Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.

This guide serves as a valuable introduction to the documentary heritage and tradition of the third largest group of protestants in the southern United States. A companion to Harold Prince’s A Presbyterian Bibliography (1983), it locates and describes the unpublished papers of PCUS ministers. It also documents the larger southern tradition by including selected materials from the antebellum period and from other Presbyterian denominations. The result is a listing of resources for the study of the PCUS as well as southern Presbyterianism. It aims to promote and encourage research in Presbyterian history; to make files, diaries, sermons, minutes, letters more intelligible; and finally, to emphasize the continuing relevance of these materials in contemporary church life.

Robert Benedetto’s forty-eight-page introduction includes a survey of nine subject areas: theology, education, church and society, international missions, national missions, women, racial ethnic ministries, ecumenical relations, and worship and music. Each area highlights major research and provides a concise orientation to the life and mission of the denomination. Each survey is followed by a brief listing of manuscript materials. The Guide itself includes manuscript collections from the Department of History (Montreat) and other repositories. This thorough volume concludes with a bibliography of PCUS reference works and a complete name and subject index.

ROBERT BENEDETTO is Deputy Director/Archivist at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Department of History in Montreat, North Carolina. He is also the author of The Hawaii Journals of the New England Missionaries, 1813-1894: A Guide to the Holdings of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library (1983). He has written a number of articles, including a recent contribution to American Presbyterians: Journal of Presbyterian History.

BETTY K. WALKER is Archives Assistant at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Department of History in Montreat, North Carolina. She has previously served in the libraries of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and Duke University Divinity School.