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Summary
The collection consists of copies of the minutes of the Carlisle, Donegal, Lancaster, New Castle, Lewistown, and Philadelphia presbyteries in Pennsylvania; the New Brunswick Presbytery in New Jersey; and the Dutchess and Suffolk presbyteries in New York. There are also copies of the journals and correspondence of ministers and church elders Bishop John Seybert (1820-1854), George Whitefield, and Paul Greene.
In Historical Collections and Labor Archives, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. (#RG 85)
Other Forms
Photocopies.
Location of Originals
Presbyterian material Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia ; USA. Bishop John Seybert Journals, 1820-1854 Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, Illinois ; USA.
Biographical or Historical Sketch
The Presbyterian Church, marked by a Presbyterian system of church government, Calvinistic theology, and an absence of prescribed forms of worship, originated in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation. In the early 17th century Presbyterians immigrated to America, establishing a reformed church as early as the 1630s. In 1706, eight Presbyterian ministers met in Philadelphia and formed the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the first presbytery in the New World. As the immigrant influx to America grew, the Synod of Philadelphia was organized in 1716. In 1861, when the country could not resolve its differences over the issue of slavery, the southern Presbyterian Church separated from the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) and formed the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). In 2005, the Presbyterian Church membership was 2.4 million.
