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This Week In History
July 6 - 12
(changes weekly; click on title above for previous entries on Presbyterian history)
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On July 6, 1743, the first sermon by a Presbyterian minister — William Robinson — was delivered in Hanover County, Virginia. Rev. Robinson had been sent as an evangelist to the colony by the Presbytery of New Castle. Four years later, the Rev. Samuel Davies would establish a permanent church in Hanover.

On July 7, 1878, Francis J. Grimke (photo shows him in 1902) was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Born in 1850 as the son of a white plantation owner and a black slave, Grimke would graduated in 1870 from the first college for blacks in the United States — Lincoln University, founded by Presbyterian Rev. Dr. John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson. Grimke then studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, graduating in 1878. He was called to Washington's 15th Street Presbyterian Church, which he served for 50 years, except for a brief call to Jacksonville, Florida (1885 - 1889). An articulate opponent of racism — "Race prejudice can't be talked down, it must be lived down" — Rev. Grimke helped in the formation of the NAACP.

On July 8, 1933, William Stuart Red (1857-1933) died. A Presbyterian minister and historian, Red was licensed to preach in 1884 and ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church (US) in 1887. He studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and then attended Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina in 1884-85. He served several Presbyterian churches in Texas, as well as editor of the Texas Presbyterian from 1894 to 1897 and moderator of the Synod of Texas (1902). He championed Austin for a seminarian school. His family offerred the land and buildings of Stuart Seminary (a girls school), which they inherited from his mother, to the Texas Synod. In 1902 the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary opened at the former girls' school. Reverend Red also worked with Rev. Samuel M. Tenney to establish a center for historical research, which became the Historical Foundation of the Reformed and Presbyterian Churches at Montreat, North Carolina.

On July 10, 1888, Toyohiko Kagawa (shown) was born in Kobe, Japan. Under the influence of Presbyterian missionaries — Harry W. Myers and Charles A. Logan of the Presbyterian Church (US), Kagawa became a Christian and studied at the Presbyterian College in Tokyo (1905 - 1908), theology at Kobe Theological University and then at Princeton Theological Seminary (1914 - 1917). He worked in Japanese slums as a Christian missionary and labor organizer. Kagawa also wrote about 150 works. He founded an Anti-War League in Japan during 1928. He died on April 23, 1960 and the Emperor posthumously awarded him Japan's highest honor, the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

On July 11, 1834, an anti-abolition riot by a thousand people wrecked the interior and windows of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey.

     Presbyterian Heritage Center
There are three current exhibits open at the PHC, plus a special display for July only of 18th and 19th century hymn books and shape note song books, including a shape note Presbyterian psalm and hymn book (Presbyterian Psalmodist, 1855), as well as Rev. Andrew Law's 1803 shape-note system which didn't use a musical staff (below).

In addition, a new major exhibit of Presbyterians in Appalachia: Evangelical, Educational and Medical Missions, 1757 - today opened July 4, 2008, to April 15, 2009.

It features Presbyterian efforts in establishing churches, schools (Boone Fork Institute classroom above) and medical facilities from early missions to Cherokees to Depression-era Appalachia to today's efforts.

We offer interactive computer kiosks, an innovative museum and research facility (onsite and online) presenting Presbyterian history and Reformed heritage, the church’s tradition of worldwide mission, and the interesting role of Montreat.

Current Exhibits

  • Celebrating 100 Years of Presbyterians in Montreat (1907 - 2007). This exhibit will run from May 24, 2008, to April 15, 2009. Click on the link above for more information.
  • Centennial of The Great Korean Revival of 1907 This exhibit highlights the Presbyterian mission to Korea, beginning in 1884 through the present, as well as celebrating the 1907 Great Korean Revival. Click on the link above for more information. This exhibit will run from May 24, 2008, to December 15, 2008.
  • Presbyterians in Appalachia
    This exhibit features Presbyterian efforts in establishing churches, schools and medical facilities in the Appalachians. It ranges from early missions to Cherokees (1757 - 1839) to Depression-era Appalachia to today's efforts. Click on the link above for more information. This exhibit runs from July 4, 2008, to April 15, 2009

There will be one additional limited-run exhibit opening this summer —

  • Women's Leadership & Conferences in the Presbyterian Church (1897 - 2007). This exhibit will open July 22 , 2008, and run until June 15, 2009.

   

Montreat History Spotlight
Click on the headlline or the picture at right to learn about the background of the former Historical Foundation in Montreat.

Recent Items Acquired by the PHC:
We have received a rare communion token mold used to create tokens for the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Donated by the Rev. Jim Laymann, there are only a handful of such American molds known to exist.

Click for Montreat History Trivia Questions.

Emails:
General information & questions

Potential collection items

PHC also will have some of these Heritage History interviews online (click on picture of Andy Andrews for a sample).

© 2008. Presbyterian Heritage Center at Montreat.
PO Box 207, Montreat, NC 28757    |     318 Georgia Terrace, Montreat, NC    |     828.669.6556

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