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First Presbyterian Church records, 1878-1993

Overview of the Collection

Title
First Presbyterian Church records
Dates
1878-1993 (inclusive)
Quantity
20 boxes, (9 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_COLL MSS 368
Summary
This collection contains the historic papers of the First Presbyterian Church in Logan, Utah, spanning the period between 1878 and 1993.
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

The receipt ledgers in Series II, Box 10 are sealed until 2049.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

During the 1860s, the Presbyterian Church's Board of Home Missions sent missionaries into the American West. They placed special emphasis on establishing a Presbyterian presence in the Utah Territory because of its population of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints population. By 1873, over sixty-five Presbyterian missionaries had been sent to the Utah Territory. On December 7, 1874, they organized the Presbytery of Utah at Corrine, Utah.

In July 1878, the Board of Home Missions sent Calvin M. Parks, his daughter Margaret A. Parks, and Mrs. S. V. N. Parks from Washington D.C. to the Utah Territory to proselyte among the Latter-day Saints in Logan, Utah. The first Cache Valley congregation met in the upper floor of a furniture store. On December 4, 1878, the church in Logan was officially chartered with eleven members. In 1879 the Parks acquired property on Center Street and Second West in Logan and constructed a regular meetinghouse. In 1925 the church underwent a renovation, and in 1956 the church was remodeled and expanded. The First United Presbyterian Church continues to hold regular meetings in this building.

On September 2, 1878, the Parks' established the Logan Academy (first known as the Cache Valley Seminary, the New Jersey Academy after 1890, and finally the Logan Academy after 1925). The Academy's purpose was to give boys and girls a "liberal Christian education" (Logan Academy, p. 2). Smaller subsidiary schools later opened in neighboring Cache Valley towns including Franklin (1881), Mendon (1881), Millville (1881), Smithfield (1881), Wellsville (1881), Richmond (1883), Hyrum, and Preston (1900). Most of the smaller schools closed between 1905 and 1915. In 1910 the Logan Academy became a school for high-school aged girls, aiming "to fit them [the girls] for the highest possible usefulness and consequent happiness in life" (Logan Academy, p. 2). The Logan Academy closed in 1934.

Along with the educational efforts, the Cache Valley Presbyterian Church participated in and organized various societies including the Association of Church Women (ACW), the United Church Women (UCW), the Ladies Missionary Society, and the Harbor Lights Mariners Club (HLMC). The church also published bulletins and a newsletter called The Pulse.

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Content Description

This collection contains the historic papers of the First Presbyterian Church in Logan, Utah, spanning the period between 1878 and 1993. It contains minute ledgers, legal papers, correspondence, church publications, church bulletins, baptism and marriage records, and essays about the history of the church's activity in Logan. This collection also contains the Sessional Records of the Emanuel Presbyterian Church, formerly in Hyrum, Utah, from 1887 to 1911. It also contains a church record from the "Scandinavian operated" Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in Logan (1885—1891), which dissolved in 1891 and the membership incorporated into the First Presbyterian Church.

This collection is organized into three parts: ledgers (Series I), church papers (Series II), and church bulletins and The Pulse (Series III). The ledger section, Series I, contains seventeen oversized, stand-alone ledgers consisting of church minutes (1878—1985), financial records (1915—1941), a Certificates of Dismission and Reception ledger (1929—1950), guest registers (1927-1989), the Church Record of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Logan, (1885-1920), and the Sessional Records of the Emanuel Presbyterian Church in Hyrum (1887-1911).

Series II contains ten boxes from the Logan Presbyterian Church. It consists of church financial papers, officers' correspondence and papers, legal papers, women's organizations papers, publications, Logan Academy documents, newspapers clippings, church renovations papers, and Harbor Lights Mariners Club documents. Several items of interest are the correspondence of Rev. Harris Pillsbury, Rev. William F. Ehmann, Rev. T. Ross Paden, Elder and Church Treasurer Irving L. Brangham, and the Logan Academy Principal Margery E. Frink. Series II, Box 10 contains six ledgers that are sealed for 50 years until 2049.

Series III contains church bulletins and The Pulse. The church bulletins (programs for weekly worship services) cover 1949 to 1988, with an incomplete run of church bulletins between 1885 and 1931. This series also contains issues of The Pulse, the church's weekly newsletter, from 1975 to 1990.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the First Presbyterian Church records must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives manuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.

Preferred Citation

Initial Citation: First Presbyterian Church recordss USU_COLL MSS 368, Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.

Following Citations: USU_COLL MSS 368, USUSCA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is organized by document type, then chronologically.

Processing Note

Processed in March of 2012.

Acquisition Information

The materials in this collection were donated to Utah State University Special Collections and Archives by various officials of the First Presbyterian Church of Logan, Utah, in the 1990s.

Bibliography

Clemenson, N. E. The Brick Presbyterian Church. Smith, Cummings and Company, Logan, Utah, circa 1895. Logan Academy: A High School for Girls. Yearbook, Logan, Utah, 1925.Simmonds, A. J. The Gentile Comes to Cache Valley. Utah State University Press, Logan, 1976.Lee, LaVonne. "A History of the Church". 1985.
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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid/Register created by Zachary R. Jones, Jason Neil and Clint Pumphrey
2012

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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