Our archival collections are used by authors, researchers, church historians, pastors, documentary filmmakers, and thousands of visitors every year. We preserve periodicals, ministerial records, journals and diaries, ledgers, personal letters, local church records, glass slides, photographs, film, audio recordings, and much more.
We are working to increase our digitization efforts to make our collections, exhibitions, and programs more accessible to a broader public.
Research Requests
To access archival materials from our finding aids, please fill out the Research Request Form. If your research topic cannot be located in our finding aids, we may still have uncataloged information on your topic. Please fill out the Research Request Form and we will be happy to assist you.
The Presbyterian Heritage Center is home to over 16,500 books that cover a wide variety of topics. Major subject headings include: local church history, Montreat and Western North Carolina, world religion, American religion, Southern religion, global missions, biographies, and Presbyterian and Reformed Faith history. Highlights include: comprehensive Presbyterian General Assembly minutes beginning in 1741; more than 200 Bibles, including the Geneva Bible, the Tyndale translation, the Luther translation (printed in German), and The Illuminated Saint John’s Bible.
Our reference library is searchable online. Titles can only be accessed onsite and cannot be checked out. Contact PHC’s librarian at library@phcmontreat.org for more information about a title in our library.
Each year, the PHC uses our museum collection to mount exhibits on Presbyterian, Montreat, and Missions history. Highlights of our museum collections include: Rev. John Mack Walker’s Appalachian Wood Carvings; NC’s only-surviving Colonial-era pulpit; 2,500+ worldwide mission-related artifacts; Biblical-era collection of pottery, glass, and weaponry
