Archive Record

Metadata

Title

Committee records

Date

1847-1963, n.d.

Scope & Content

The committee records' value is evident in its provision of more detailed account of certain issues involving the vestry.

Dating from 1807 to 1963, the records in this series evidence the work of thirteen vestry committees. Committee efforts tackled multiple projects that ranged from reporting on general church activities such as schools, charity and the endowment to more specific enterprises such as organizing the centenary of Bishop White's ordination. Other committees represented in this series are the Committee for building Saint James Church, the Committee on Library and Relics, the Committee for a New Parish Building, the Committee on Edifice and Grounds, the Committee on closing Christ Church Chapel, the Committee on the Organ, the Committee on Christ Church and other Historical Sites, and, finally, the Committee on the Rectory. The work of committees represented is well documented and includes such. For additional information on vestry committees researchers should consult vestry minutes as well as committee reports-both series within the Vestry records.

Beginning in 1909 the Committee for a New Parish Building worked with Reverend Washburn to raise money for the construction of a much needed community center called Neighborhood House. The area surrounding Christ Church had for sometime been overrun with industry causing a once vibrant and healthy district of Philadelphia to deteriorate. The neighborhood was packed with impoverished immigrants and other poor laborers hoping to obtain employment in the factories and as a result social conditions suffered. Records suggest that a majority of the church's parishioners at this time consisted of those poor laborers and their families. As such, fundraising for Neighborhood House proved a difficult task. Meeting minutes, correspondence, and other records dating from 1909 to 1911 chronicle early efforts to rally support both inside and outside the church's constituencies. The committee petitioned patriotic groups and wealthy Philadelphians to contribute to the cause based on "…religious, patriotic, or social feeling…"

Records of the "Committee on the closing of Christ Church Chapel" include itemized accounts of chapel property and measured drawing of the windows in the nave of the chapel. Much of the correspondence is in regard to the disposition of the chapel's memorial windows.

Materials produced by the Committee on Organ are focused in the 1930s when Christ Church replaced its organ for the last time. Donated by Mary Louise Bok, the instrument was originally constructed for the home of her father, the late Cyrus H.K. Curtis. As a result, removal of the instrument from Curtis's home and subsequent installation into the church balcony proved an enormous expense. Letters in the correspondence files suggest that at least one [parishioner], a Miss Childs, thought the project a lavish expenditure given the effects of the economic depression of the time. Nevertheless the gift was accepted and the project is well documented. Materials evidence the removal and disposition of the old organ as well as the installation of the new one. The committee records also maintain the signed deed of gift, signed contract with the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, bill of sale for the old organ and information on the electrical system required for the new instrument.

The beginning of Christ Church's relationship with the National Park Service can be uncovered through the efforts of the "Committee on Christ Church and other Historical Sites." From 1947 to 1949 vestry committee members together with the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and the newly established National Shrines Park Commission rallied for protection of the church structure. According to correspondents, the industrial buildings erected directly adjacent to Christ Church were a fire hazard. Further defending their position, the committee discussed the aesthetic benefits of tearing down the industrial buildings to create a view shed for the church building.

Rounding out the series are the materials produced by the "Committee on Rectory." These records evidence the conversion of "Wharton House," located at 336 Spruce Street, into the rectory from 1960 to 1963. Files house itemized bills and lists of supplies, architectural drawings, paint samples, decorative stencil renderings, and photographs.

Object ID

1.8.0.0

Level of description

Series

Collection

Vestry

Parent Reference

For further record details run keyword search on parent object ID.

Parent ObjectID

1.0.0.0

Child Records