On September 11, 2020, Carol Smith presented a talk to the Philadelphia Club’s members and guests highlighting the stories found in the records of Philadelphia’s Historic Congregations and outlining the project that is bringing these records to life. Click here to listen to Preserving the Past: Stories from the Records of Philadelphia’s Historic Congregations.
To view the Presentation, click here .
September 14th, 16th, 21st, and 23rd the Athenaeum of Philadelphia hosted our project with CLIR for a workshop in four parts, which you will find below.
Each date we focused on different aspects of this CLIR Project to Digitize Philadelphia Congregations Early Records.
September 14th was an overview of the project where Carol Smith – Archivist at Christ Church – spoke about the origins of the project. Watch it at the link below:
Athenaeum Transcription Workshop with CLIR Session #1
On September 16th, we focused on the rules surrounding transcription of the many different types of documents that have been scanned as a part of this project.
To watch this, please click on the link below:
Athenaeum Transcription Workshop Session #2
During Session Three of the Athenaeum Workshop of the CLIR Project to Digitize Philadelphia’s Congregational Early Records held on September 21st , Walter Rice, the Digital Consultant on this project, provided us with a tour of how the Athenaeum of Philadelphia scans these many documents. He also reviewed what happens with the scans and the many working parts that make all the data they convey appear on the website for viewing.
View this session at the link below:
Athenaeum Transcription Workshop with CLIR Session #3
The final session of the Athenaeum Transcription Workshop with CLIR held on September 23rd, we learned about how the information from these scans can be and have been used in many ways. We had the authors, historians, and scholars Bill Quigley and Libby Brown talk about their use of these types of records.
To listen and watch, click the link below:
Athenaeum Transcription Workshop with CLIR Session #4
Philadelphia in 1776 was a city in the midst of political turmoil and social upheaval and Christ Church was not immune to these issues. Delegates to the Continental Congress frequently worshipped at Christ Church and the Church’s rector, The Reverend Jacob Duché, served as the chaplain to the Continental Congress. The signing of the Declaration of Independence left Christ Church, the first Anglican Church in Pennsylvania, in a particularly precarious situation.
On July 4, 1776 the Vestry minutes record:
Whereas the honorable Continental Congress have resolved to declare the American Colonies to be free and independent States In consequence of which it will be proper to omit those Petitions in the Liturgy wherein the King of Great Britain is prayed for, as inconsistent with the said Declaration. Therefore resolved that it appears to this Vestry to be necessary for the peace and well being of the Churches to omit the said Petitions and the Rector and Assistant Minister of the United Churches are requested in the name of the Vestry and their Constituents to omit such petitions as are above mentioned.
This resolution resulted in the crossing out of the petitions to the Royal Family in the Book of Common Prayer as seen here.
On Tuesday July 7th at 11 am, there will be a Zoom Coffee Hour for transcribers!
If you want to join, please email either Carly Sewell or Carol Smith.
How did our countries ancestors fair in times of trouble and tribulations? What can we learn from them now facing our own time of trial and tribulation?
We are looking for people who want to help transcribe some of our amazing documents that we have scanned so far.
If you have any inclination, check out our “Help Transcribe!” page. Here you can see our two pages to begin transcription:
Transcription Guidelines
and the page on
Getting Started with Transcribing
Here is a recently done transcription of page four & five of Christ Church Steeple Accounts, 1751 by one of our volunteers.
Steeple Accounts, 1751
