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Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church records

Call Number

2009.011

Dates

1816-2011, inclusive
; 1850-1990, bulk

Creator

Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.) (Role: Donor)
Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

Extent

42.25 Linear Feet in 32 record cartons, six manuscript boxes, four flat boxes, and one small box
219 Megabytes in 1 digital file.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The records of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church document the history of the church, from its founding in 1857 to 2011 (the collection includes material dating back 1816). These records include church bulletins, publications, scrapbooks, membership and vital records, financial records, annual reports, building and property records, clippings, and photographs. The files also document specific aspects of the church, including its pastors (especially Theodore L. Cuyler); the Session; its choir, organ, and music program; Elders and administrators; missionary work (in Korea, Kentucky, and locally in Brooklyn); its Christian education program; various church groups; and LAPC members' roles in World War I and World War II.

Timeline

Timeline

1857 Park Presbyterian Church organized
1860 Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler becomes church pastor
1862 Lafayette Avenue church building completed and church's name is officially changed to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
1863 Cumberland Street Chapel organized by W.W. Wickes
1866 Prospect Park Chapel organized on Warren Street by William C. Mumford and other church members (soon thereafter it became the Memorial Presbyterian Church on 7th Avenue)
1867 Young People's Association established
1872 Rev. Cuyler invited Sarah Smiley, a Quaker preacher, to be the first woman ever to preach from a Presbyterian pulpit
1874 Olivet Chapel organized
1881 Dr. John Hyatt Brewer joins the church as its Musical Director
1884 The mission to Korea is established by church member Daniel W. McWilliams. Horace Grant Underwood leads the mission.
1886 Cuyler Chapel opened on Atlantic Avenue by the Young People's Association
1890 Rev. Cuyler retires in the 30th year of his pastorate
1890 Rev. David Gregg becomes the second pastor of the LAPC
1903 Rev. Gregg leaves the church to become president of Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh
1904 Rev. Cleland Boyd McAfee installed as third pastor of the LAPC
1907 Buckhorn Church organized in Kentucky by Rev. Harvey Murdoch
1908 First issue of the Lafayette Record published
1909 Rev. Cuyler passes away on Feburary 26th
1910 New church organ dedicated
1912 Rev. McAfee leaves the church to occupy the chair of Systematic Theology at the McCormick Seminary
1913 Rev. Charles Carroll Albertson becomes the fourth pastor of the LAPC
1917 Gregg Chapel organized by the Young People's Association on 4th Avennue. The chapel was established to serve the growing Italian immigrant population.
1919 Rev. Gregg passes away
1919 Parish House opens on property given to the church by John T. Underwood
1920 The Women's Federation was organized, uniting the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society, the Ladies' Benevolent Society, the Cuyler Mission Band, and the Lafayette Auxiliary of the Red Cross
1928 Rev. Albertson steps down as pastor
1930 Rev. Alvin E. Magary installed as fifth pastor of the LAPC
1931 Musical Director Dr. John Hyatt Brewer retires and passes away
1932 The steeple is removed from the church building due to safety concerns resulting from subway construction
1938 Rev. Magary marries church organist Marion Clayton
1944 Rev. McAfee passes away
1951 Women elected to the Session for the first time
1956 Women elected to the Board of Deacons for the first time
1956 Rev. Magary resigns as pastor
1957 Rev. George Litch Knight becomes the sixth pastor of the LAPC
1959 Rev. Albertson passes away
1964 Rev. Magary passes away
1989 Rev. Knight retires
1992 Rev. David W. Dyson is installed as the church's seventh pastor
1995 Rev. Knight passes away
2011 Rev. Dyson retires as church pastor

Historical note

The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (LAPC) was originally organized as the Park Presbyterian Church in the eleventh ward of Brooklyn, New York, in 1857. At first, the church was temporarily based in the former home of the Park Congregation Church on Carlton Avenue, near DeKalb Avenue, in what is today known as the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In 1860, the church invited Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler to become its first pastor. Cuyler, a vocal supporter of the abolitionist movement, was then the pastor of the Market Street Dutch Reformed Church in New York City. Cuyler agreed to accept the call to Brooklyn on the condition that the church purchase land and erect a new church building on the corner of Lafayette Avenue and South Oxford Street. The congregation purchased the land just ten days later, and Cuyler was installed as pastor on April 24, 1860. The church building was completed and dedicated in March 1862, and the congregation was renamed the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.

The congregation was greatly expanded under Cuyler, from 140 members in 1860 to over 2,300 in 1890. During this time period the church's Sabbath School was established, along with a number of church groups, such as the Young People's Associations, the Cuyler Mission Band, and Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society. Several chapels were organized throughout Brooklyn, expanding the reach of the church beyond the Fort Greene neighborhood.

In 1872, Cuyler caused great controversy by inviting Sarah Smiley, a Quaker preacher, to be the first woman to deliver an address at a Presbyterian service.

Another major event which occurred during the Cuyler pastorate was the establishment of the Presbyterian mission in Korea, which was spearheaded by LAPC Elder Daniel W. McWilliams.

Cuyler retired in 1890 after serving 30 years as pastor for the LAPC. The congregation chose Rev. David Gregg, of the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston, as its second pastor. Gregg accepted the call and was installed on December 14, 1890. The church and its chapels continued to expand under his pastorate. Gregg remained at the church until 1903, when he accepted the call to be president of the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The third pastor of the LAPC, Rev. Cleland Boyd McAfee, was installed on October 8, 1904. He had previously served as pastor to the 41st Street Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois. McAfee continued the church's support for missions, both locally and abroad, and was a strong proponent of the church's music program. A new organ was installed in November 1910. He resigned in June 1912, when he accepted the call to serve as the chair of Systematic Theology at McCormick Seminary in Chicago.

