The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) staff have recently processed the Isabel Wood Rogers Papers (RG 563). Dr. Rogers was moderator of 199th General Assembly in Biloxi, Mississippi. Her papers came to PHS in 2008. The processed collection totals 16 cubic feet (17 boxes).
Isabel "Izzie" Wood Rogers (August 26, 1924-March 18, 2007) was the daughter of William Hudson and Mary (née Wood) Rogers. Isabel was a native of Tallahassee, Florida. She received her undergraduate degree from Florida State College for Women (FSCW), Tallahassee, in 1945 and earned advanced degrees from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville City, in 1947 (master of arts in political science), the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (PSCE; one of the predecessor entities of Union Presbyterian Seminary), Richmond, Virginia, in 1949 (master of religious education), and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in 1961 (Ph.D. in theology and ethics). She worked at Georgia State College for Women (GSCW) in Milledgeville, first as a Presbyterian campus minister and chaplain and then as director of religious affairs, from 1949 to 1961. She taught applied Christianity at PSCE from 1961 to 1998. Upon her retirement she was named professor emerita of applied Christianity. In 1987, she was elected moderator of the 199th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Biloxi, Mississippi. She was awarded honorary degrees from several colleges.
The collection contains audiovisual materials, correspondence, curricula and other teaching materials, manuscript volumes (chiefly calendars/planners), photographs, printed materials and publications, sermons, subject files, writings, yearbooks, and other materials that document the professional career and personal life of Rogers. Materials chiefly cover Rogers's work as an educator at the PSCE and her tenure as moderator of the 199th General Assembly of the PC(USA) from 1987 to 1988.
The collection contains two series:
Series I, Personal / Professional Papers and Volumes, circa 1929-2009, is the bulk of the collection and arranged in the following subdivisions: Biblical studies files, which span Rogers's time as a student and as a Christian educator; calendars / planners / appointment books; correspondence files; moderatorial year files, which chiefly include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed materials and publications; personal papers, which include biographical materials, certificates, degrees, diplomas, and materials pertaining to Rogers's parents William Hudson and Mary Rogers; PSCE files, which mainly pertain to Rogers's retirement; sermon files; speaking events and teaching / preaching modules / curricula files, which include drafts, lecture notes, outlines, printed materials and publications, syllabi, and other teaching materials; subject files; writings, which include published and unpublished works and other materials pertaining to Rogers's writings; and yearbooks.
Series II, Audiovisual Materials, 1967, undated, includes an open reel audiotape titled "Uncle Hal" (1967) and nine VHS tapes, chiefly from a PSCE series titled "The Distinctiveness of Presbyterianism (undated).
Click here to access the guide to the Isabel Wood Rogers Papers and read more about the contents of the papers.
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