Introducing Waymarks, the new Journal of Presbyterian History
125 years after the first edition was printed, the publication gets a make-over
The Rev. Dr. Henry C. McCook became a member of the Presbyterian Historical Society in 1879. In 1898, he was elected president of the society, and immediately focused his efforts and talents on preserving and building its collections. With McCook at its helm, PHS hosted lectures and literary readings, and organized special exhibitions at its location on the fifth floor of the Witherspoon Building in downtown Philadelphia.
In 1900, McCook urged his PHS colleagues to commit themselves to publishing a journal in order to fulfill one of the original purposes of the society — to promote the knowledge of the history of American Presbyterians. He believed that the printing of such a resource would make the history of the church and the society's collections more accessible. The first number of the "Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society," edited by McCook, was published in May 1901, in time to promote the approaching 50th anniversary of the founding of the society in 1902.
Over the years, McCook's "Journal of The Presbyterian Historical Society" became "American Presbyterians" before becoming "The Journal of Presbyterian History: Studies in Reformed History and Culture." In the fall of 2001, the "Journal of Presbyterian History" published a special issue to "commemorate a century of American denominational history research, writing, and publishing." An image of the first ever edition of the journal served as the cover photo of Volume 39 Number 3, with the most notable difference being the publication's price — the May 1901 edition cost just 50 cents, while the price tag on the Fall 2011 edition reads $10.
"Through one hundred years, several name changes, format redesigns, and —perhaps surprisingly — only nine senior editors, the journal has appeared in first two and then four issues annually until it has become the longest continuously publishing denominational historical journal in the United States," the Fall 2001 edition claimed.
Now, 125 years after the publication of its inaugural issue in the summer of 1901, "The Journal of Presbyterian History" has gone through a metamorphosis, emerging with a new name and fresh focus. With the Spring/Summer 2026 issue, "The Journal of Presbyterian History" became "Waymarks: Presbyterian and Reformed History for Today."
The publication has changed both its title and its direction, in the hopes of reaching beyond the academy to engage pastors, churchgoers, and anyone else interested in the many connections between faith and social, political, and cultural currents, past and present.
The inaugural "Waymarks" issue profiles six individuals whose lives speak to the memory project that is "America 250": John Witherspoon, Barton Stone, Francis Grimké, Ida B. Wells Barnett, Esther Pak, and Janie Spahr. It also includes a longer article exploring the push-pull question of agency in the move of Black members from majority white congregations in Washington, D.C. during the 1840s and the founding of Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church.
(For comparison, back in September of 1903, the article lineup for Volume 2, Number 2, of the "Journal of The Presbyterian Historical Society" included a biography of James Hall Mason Knox, "The American Revisions of Watt's' 'Psalms,'" the printing of a collection of correspondence dating to the 1790s, and a history of "The First German Reformed Colony in Virginia: 1714-1750.")
"Waymarks" issues will generally feature one longer-form, illustrated historical article, a forum of short pieces focused on a particular question or theme, and reviews of new books.
Senior Co-Editors Nancy Taylor, Executive Director of the Presbyterian Historical Society, and Dr. Heath Carter, Associate Professor of American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary, believe readers will find interesting historical content that also relates to contemporary questions facing church and society.
Yearly subscriptions to "Waymarks" are available for the first time to individuals and congregations for $48 for two issues. Donors to PHS who give $100 or more per year will continue to receive a complimentary subscription to "Waymarks."
Information on "Waymarks," including an online subscription portal, is available here.
If you'd like to contribute to the PHS Annual Fund, you can do so here.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.
