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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.

60 Years Since '63: Newly Digitized March on Washington Records

August 14, 2023

Sixty years ago this month, over 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the endpoint of a massive protest march organized to draw attention to the Civil Rights Movement. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom may be most famous for serving as the backdrop of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, best...

Author:

McKenna

Tags:

Digitization, Pearl Digital Collections, Civil Rights

Pearl Highlights: Halfway Through 2023

July 18, 2023

Association of Presbyterian Church Educators Life Members at Retirees Luncheon, Toronto, 1985. From left to right: Lorraine Higgins, Valeria Murphy, Linn Sloan. Pearl ID: islandora:340286

With the midpoint of 2023 already here, we’re taking the opportunity to highlight some exciting additions among the 1,500+ new records to Pearl, our digital archives, from the year....

Author:

Allison

Tags:

Pearl Digital Collections, News and Events

#PRIDE: The Ride Sisters, Sally and Bear

June 21, 2023

Most of us recognize the name Sally Ride (1951-2012). Her legacy precedes her: in 1983, as a member of the Challenger’s crew, Ride became the first American woman to go into space. But there are two other things about Sally that are both striking and memorable—she was raised in a Presbyterian family, and she was gay.

Ride was born in Encino, California, in late May 1951. As a young adult, she attended Stanford University, where she earned two degrees: a bachelor’s in physics, and another in English. After graduating in the class of ’73, Ride continued her...

Author:

McKenna

Tags:

LGBTQIA+ History, Pearl Digital Collections, Womens History

Stories of RNS Photos: Prayers for Gemini 4

June 2, 2023

Pat McDivtt and family leave home for a special 5:30 a.m. Mass on the day of Gemini 4's takeoff. Pearl ID: islandora:151479

PHS is the recipient of a 2023 National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities Collections and Reference Resources implementation grant. The $330,678 grant will fund digitization of 22,500 images, newspaper clippings, and related...

Author:

Allison

Tags:

Religious News Service, Pearl Digital Collections

Digital Collection: Edler Hawkins

April 24, 2023

Thanks to PHS Board member Michael Livingston, we've recently digitized a collection of the records of Edler Hawkins, the first Black moderator of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A (UPCUSA). Included in the digitized collection are two pocket-size commonplace books Hawkins read from when called upon to speak. One is chiefly his typescripts of Langston Hughes poems, the other a book of songs, including the "Internationale."

Born in 1908 in the Bronx, Hawkins...

Author:

PHS Staff

Tags:

Pearl Digital Collections, Presbyterian Heritage