The African American Episcopal Historical Collection (AAEHC) is a partnership of The Bishop Payne Library of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and the Historical Society of The Episcopal Church (HSEC).
AAEHC is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 research travel grants, supporting scholars and researchers working with its unique archival collections. Travel reimbursement grants are open to faculty, students, independent researchers, clergy, and laypersons. Funds may be used for travel, lodging, meals, photocopying, and other research expenses.
Application deadline: May 1, 2026 Travel window: August 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027
In 2025-2026, the AAEHC awarded $8,400 to three grantees, supporting a range of projects, including welcoming its first international researcher from the Diocese of Tete in the Anglican Province of Mozambique and Angola.
AAEHC preserves vital materials documenting the histories of African American Episcopalians. Collection strengths include parish histories, clergy mentorship networks, the Union of Black Episcopalians, Bishop Payne Divinity School, and the contributions of significant African American Episcopal leaders.
"It is an extraordinary blessing to have access to the AAEHC's historic research and memorabilia of noted Black clergy and scholars. These collections add fullness to the rich and true history of our Church," said The Rev. Canon Betsy Smith Ivey (retired).
Learn more at vts.edu/AAEHC.
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Historians explore the breadth of the Anglican Communion in the winter issue of Anglican and Episcopal History. The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church’s peer-reviewed journal has been expanding the depth and breadth of content over the last year. The winter issue includes five research articles including:
Afro-Centric Liturgical Music and Its Implementation at St. Philip’s Church, Harlem
An exploration of ways music, Episcopal liturgy, and African diasporic culture elements have been woven together at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Harlem, the second Black congregation of the Episcopal Church founded in 1809.
Carl Maultsby explores the evolution of liturgical practices at St. Philip’s with special attention to ways “music played a crucial role in both community outreach and worship.” Maultsby draws on sources like Langston Hughes’ 1934 poem “But Not at Saint Philips,” the influence of jazz talent Thomas A. Dorsey, and highlights the successive influence of St. Philip’s music leaders. Those leaders included William B. Cooper from 1953 to 1974, Eugene Wilson Hancock from 1974 to 1982, and Aaron Thorton who Maultsby recalls as the “most versatile and overall best musician in the second half of the twentieth century.”
Maultsby also chronicles ways Cooper heavily influenced the development of Lift Every Voice and Sing (LEVAS I), the first Episcopal hymnal focused on the Black experience. Maultsby is currently the director of music at St. Richard’s Episcopal Church in Winter Park, Florida, and formerly served as assistant organist at St. Philip’s, Harlem.
Anne Wheathill: Her Person and Her Prayer Book Reenvisioned
Thomas P. Mulvey Jr. challenges previous research related to early modern poet Anne Wheathill and her English devotional text A handful of holesome (though homelie) hearbs published in 1584.
Mulvey contends that focus on Wheathill’s literary qualities alone downplays her significance as an influential spiritual leader. His close examination of her 49 degendered collage psalm prayers leads to the conclusion that Wheathill was heavily influenced by the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer.
“Wheathill writes straightforwardly and mellifluently with the insight and maturity of an author who Is sensitive to the spiritual needs and reading capabilities of her imagined audience,” according to the author.
Mulvey is an independent scholar and priest in the Episcopal Church with research interests on late medieval and early modern piety in England and Northern Europe.
Anne Finch, countess of Winchilsea, and Nonjuror: The Power of Poetry in Time of Persecution
“Church historians overlooked Anne Finch’s (1661-1720) contributions to the English Nonjurors for two centuries,” according to John William Klein. He reminds readers that faith was an empowering space for early feminists like Finch.
Klein helps readers rediscover ways that Finch made important feminine contributions related to the social and aesthetic aspects of the English Nonjuror movement alongside male clerical leadership of the time. This included Finch’s hymn writing and socio-economic commentary.
“Anne Finch demonstrated a commitment to the dignity of women and to their place in the intellectual, artistic, and ecclesiastical community of England. Her work was profoundly valued within the community of Nonjurors and was admired by many in the establishment,” writes Klein.
