Church Record Sunday: Newberry Library

The great thing about Manuscript Collections is that you never know what kind of records you will find until you start checking out online card catalogs and websites. A good example is the Newberry Library, located in Chicago, Illinois. You can read more about the library at their website, http://www.newberry.org/general/generalinfo.html

Within the Newberry's Manuscript Collection are some religious records that would be great for anyone with ancestors living in Illinois. From the online list entitled, Modern Manuscript Collections: Religion, http://www.newberry.org/collections/ReligionAbstracts.html, you will find the following two examples of religious manuscripts, including primary records. I am just highlighting two of the collections, to see the complete list, consult the website above.

• Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion. Zion City (Ill.) records, 1890-1974, bulk 1899-1907. 16 cubic ft.Mainly scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings from national and international newspapers, but also correspondence, photographs, and other materials relating to John Alexander Dowie, founder of the Christian Catholic Church (later Christian Catholic Apostolic Church) and his establishment of the Christian utopian city of Zion, on Lake Michigan near the northern border of Illinois.

• First Presbyterian Church (Chicago, Ill.). Records, 1833-1999.90 cubic ft.Parish records, church bulletins and programs, business records, artifacts (including missionary artifacts), etc., of this church founded at Fort Dearborn in 1833 and now in Woodlawn. The congregation has included many prominent Chicago families such as the Shedds, Buckinghams, and Fields, and became one of the first racially integrated congregations in Chicago, in 1953. Subjects: Clubs and Organizations; Religion