Guide to the Thomas Brainerd Papers
Open for research.
Thomas Brainerd was born in 1804 at Leyden, Lewis County, New York. In 1825 he was converted under the preaching of Charles G. Finney. In 1831 he graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, was ordained by the Third Presbytery of New York and went to the West under commission of the American Home Missionary Society. In the same year he became pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in the suburbs of Cincinnati and in 1833 he became associated with Lyman Beecher in Second Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. He was editor of the Cincinnati Journal and Youth's Magazine from 1833 to 1836. In 1837 he was installed as pastor of Third (Old Pine) Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, where he served for 30 years, until his death in 1866. Brainerd was moderator of the General Assembly, New School, in 1864.
Brainerd contributed to the daily and weekly press and to the Presbyterian Quarterly Review and published a Life of John Brainerd.
The record group consists of manuscript sermons of Brainerd from 1834 to 1864, including an address delivered at the organization of the Presbyterian Church in Mount Holly, NJ, in 1839. The dating of the sermons, based on notations on the manuscripts, may not be accurate, especially since it is not certain who made the notations. As is usual with sermons, the manuscripts often have more than one date, indicating that the sermon was preached more than once.
Also included are Brainerd's diploma from Andover Theological Seminary, an Order of Exercises for the seminary in 1831, and letter of Brainerd to the moderator of presbytery in 1854. There is also a letter of Charles G. Finney to Brainerd written in 1828.
Researchers should consult the library card catalogue for reference to publications of Brainerd, photographs and portrait, and, in Map Case Drawer 7.92, his call to Third Presbyterian Church (Old Pine) in 1836.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: August 1992
Glenn Colliver, Assistant Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 292 | |
| 1 | 2 | Sermons, 1834-1851 | |
| 1 | 3 | Sermons, 1853-1859 | |
| 1 | 4 | Sermons, 1860-1864, undated | |
| 1 | 5 | Charles G. Finney Letter, 1828 | |
| 1 | 6 | Diploma, Letter, Order of Exercises, 1831, 1854 |