Klein is a 1971 graduate of the Philadelphia Divinity School and a priest with 53 years of service in 9 parishes and 20 years as a US Army Chaplain.
Martyred Anglicans: the Persecution of the Nippon Sei Kō Kai and its Implications for Anglican Ecclesiology
Many Anglicans suffered during wartime persecution in Japan. Thomas Frances Caroe considers what lessons we might learn today from the wartime martyrdom of Paul Sasaki Shinji (1885-1946) and Sugai Todomu (1883-1947). Both men were leaders of Nippon Sei Kō Kai, the Anglican province in Japan.
Caroe writes that they were persecuted not as Christians, but specifically for their Anglican identity because the denomination had links to Japan’s military adversaries in the US and UK. Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang’s condemnation of Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 increased pressure on Anglicans in Japan.
“What Sasaki and Sugai gave their lives for was an episcopal church order that they believed to demonstrate the fundamental principle of Christian communion: an ultimate concern for personal relationships above norms, teachings, ideologies, or legalities,” writes Caroe. He suggests a powerful lesson can be learned from their commitment and wiliness to share life together, not as an institution, but as persons of faith willing to face challenges.
Caroe studied Japanese, music, and theology at the University of Oxford. He is currently an assistant curate in the Church of England.
“English Church Leaders and Travel to Rome in the Late Nineteenth Century” Episodes in Ecumenical Consciousness”
Jeremy Morris considers whether travel can broaden the religious mind. His study focuses on ways visiting Rome contributed to changing attitudes toward the Roman Catholic Church among senior Church of England clergy from 1800-1850s.
Morris investigates four case studies: Edward White Benson (1829-1896), Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to 1896; Randall Davidson (1848-1930), Archbishop from 1903 to 1928; Mandell Creighton (1843-1901), historian of the papacy and bishop of London from 1897 to1901; exceptionally long-lived Charles Wood (1839-1934), 2nd Viscount Halifax, long-time president of the (Anglo-Catholic) English Church Union.
Morris is a former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and a historian of modern Anglicanism and ecumenicism.
These studies along with exhibit and book reviews are available in the latest issue of AEH. Anglican & Episcopal History is the peer-reviewed journal of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. It is published quarterly. For subscription information visit hsec.us/membership.
The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church—an Affiliate Society of the American Historical Association—will host the session “Anglican Slavery in New Jersey: Reparations Work in the Diocese of New Jersey and the Episcopal Church” at the AHA Annual Meeting.
Session Details Saturday, January 10, 2026 10:30 AM–12:00 PM Wilson Room, Third Floor Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois
Our presenters include:
The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bailey, HSEC Board Member
The Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, Historiographer of The Episcopal Church
Dr. Jolyon Pruszinski, Princeton University
The program will also highlight the work of the Historical Society and include time for questions and discussion. We welcome all who are interested to join us for this important and engaging session.
If you are interested in attending and are not a participant in the Annual Meeting, please contact the HSEC Director of Operations, Matthew Payne at mpayne@hsec.us.
All are invited to attend “Charting a Legacy: African Americans in the Episcopal Church, Past and Present” on January 10, 2026, sponsored by the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church and presented at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 3801 S. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. St. Thomas has the distinction of being the first Black Episcopal Church in Chicago, with a continuing mission “not to be just a strong Black parish, but a parish that is wholly Christian, reaching out to those in the surrounding community who need to see the manifestation of God’s love through his people.”
The program features multiple speakers with time allowed for questions and discussion.
The program will take place Saturday, January 10, 2026 starting at 2:30 p.m. with light refreshments. The featured speakers start at 3:00 p.m. and the session ends at 5:00 p.m. with a short prayer service. In-person attendance is encouraged and there is no cost to attend. St. Thomas has ample street parking. The program will be recorded and shared publicly.
To help us prepare, please RSVP to administration@hsec.us.
The Historical Society is an Affiliate Member of the American Historical Association, which will hold its 139th Annual Meeting in Chicago. Dr. Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski will also be presenting at the AHA. If you are interested in attending the AHA session, contact Matthew Payne at mpayne@hsec.us.
