One of Morristown's most prominent and fashionable congregations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Saint Peter's Church is rooted in humble beginnings. Anglican services were not held in Morris County until 1763, and worshipers had to rely upon the services of itinerant preachers for decades until a permanent church was founded in 1827 when the Act of Incorporation for Saint Peter's Episcopal Church was signed by its first rector, Benjamin Holmes, who then served the small congregation until 1831.
The cornerstone to the original church was laid on May 14, 1828 and the building was consecrated on December 4th. The builders included a design structure to encourage congregants to arrive for services on time, the chancel was positioned on the South Street side so that latecomers were made to face the entire congregation; however, this changed in 1858 when the structure was enlarged and improved.
Secession of a small group of congregants in 1850 resulted in formation of the nearby Church of the Redeemer, nevertheless, St. Peter's continued to grow of its own accord. By All Saint's Day 1887 the cornerstone for a new church building was laid; built in stages as funds were raised, the first section was completed in 1889 and consisted of a chancel and chapel, with the remaining nave and tower completed over the following sixteen years.
The new St. Peter's was designed by New York Architect Charles McKim, of McKim, Mead and White, and is fashioned in the English parish style with stone quarried in Waterloo, NJ. It's clarion bells were manufactured by John Taylor and Co., which is the world's oldest and most renowned bell foundry. The graveyard includes members of several prominant Morristown families.
As of 2017, St. Peter's holds regular services on Sundays and Thursdays and provides congregants with adult education offerings, Bible study, as well as a venue to participate in youth and adult choirs, and various volunteer efforts. Under the tenure of Rev. Janet Broderick, the Church continues to offer spiritual guidance to its membership while contributing to the overall welfare of Morristown's residents.
The collection consists primarily of printed materials including correspondence, programs, newsletters, sermons, and ephemera. One sermon of note is "The Convocation at Miletus", written by Archbishop George Washington Doane and given in 1834 at St. Peter's Church. The papers also include transcribed excerpts of the diary kept by the Church's first permanent rector, Reverend Benjamin Holmes.
A subject file on the installation of the Carillon bells, 1923-1924, includes Curtiss photographs and correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. George Marshall Allen, who were major benefactors of the Church. Service lists, publications regarding Church activities, music programs, and other materials provide a rich account of congregants' activities over the centuries. These records were initially housed in the department's Miscellanous Manuscripts Collection and the veritical file.
Materials are arranged chronolgocially and organized into ten series: Reports, Correspondence, Diaries, Sermons, Bulletins, Programs, Publications, Subject Files, Ephemera, and Membership Directories.
This collection is open for research under the conditions set forth in the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center archives access policy. All archival material should be handled with care and kept in its original order; notes may only be taken in pencil or with a computer, and food and drink are prohibited in the Reading Room. Records may be copied for scholarly or personal research using the edge scanner or a digital camera without flash; however, researchers must obtain copyright permission prior to publishing material from the collection.
Individual items in the records were aquired by the Library over several years and filed as Miscellaneous Manuscripts or Vertical Files. They were consolidated into this collection in 2014.
St. Peter's Church Records, 1834-1997. North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, Morristown and Morris Township Library.
Processed by Cheryl Turkington, 2014. Processed and encoded by Jeffrey V. Moy, Archivist, July 2017.