Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Phil Teigen North American churches postcard collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Phil Teigen on 9/11/2018.

Processing Information

Processing completed by Elizabeth Beckman in October 2018. EAD markup completed by Elizabeth Beckman in October 2018.

Historical note

Immigrants from Europe and Asia brought a wide variety of Christian beliefs to North America. As Peter Williams notes, "The pluralism of America's religious experience is a given from the beginnings, first for the colonial settlements in aggregate, then later in virtually every town, city, and state" ("Houses of God", xii). He goes on to describe how these many religious groups impacted the built environment as they came "in succeeding waves of immigration, each bringing with them and/or adapting for their own purposes a wide variety of types of houses of worship and other sacred sites and structures" ("Houses of God," xii). This diversity of religious architecture is reflected in material commemorative culture, including through postcards.

Scope and Content note

This collection contains postcards from churches of many denominations across the United States and Canada. The postcards date from 1904-2010, although many are undated. The processor included undated in the date range for a series or box if it seemed likely that some of the postcards in the group date from outside the given range. More than half of the postcards depict Lutheran churches; there are also many postcards of Roman Catholic churches and Episcopal churches, as well as other Christian denominations. The postcards are organized by denomination and alphabetically by state (sometimes city), as well as whether they depict church interiors or exteriors.

Series 1: Lutheran churches, 1904-2010 (Boxes 1-7) includes postcards of Lutheran churches from the United States and Canada. It is divided into two subseries, Lutheran church exteriors and Lutheran church interiors.

Series 2: Roman Catholic churches, 1907-1995 (Boxes 8-10) includes postcards of Roman Catholic churches across the United States and Canada.

Series 3: Episcopal churches, 1908-1983, undated (Boxes 10-11) includes postcards of Episcopal churches across the United States and Canada.

Series 4: Other denominations, 1908-2000 (Boxes 11-12) is the smallest series, and includes postcards of a variety of churches, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Orthodox, and other denominations, as well as non-denominational.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series by denomination. Within Series 1-3, postcards are organized alphabetically by state or province.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center also holds the Gustav Klemp German World War I collection, which contains postcards from a German World War I medic.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Catholic church buildings
• Church buildings
• Lutheran church buildings
• Postcards