Exhibit, podcast, church, and book reviews featured in the autumn 2025 issue of Anglican and Episcopal History (AEH) provide a range of insight helpful to scholars of church history. Highlights from the latest issue are included below.
ENGAGED HISTORY
Engaged History considers the “Walking Together Finding Common Ground Traveling Exhibit” in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. Leora L. Tadgerson describes it as an interactive educational installation about “the genocidal era of the Native American boarding schools from a Tribal perspective.” The project was developed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through a collaboration of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, the Great Lakes Peace Center, and Northern Michigan University with a primary goal of deepening the understanding of the Native American experience.
Tadgerson’s overview is the latest example of Engaged History in AEH. These articles are an opportunity for churches, organizations, committees, schools, and other church-related institutions to report to the wider Anglican/Episcopal history community. Projects of the most interest to the journal are those whereby research initiates a change process informing the future identity, ministry, and mission of a church-related organization.
CHURCH REVIEWS
Two church Reviews take readers to services in different parts of the world. The first profile is a Sunday service at the Trinity Congregation in Shanghai, China. The congregation served a wide range of Protestant foreigners living in suburban Shanghai. The second article profiles worship at the Anglo-Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, a western Philadelphia suburb in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
PODCAST REVIEW
Edward Rolands reviews Episode #98 from the Episcopal Divinity School podcast series. The episode titled “the Church’s Role in Indian Residential Schools and a Path to Reconciliation" interviews Anton Treuer, professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University. Rowlands writes that, “Treuer’s interview is moving, insightful, and challenging to the listener.”
BOOK REVIEWS
The autumn issue of AEH features reviews of 24 books representing a wide range of Anglican and church history scholarship. Reviews include:
Anglican and Episcopal History is the peer-reviewed journal of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. It is published quarterly. For subscription information visit hsec.us/membership.
Prominent church historians explore Episcopalian ministries among Native Americans, Huguenot influences, and legacies of the Oxford Movement in the autumn issue of Anglican and Episcopal History (AEH).
In the lead article, Robert W. Prichard explores ways Episcopalians interacted with U.S. Government policy toward Native Americans following the Civil War. His study draws attention to high-profile Episcopalians who participated in U.S. President Ulysses Grant’s policies. These leaders included Minnesota diocesan bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901), Philadelphia merchant William Welsh (c. 1810-1878), Pittsburgh railway director Felix R. Brunot (1820-1898), artist Vincent Colyer (1824-1888), and Grant’s Secretary to the Interior Columbus Delano (1809-1896).
Prichard concludes that, “Episcopalians provided significant leadership on the Board of Indian Commissioners.” He also notes that they differed from other Christian denominations in that, “Episcopalians were exceptionally willing to criticize government figures and even their own co-religionists.”
The article is titled “The Ministry of the Episcopal Church among Native Americans from the Grant Administration to the Early Twentieth Century.” Prichard is professor emeritus at the Virginia Theological Seminary and a past president of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.
Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, currently Historiographer of the Episcopal Church and editor-in-chief of AEH, then explores Anglo-Catholic influences among the Oneida in “The Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity and the Wisconsin Oneida.”
Kujawa-Holbrook finds that the sisters “exercised their roles with compassion and commitment to alleviate human suffering. They were progressive for their time in recognizing the heritages, gifts, and dignity of the [Oneida] people.” However, she cautions readers that “It is difficult to assess the relationship between the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity and the Oneidas in binary terms. The relationship between the Oneida and the Episcopal Church must be considered within the context of five centuries of Indigenous-Christian encounters in the Americas.”
Anne Richter, a retired priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, traces the work and evangelism of Elias Neau (1662-1722), a sailor and merchant with connections to France, Saint-Dominque (modern Haiti), Boston, and New York City. Neau founded a school for enslaved persons in New York City in 1704. He constantly fought to be accepted as he faced criticism from white masters who disapproved of him teaching the enslaved and struggled with Anglican clergy who were skeptical of his Reformist roots.
