At the Presbyterian Historical Society, we collect the raw materials that support the study of history, but what we deem important enough to save and lift up to the church has changed over time. We have definitely been both proactive collectors and passive recipients of material, and we freely admit today that, like other archives, the Presbyterian Historical Society collection reflects practices that prioritized some histories and materials over others. Acknowledging our own history, for good and bad, is important for our researchers and for us. We strive to be an archive where diverse people – Presbyterians and non-Presbyterians alike – can use our materials to study the past and pose questions about history that speak to all of us today.
Like Presbyterian Historical Society, the Presbyterian Outlook is a rich treasure trove of history with 200 years of continuous publication under 17 previous titles. Asking questions about a newspaper as a historical source can be particularly enlightening in this age of fake news and purposeful misinformation. Like archives, newspapers have never been bias-free, even though they may claim the mantle of impartiality in their reporting. Just like archivists in their collecting practices, newspaper staff make decisions about what to cover and how, and they analyze the authenticity and credibility of sources. If one considers what has been excluded from archives and newspapers and why and if asking those types of questions spurs people to seek information about those who are missing, we will be much richer for that endeavor.
For most of its history, the Presbyterian Outlook was a Southern publication, and its content reflected ideas about what was important to report on, write about and lift up to the paper’s audience. Richmond, Virginia, has been a core aspect of the paper’s identity, dating back to the founding of Watchman of the South in that city in 1837. But other predecessor titles originated from Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Houston and Dallas, Texas. Southern Presbyterianism has never been a monolith, and examining the perspectives and content of the regional papers that merged into Presbyterian of the South in 1931 can tell the astute historian something about the differences and similarities in Presbyterian experience and how that changed over time. One can also investigate the historical and religious currents that came together to form that combined identity of Presbyterian of the South and then, less than 15 years later, a new “Presbyterian Outlook.”
At the paper’s bicentennial celebration in Richmond on October 5, 2019, speakers Ted Wardlaw and Brian Blount did not hold back in pointing out the Presbyterian Outlook’s legacy of support for white supremacy. They both heralded 20th-century editors E.T. Thompson and Aubrey Brown for challenging established truths, especially on race, and using the pages of the paper to report news and offer editorial perspectives that did not always sit well with readers. Thompson and Brown also believed that reporting on events outside the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. – the largest Southern predecessor denomination to today’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – was important, and they shifted the content of the paper over time to incorporate these new perspectives. Again, one can ask: What dropped out with this expanded scope? What perspectives remained (or became) less visible as a result?
During the bicentennial celebration, speakers talked about “gospel truth” and “historical truth” — a particularly complex dynamic for Presbyterians and other people interested in the history of Christianity. Archives cannot collect and newspapers cannot report without interacting with the thoughts and actions of people. Both Presbyterian Historical Society and the Presbyterian Outlook are inherently human enterprises, even if their ethos is grounded in Christianity and the Presbyterian Church. As Presbyterians, we like to challenge ourselves not to take things at face value, to ask questions, to live in a tension between the different “truths” that make up our lived experience. It is through the creation and support of entities like the Presbyterian Outlook and the Presbyterian Historical Society that we have the means to truly wrestle with the complexities that characterize our world today.
Nancy J. Taylor is the acting executive director of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, which serves as the national archives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She is a professional archivist and editor of The Journal of Presbyterian History.
