Historical Society panel will meet in Philadelphia
By Sharon K. Youngs, Communications Coordinator ,Office of the General Assembly, August 16, 2004
LOUISVILLE – Philadelphia, PA, home of the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), will be the setting this month for a meeting of the task force charged with helping the society implement its strategic vision for the future. The group will meet August 17-19, 2004, at the Presbyterian Historical Society building.
The Warner Yakel Task Force began its work earlier this year. The group was formed to look at two specific recommendations from a 2001consulting team that studied the future of PHS in the 21st century; namely, to assess the technology needs for PHS in an ever-increasing electronic age, and to explore consolidation of PHS operations.
Many of the recommendations from the 2001 report are well on their way to being implemented. They include significant changes in the historical society’s funds development structure, realignment of staff responsibilities and the development of a new governance model.
Tuesday afternoon of the task force’s meeting in Philadelphia will include a public consultation on the future of PHS. All interested groups and individuals are invited to attend the consultation from 4-6 p.m. Sign-up for speaking times will begin at 3:45 that afternoon.
A similar consultation was held in April at the Presbyterian Historical Society building in Montreat, N.C.
The task force is scheduled to make a report to the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) and to the new governing board of PHS this fall.
Members of the task force are elder Steve Grace (Midland, Mich.), moderator of COGA; the Rev. Catherine Ulrich (Fort Smith, Ark.), also a COGA representative; Burnett Kelly (Midland, Mich.), who represents the Committee on the Presbyterian Historical Society, and elder Walter Baker (Mound, Minn.), the General Assembly Council representative. Members-at-large include elder Jim Henderson (Montreat, N.C.), the Rev. Richard Ray (Bristol, Tenn.), and the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly. Fred Heuser, director of the historical society, and Margery Sly, deputy director, serve as staff to the task force.
The Presbyterian Historical Society is the national archives and research center of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Its mission is to collect, preserve and share the history of the American Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. It maintains its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa., a regional office in Montreat and a records management program in Louisville, Ky. The society serves all levels of the denomination. Additionally, scholars, genealogists and the general public use the society’s holdings to study various aspects of American culture and history. The collection demonstrates how the story of American Presbyterianism is woven into the life, culture, politics and history of our nation.
Visit the society’s Web site at www.history.pcusa.org or call 215-627-1852.