Skip to Main Content

19th Century Presbyterian Church History

A selection of books and periodicals primarily focused on topics related to the Presbyterian Church in the southern United States during the nineteenth century. Special attention is given to resources discussing the issue of race.

A Selection of Online Resources

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive

This database provides access to ebooks, journal articles, and some manuscript materials related to race and religion.

The Home Missionary (1828-1877) is one such resource. As explained on the serial's landing page on the archive's website: 

"The society stated their purpose was to support young congregations of Christians on the American frontier until such congregations could become self-sufficient. The society and their publication in the beginning maintained a neutral position about slavery but later took an anti-slavery position."

American Slavery as Viewed and Acted on by the Presbyterian Church (1865)

The Fugitive Blacksmith, or, Events in the History of James Pennington: Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave (1850)

Presbyterianism and Slavery: By Official Documents (1836)

Digitized Sources: Earlier Editions of the Southern Presbyterian Review

Available to researchers through the Hathitrust Digital Library. The editions of the Southern Presbyterian Review found in Davidson College's Rare Book Room are not digitized through this source.

The National Archives of the PC(USA)

This website contains online exhibits, digitized documents and books, and finding aids for the collections of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.

A comprehensive, 200 page study dedicated to All-Black Governing Bodies in the Presbyterian Church is also featured on the PC(USA) main website.

JSTOR: Religion

Accessible on the E.H. Little Library homepage through the A-Z List of Databases. You can use subject searches in JSTOR to find more information on Presbyterian history. For example:

Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901 to 1930)

Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1943 to 1961)

Journal of the Department of History of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Readex: America's Historical Newspapers

An evolving collection of digitized newspapers and advertisements organized according to subject, title, and date.

Africo-American Presbyterian

A Selection of Sources Available through the Library

Online

Scans and transcriptions of the 1835 Presbytery meeting that formed Davidson College (then known as the Manual Labor School) are available on the Davidson Archives & Special Collections website. 

Serials and Magazines

The Home and Foreign Record of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America

Davidson College holds volumes 1 through 10 (1850-1859).

Books

Southern Presbyterian Pulpit: Pulpit Addresses by Ministers of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1928)

The History of Hopewell Presbyterian Church for 175 Years from the Assigned Date of its Organization

Still standing across from Latta Plantation in Mecklenburg County, NC, numerous Davidson alumni, faculty, presidents, and trustees led and frequented Hopewell Presbyterian Church.

Southern Presbyterian Leaders (1911)

Davidson College Library Research Guides are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Mailing Address: Davidson College - E.H. Little Library, 209 Ridge Road, Box 5000, Davidson, NC 28035