Richter’s study is titled “Elias Neau’s School: Early Anglican Catechesis of Enslaved Africans in New York.”
Two studies explore themes related to the ministry of English Anglican theologian and Oxford Movement Leader Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882).
These are:
The final study in the fall issue of AEH is “The Impact of Charles James Stewart upon Anglican Worship in the Diocese of Quebec, 1825-1835.” Paul Christianson, emeritus professor of history at Queen’s University, invites readers to discover the significant impact Stewart had on worship among Canadian Anglicans. Stewart was the second Anglican Bishop of Quebec from 1826 until 1837.
These studies along with reviews of exhibits, podcasts, and scholarly books are available in the latest issue of Anglican and Episcopal History. The journal is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Full text articles are available through JSTOR.org and for members of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church at hsec.us/AEH.
The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church is pleased to announce the awarding of the 2025 Robert W. Prichard Prize to Dr. Jacob Chatterjee, Faculty of History at the University of Oxford. The prize honors the best Ph.D., Th.D., or D.Phil. dissertation on the history of the Episcopal Church—including its roots in the 17th- and 18th-century British colonies that became the United States—as well as the Anglican Church within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Dr. Chatterjee’s dissertation, “The Idea of Happiness in Anglican Religious Culture, 1625–1751,” was submitted in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy in History at Balliol College, University of Oxford. The work explores a major cultural transformation within the Church of England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, arguing that between 1642 and 1751, there was a profound shift in the prevailing conception of happiness and the highest good within Anglican religious life.
The Prichard Prize is awarded every three years and named in honor of the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Prichard, a former HSEC board member and president, and a respected historian and author in the field. Applications are reviewed by a selection committee, with the final award determined by the HSEC Board of Directors. The committee welcomes dissertations that explore Episcopal and Anglican history in conversation with broader themes in church or secular history, provided the Anglican or Episcopal aspect remains central to the work.
For over a century, the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church has promoted the preservation, research, and dissemination of Episcopal and Anglican history. Founded in Philadelphia in 1910 as the Church Historical Society, its membership includes scholars, educators, clergy, laity, and anyone who shares interest in the church’s historical legacy.
More information about the Prichard Prize and other HSEC grant programs can be found at hsec.us/grants.
The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church is pleased to announce the Rev. Paula D. Nesbitt as the recipient of the 2025 Nelson R. Burr Prize. Nesbitt is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of California and Visiting Professor of Sociology of Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
The award honors her article, “Feminization of the Priesthood at Fifty—and the Journey Ahead,” published in the June 2024 issue of Anglican and Episcopal History (Vol. 93, No. 2). The Society’s Publications Committee selected the article for its well-reasoned narrative, engaging thesis, and its exemplary demonstration of historical scholarship and analysis.
Nesbitt’s article skillfully explores the breadth of transformation in the Episcopal Church since the mid-1970s, particularly relating to sexuality, gender, and the evolving role of women in ordained ministry. The Committee praised the article as a compelling and thought-provoking contribution to understanding a pivotal half-century in Episcopal history.
The Burr Prize is named in honor of Nelson R. Burr, a distinguished historian whose seminal work, A Critical Bibliography of Religion in America (1961), remains a cornerstone in the field of religious historiography. The prize is awarded annually to the author of the most outstanding article published in Anglican and Episcopal History, the Society’s quarterly peer-reviewed journal. The award recognizes scholarly excellence and innovation in the study of Anglican and Episcopal history.
Articles receiving the Burr Prize, including Nesbitt’s, may be accessed at hsec.us/Nelson-Burr-Prize. Printed copies are also available by contacting Matthew P. Payne, Director of Operations of the Society, at mpayne@hsec.us or (920) 383-1910.
of the most outstanding article in the quarterly, peer-reviewed journal. The award recognizes that which best exemplifies excellence and innovative scholarship in the field of Anglican and Episcopal history.
A copy of articles of Burr Prize recipients may be found at hsec.us/Nelson-Burr-Prize.
