuel Miller of Princeton Theological Seminary called it “the mother of us all.” As the first Presbyterian church in Colonial America’s most Presbyterian city, it is the flagship church of early Presbyterianism.

Little of the original church remains, in part owing to the congregation’s mobility though the...

December 14, 2011

Let me give some straight talk to members of session: It’s not at all uncommon for ruling elders to hold on to volumes of church records after they’ve resigned from session, filing minutes and registers in the attic or basement, lost to time. You’re not alone. Retrieved records are a wonder to behold.

We received one such surprise visit the other day from Ron Shaffer of Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church, right in PHS’s backyard. Mr. Shaffer, an appraiser by trade, had taken an interest in the gaps in Old Pine’s collection of records held here, and...

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