On May 6, 1913, Rev. Charles Carroll Albertson was installed as the fourth pastor of the LAPC. Albertson led the effort to enlarge the church's endowment fund during his fifteen year service as minister of the church. He was a leading advocate of the Social Gospel movement in American Protestantism. During his pastorate, the Buckhorn Association was established as a mission in rural Kentucky in 1916. Additionally, a Parish House was built in 1917 to house various community-service projects locally in Brooklyn. He retired on Easter Sunday, 1928.

Rev. Alvin E. Magary was installed as the fifth pastor of the LAPC on May 6, 1930. He led the church through a difficult period, as noted in the LAPC's One Hundredth Anniversary booklet, "with the depression, the war years and the confused times of the post-war period, Brooklyn changed in character far more than our immediate neighborhood. Older members of church families retired and moved away or were taken by death. Younger members of these families moved out of the neighborhood or city." Magary remained pastor for 26 years, retiring in 1956.

The sixth pastor of the LAPC, Rev. George Litch Knight, was installed on December 29, 1957. That year marked the 100th anniversary of the church. The congregation had shrunk dramatically in the previous years, from a height of 2,500 at the turn of the century to less than 100 in 1960. Knight guided the church through another period of change. He led the effort to rehabilitate the church building and oversaw the development of the church's Cultural Crossroads program in the 1970s. The church also catered to newly arrived ethnic populations, such as the "Spanish" congregation, led by Rev. Moises J. Senti, and the Korean congregation, led by Elder Chung H. Ro, Rev. John Y. Paik, and Rev. Sung Kook Shin.

Rev. Knight retired in 1989 after leading the church for over thirty years. He was succeeded by Rev. David W. Dyson, who was chosen as pastor in 1992. Dyson was ordained in 1972, and spent much of the 1970s and 1980s as a labor advocate, first for the United Farm Workers and then for the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. Prior to coming to the LAPC, he served for two years as executive minister for the Riverside Church in Manhattan. He served as LAPC pastor for eighteen years, where his ministry focused on social justice, retiring in 2011.

As of October 2015, the LAPC is led by Interim Pastor Lindsay Borden.

Arrangement

The records are organized into 18 series:

Series 1: Church Bulletins

Series 2: Parish Newsletters

Series 3: Lafayette Record

Series 4: Scrapbooks

Series 5: Pastors

Series 6: Membership, marriage, and baptismal records

Series 7: Session, Board of Trustees, and financial records

Series 8: Church manuals and calendars

Series 9: Historical files

Series 10: Elders and Administrators

Series 11: Music and organ

Series 12: Building and property

Series 13: Mission work

Series 14: Sunday School

Series 15: Young People's Association

Series 16: War service records

Series 17: Clippings

Series 18: Photographs

Scope and Contents

The records of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church document the history of the church, from its founding in 1857 to 2011 (the collection includes material dating back 1816). These records include church bulletins, publications, scrapbooks, membership and vital records, financial records, annual reports, building and property records, clippings, and photographs.

The files also document specific aspects of the church, including its pastors (especially Theodore L. Cuyler); the Session; its choir, organ, and music program; Elders and administrators; missionary work (in Korea, Kentucky, and locally in Brooklyn); its Christian education program; various church groups; and LAPC members' roles in World War I and World War II.

Subjects

Families

Conditions Governing Access

Open to users without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

Photographs and publications published prior to 1923 are in the public domain. The copyright status for all other material has not been evaluated. Please consult library staff for more information.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church records, 2009.011, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Location of Materials

The majority of the materials in this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org at least three weeks prior to research visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 2009. A second accrual of records was deposited at BHS by LAPC in September 2015.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Access to digital materials is available onsite at the Othmer Library. Requests to access born digital materials must be made at least 2 days in advance by emailing cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.

The majority of the materials in this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org at least three weeks prior to research visit.

Scrapbooks in boxes 30-31 are brittle and flaking, so not available for research use.

Related archival materials at BHS

Presbyterian Churches of Brooklyn collection (ARC.241)

Religious organizations of Brooklyn collection (ARC.242)

American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions annual meeting book (1977.083)

Church Extension Board of the Presbytery of Brooklyn-Nassau records (1978.027)

Theodore L. Cuyler correspondence (1978.167)

Related archival materials at other repositories

Brooklyn Public Library holds a number of photographs relating to the LAPC.

Berea College Library's Southern Appalachian Archives holds two collections relating to the Buckhorn Association: the Buckhorn Children's Center Records (SAA 45) and the Buckhorn School Oral History Collection (SAA 94).

Collection processed by

John Zarrillo. Digital material processed by Erica López in 2019.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:19:59 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

The records were processed, arranged, and described by archivist John Zarrillo, May-August 2015. Series 1-3 were processed primarily by volunteers from Goldman Sachs in June 2010.

Some material that had been deposited at Brooklyn Historical Society has been returned to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in accordance with the policies set forth by the Session in a meeting on July 12, 2015, including official Session minutes and financial records dating from 1916 and later.

An accrual of LAPC files were deposited at BHS in September 2015. These files included a bound volume of Brooklyn City News, 1862 (added to Series 17: Clippings); video recordings relating to Rev. Dyson, 2011 (added to Sub-series 5.8: Rev. David W. Dyson); and several items relating to Rev. Cuyler, 1816-1923 (added to Sub-series 5.1: Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler).

The collection includes one CD, which was imaged using BitCurator-2.0.14 in 2019. No viruses or personally identifying information were identified during imaging.

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201