The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC) has announced the awarding of $13,000 in grant funding to ten recipients at its Annual Meeting held on July 30, 2025. These grants support research, publications, and projects that preserve and share the rich history of the Episcopal Church and the broader Anglican Communion. Since the inception of its grants program in 1988, HSEC has awarded over $500,000 in funding to scholars, historians, and institutions dedicated to Episcopal and Anglican historical work.
Applications for funding are reviewed by the Society’s Grants and Research Committee, with final approval made by the Board of Directors. Grants are funded through the organization’s annual budget, with additional awards made possible by contributions by HSEC members.
Recipients are encouraged to share their findings through Anglican and Episcopal History, the Society’s peer-reviewed quarterly journal. Further information about the grants program is available at hsec.us/grants .
The 2025 grant recipients and their areas of research are:
· Brian Douglas (Charles Sturt University; Cranberra, Australia): for studying the Eucharist in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
· Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Rev. Kerith Harding, Episcopal Church): for updating Cross Before Flag publication of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (this amount should fund their student researcher).
· Corinna Hill (University of Rochester; Rochester, NY, USA): for research on Ephphatha Guild in Rochester, a deaf ministry, affiliated with several Episcopal churches in Rochester.
· Anna James (Lambeth Research Degree in Theology): for doctoral research traveling to theological libraries to study their development from the nineteenth-century through the present.
· Kevin Kostin (SUNY Buffalo; Buffalo, NY): for doctoral research on 19th c. Black and Indigenous clergy in the Episcopal Church.
· Theodora Moyse-Peck (University of Cambridge, Newnham College; Cambridge, England): for MPhil research on Coptic Orthodox and Arab Anglicans.
· Phil Sinitiere (College of Biblical Studies; Houston, TX): to continue research on the Rev. William Howard Melish and W.E.B. Du Bois.
· Valeria Vergani (Stanford University; Stanford, CA, USA): for doctoral research on Episcopal bishop William Swing and interfaith understanding in the wake of 9/11.
· Abby Wasserman (independent scholar) and Kathy Grieb (Virginia Theological Seminary; Alexandria, VA, USA): for research on oral history of women’s ordination in the Episcopal Church.
· Lauren Winner (Duke Divinity School; Durham, NC, USA): for research on the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross.
The summer issue of Anglican and Episcopal History features two engaged history articles and a range of exhibit, church, and book reviews helpful to scholars of church history. Reviews of current scholarship include:
Engaged History
Jennifer Woodruff Tait reflects on the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, its meaning and ways it connects us to Christians across the generations. Tait is senior editor of Christian History magazine and priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington.
Then, a team of historians trace the ministry, challenges, and transformations of rural St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, a former church in the hamlet of Redbank in a remote northern area of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. The article by Colin J. Wood, Christian Mumpower, and Jacob Battle represents work by the Redbank Valley Historical Research Project at Liberty University.
Church Reviews
Church reviews provide readers a glimpse of divine services throughout the Anglican Communion, especially within the Episcopal Church.
In this issue, Joel W. West reflects on an “old-school worship” service on the First Sunday of Lent at Christ Church North Adelaide, part of the Diocese of Adelaide in the Anglican Church of Australia (ACA). West gives readers context for the evolution of Anglicanism in Australia and ways the Diocese of Adelaide and its Province of South Australia became the most Anglo-Catholic part of the ACA.
Church review editor J. Barrington Bates then takes readers to a summer Sunday service at Grace Episcopal Church in Holland, Michigan, part of the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes.
Exhibit Review
Nancy Saultz Radloff explores the online exhibition “For the Expansion of the Kingdom” published online by the Archives of the Episcopal Church.
The exhibit explores women’s contributions to the Episcopal Church. Saultz Radloff calls the exhibit “an excellent resource” that isn’t just a history of the church but “it’s also a social history of America.”
Online exhibits from the Archives of the Episcopal Church are accessible at: https://exhibits.episcopalarchives.org/
20 Book Reviews including:
Anglican and Episcopal History is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Full text articles are available through JSTOR.org and for members of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church at hsec.us/AEH.
Historical Society of the Episcopal Church
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