Guide to the Richard Webster Papers
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Guide to the Richard Webster Papers

Descriptive Summary

Title
Richard Webster Papers
Inclusive Dates
1765, 179?, 1793, 1802-1857, n.d.
Call Number
RG 237

Creator(s)

Webster, Richard, 1811-1856
Quantity
1.50 cubic feet
Restrictions on Access

Collection open for research

Digital Content

To browse this collection's digital content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.

Repository
Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Biographical Note
Richard Webster was born at Albany, New York, in 1811. His father, Charles R. Webster, was a bookseller and publisher of a leading newspaper in Albany. Webster graduated from Union College in 1829 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1834. He was appointed to India by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, but for some reason never went. In 1835, after brief missionary work at South Easton, PA, Webster began preaching at Mauch Chunk, PA, serving as pastor and doing missionary work throughout the surrounding coal regions until his death in 1856. Webster was instrumental in the creation of the Presbytery of Luzerne by the General Assembly as a missionary presbytery.

At the request of the General Assembly, Webster compiled A Digest of the Acts of the Supreme Judicatory of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America : Compiled from the Records of the Original Synod of New York and Philadelphia, and of the General Assembly from Its Organization. Arranged to Illustrate the Constitutional Rules of the Church / By Order of the General Assembly (1850). After years of research he completed his A History of the Presbyterian Church in America from its Origins to the Year 1760 with Biographical Sketches of Its Early Ministers, which was published posthumously (1857), the first publication of The Presbyterian Historical Society. He also published extensively in such religious periodicals as The Presbyterian, The New York Observer, and The Watchman of the South, under the signature "K.H." (Mauch Chunk).

Collection Overview

The collection consists of Webster's correspondence, research notes, and the manuscripts for his history and for some of his articles. Some of the biographical notes are for ministers who were not included in the published history. The scrapbook of clippings from religious periodicals includes many of his articles; he also identifies other writers who signed their articles with initials only.

Correspondents include Archibald Alexander, Robert J. Breckinridge, Edward C. Herrick (Yale Librarian), A. A. Hodge, John M. Krebs, Robert W. Landis, Mary G. Rankin (Missionary to China), Samuel Miller, William S. Plummer, C. Van Rensselaer, Joseph Langdon Sibley (Harvard Librarian), Lydia H. Sigourney, William B. Sprague, J. Leighton Wilson and Webster.

The library has copies of Webster's history of the Presbyterian Church and digest of the acts of the General Assembly. There are also two bound volumes of Webster's transcripts of letters to Joseph Bellamy from Aaron Burr, David Brainerd and others.

The library also has, bound with other printed sermons, his sermon at the opening of the Presbytery of Luzerne.

Many of the items are fragile and must be handled carefully. Some very fragile items have been photocopied and the original put into envelopes. Researchers should use the copy.

There is a folder of broadsides from Missouri that seem, from the handwriting on the back of one, to be from Artemus Bullard, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, but there is no correspondence of Webster and Bullard in this or in the Bullard collection.

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged accordingly:

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 179?, 1803, 1812, 1814-1815, 1820-1823, 1929-1856, n.d.

SERIES II: RESEARCH NOTES, n.d.

SERIES III: MANUSCRIPTS, n.d.

SERIES IV: SERMONS AND VERSE, 1800, 1833-1838, 1855, 1856, n.d.

SERIES V: PAMPHLETS, 1847, 1854

SERIES VI: MISCELLANY, 1765, 1793, 1804, 1832-1857, n.d.

SERIES VII: SCRAPBOOK AND CLIPPINGS, 1847, ca. 1851-1852, n.d.

Alternative Formats

To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.

Administrative Information

Processing Information

Collection processed and finding aid prepared, 1990
Glenn Colliver, Assistant Archivist

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Personal Name Subject
Webster, Richard, 1811-1856
Corporate Subject
Mauch Chunk Presbyterian Church (Mauch Chunk, Pa)
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Board of Home Missions
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Presbytery of Luzerne
Presbyterian Historical Society
Topical Subject
Presbyterian Church--Clergy.
Genre-form
Correspondence
Research Notes
Manuscripts
Sermons
Verse
Pamphlets
Scrapbook
Clippings

Collection Inventory

BoxFolderDescriptionAlternative Formats

 

 

 

 

