Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
User Information
Historical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Cataloguing Information
Processed by
Charles Latham
3 April 1996
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 2 items
COLLECTION DATES: 1916-1933
PROVENANCE: Bob Gerling, Cicero, IN, 4 March 1996
RESTRICTIONS: None
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material from this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society
ALTERNATE FORMATS: None
OTHER FINDING AIDS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS: None
ACCESSION NUMBER: 96.0307
The First Presbyterian Church of Delphi, Indiana, was organized in 1828. It moved to a new building in 1855, and again in 1908 to "a splendid church edifice" in Wilson's Addition in Delphi. It had two main women's organizations, both founded in 1873. They shared many of the same members and officers.
The Ladies' Social Union was a practical organization, The members did hard work such as cleaning the church building, and also raised money by staging concerts, running a street fair, serving church suppers and cafeteria lunches (which usually netted $70-$80 each) and banquets for fathers and sons and for outside organizations. They used the money they raised-- several hundred dollars a year-- to maintain and improve the church manse, to pay the organist (who got a raise from $2 a week to $2.50), to provide flowers, to support a foreign pastor and a vacation Bible school. They celebrated their golden jubilee in 1923 with the reading of a lengthy verse by Mrs. John Todd.
The Woman's Missionary Society had a more religious tone. Meetings opened with a prayer and devotions, and ended with prayer. Each meeting had a report on some aspect of both foreign and domestic missions. In the foreign area, special attention was paid to Poland, to Korea, to Japan, and to Mexico (then in the midst of an anti-clerical regime). In domestic missions, frequent mention was made of American Indians and Mormons, and also of Alaska, of African-American professionals, and of "drifting" Jews who had left the synagogue. Very little mention was made in the minutes of raising money, except for one street fair and several "silver offerings." Delicious refreshments concluded each meeting, except for one where the committee had a surprise in store: no refreshments, and the money given instead to a needy family. Attendance at meetings ran from nine to fifty.
Sources: Materials in collection
Odell, History of Carroll County (1916). p. 82, 117
This collection contains two items, records of two women's organizations of the First Presbyterian Church of Delphi, Carroll County, Indiana, between 1916 and 1933.
Records of the Ladies Social Union run from 1916 to 1926; though there are no specifically marked treasurer's reports, there are quarterly and yearly summaries of income and expense which give a good idea of the Union's activities. Records of the Woman's Missionary Society run from 1923 to 1933; they mention only the society's meetings.
MAIN ENTRY: First Presbyterian Church (Delphi, Ind.)
SUBJECT ENTRIES: First Presbyterian Church (Delphi, Ind.)--History--Sources
Presbyterian Church--Missions--Indiana--Delphi
Church records and registers--Indiana--Delphi
Presbyterian women--Indiana--Delphi--Societies and clubs
Delphi (Ind.)--Church history--20th century
END