The Missing Records of 1937 and What They Revealed

The Brick Presbyterian Church keeps bound records of Orders of Worship, financial statements, and important documents dating back to 1885 in the archive of the Anderson library and in the Senior Pastor’s Study. Spending the summer researching in the library, I had the opportunity to examine these records up close. Though records have changed in style and content since the mid-nineteenth century, with varying format and additional information, the church’s emphasis on record keeping is consistent. The archive is filled with invaluable information: minutes, essays, sermons, even the bodice of Reverend Henry Van Dyke’s wife. However, in taking a closer look at the various bound records, I noticed that the bound Orders of Worship and their respective financial records from the 1937-1938 year appeared to be missing. In researching this abnormally undocumented year, what began as a search for the missing records became the uncovering of 1937’s role in the Brick Church’s rich history. 

It is worth noting that while completing my research, I contacted a representative of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia regarding the location of the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship. The Orders of Worship in question could not be located in either the Anderson library or the Senior Pastor’s Study, where Orders of Worship are normally kept. The Historical Society does indeed possess a copy of the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship and was kind enough to photocopy its first few pages for me. The Foreword on the pages sent to me by the Historical Society call 1937 a “memorable” and “significant” year for the church. Though the Orders of Worship had not been “missing” as I had previously assumed, they had led me on a journey of learning about one of the Brick Church’s most landmark years. 

The general climate of 1937, both within the Brick Church and on a larger global scale, was tense. The Great Depression was coming to a painful end, tensions which would lead to the outbreak of the second world war were rising, and the mosaic of New York City was shifting. The Brick community surely felt this shift, with much of the relatively loyal congregation moving uptown. This affected membership and attendance of worship at the time, given lesser modes of transportation and an alleged aversion to using available transportation on holy days. In addition to changing demographics, the Brick Church was experiencing considerable financial hardship as a result of the move and economic depression of the larger city. Despite some of the profound benefactors of the Church, the general financial upheaval caused by The Depression led to less donations from the congregation. In a memorandum identifying posthumous donors to the church, there is recorded a “1937 list” of donors who presumably contributed to Brick’s relocation effort. In addition to financial and societal turbulence, 1937 also saw the end of Reverend William Pierson Merrill’s time as head pastor and the search for his successor. Needless to say, 1937 represented transition.

Changes in surrounding society, economy, and location play into 1937’s historicity. In addition to the logistical challenges of the move and adjustments made by the church, there was indeed an emotional component to this period of change. In his last sermon to the congregation in Brick’s 37th Street location, Reverend William Pierson Merrill references Moses leaving Sinai, the place where “he [Moses] had found God”. Merrill recognized that, in many ways, much of the congregation had “found God” in the 37th St church. He urged the crowd to understand that the God of the Brick Church and Presbyterianism in general was not confined to the altar or a physical space, rather accessible wherever there was faith. The resilience of 1937 speaks to a larger motivation in the Brick Church Community: a motivation to strengthen and grow in faith, despite discomfort or hardship. During my research, I also grew increasingly grateful for the diligent record keeping done by archive committees over the years. Each volume, book, and sermon provides a gateway into the Brick church of the past, in turn informing our present and future. Grateful to have located and done research on the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship, I understand deeply the importance of archival and historical work in the context of the church.