1

1

Finding Aid to Records Group 237

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES I: CORRESPONDENCE, 179?, 1803, 1812, 1814-1815, 1820-1823, 1929-1856, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

2

Correspondence (Charles R. Webster; Webster and Skinner; Holstein and Perry), 1812, 1820, 1823, 1829-1832, 1836

 

1

3

Correspondence, 179?, 1819, 1803, 1830, 1831, 1833

 

1

4

Correspondence (Richard Webster), 1835-1840

 

1

5

Correspondence (Richard Webster), 1841-1845

 

1

6

Correspondence (Richard Webster), 1846-1851

 

1

7

Correspondence (Richard Webster), 1852-1856

 

1

8

Letter (Mary G. Rankin, China), 1853

 

1

9

Correspondence (Princeton Seminary) 1814-1815

 

1

10

William B. Sprague'e Letter of Introduction for Webster, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES II: RESEARCH NOTES, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

11

Webster's Notes re Presbyterian Ministers

Digital

1

12

Webster's Notes re Presbyterian Ministers

 

1

13

Webster's Notes re Presbyterian Ministers

 

1

14

Webster's Notes re Presbyterian Ministers and an Essay on the Apostle Paul

 

1

15

Webster's Notes on Congregations

 

1

16

Webster's Bibliographical Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES III: MANUSCRIPTS, 1847, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

17

William Blackwood's Introduction to Webster's History

 

1

18

Webster's History: Title Page, Table of Contents and Biographical Index

 

1

19

Webster's History, Part I

 

1

20

Webster's History, Part I

 

1

21

Webster's History, Part I

 

1

22

Webster's History, Part I

 

1

23

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

24

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

25

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

26

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

27

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

28

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

29

Webster's History, Part II, Biographies

 

1

30

Webster's "The Church in Allen", [1847]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES IV: SERMONS AND VERSE, 1800, 1833-1838, 1851-1856, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

31

Manuscript Sermons (Webster and others), 1800, 1833, 1836, 1838, 1855, 1856, n.d.

 

1

32

Articles and Essays, n.d.

 

1

33

Verse by Webster and J. H. Clinch, 1851, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES V: PAMPHLETS, 1847, 1854

 

 

 

 

 

1

34

"The Old Church in Allen", 1847

 

1

35

"A Word to Fathers, at the Opening of the Year, Preached in Mauch Chunk", 1854

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES VI: MISCELLANY, 1765, 1793, 1804, 1810, 1832-1857, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

36

Report of the Large Committee of Missions, 1804

 

1

37

Webster's Notes on the Lectures of Alexander and Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1832 (?)

 

1

38

Commonplace Book, 1832-1834; Extracts, n.d.

 

1

39

Webster's Licensure, 1833; ABCFM Appointment, 1834; Ordination Minute, 1835

 

1

40

Extracts from Webster's Will re the Manuscript of his History, n.d.

 

1

41

Copy of Agreement of Van Rensselaer and J. M. Wilson to Publish Webster's History, 1856

 

1

42

Resolutions of the Synod of New Jersey and the Presbytery of Tuscaloosa recommending Webster's History, 1856, n.d.

 

1

43

An Act to Incorporate The Presbyterian Historical Society, 1857(?)

 

1

44

Desiderata for the Library of the Presbyterian Historical Society, n.d.

 

1

45

Circulars and a Clipping (most from Missouri), 1838, 1839, 1843, 1854, 1855, n.d.

 

1

46

Certificate of Dismission from Trenton, New Jersey, Presbyterian Church, signed by the Rev. James F. Armstrong, 1810

 

1

47

Miscellaneous Items and Fragments, 1765, 1793, 1852, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SERIES VII: SCRAPBOOK AND CLIPPINGS, 1847, ca. 1851-1852, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

1

48

Clippings: "K. H." (Webster), "Glimpses of the Past", The Presbyterian, n.d. (not the complete series)

 

1

49

Clippings: "K. H." (Webster). "The Old Church in Allen", The Presbyterian, 1847

 

1

50

Clippings: "K. H." (Webster), "Notes on the Early History of the Presbyterian Church", The Presbyterian, n.d.

 

 

 

 

 

2

1

Scrapbook (Clippings), ca. 1851-1852

 

 

Source URL: https://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/research-tools/guides-archival-collections/rg-237