Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., Presbytery of San Francisco. Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.)

Biographical Information

Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, San Francisco

The Presbyterian Church in Chinatown (PCC) located in San Francisco, California is the oldest Asian American Christian congregation in North America and also the first Chinese Protestant church to be established outside China. Designated a "foreign mission" by the Presbyterian denomination, the church opened its doors at 925 Stockton Street on November 6, 1853 with four members under the leadership of the Reverend Dr. William Speer. It was not until 1925 that jurisdiction of the church was transferred from the Board of Foreign Mission to the Board of National Missions. In 1947, the Board formalized a plan whereby the social work and community youth work mission of Donaldina Cameron House were united with the mission of the church. Reverend Franz "Dick" Wichman served as both the Director of Cameron House and co-pastor of the church until 1977. This connection enhanced the ministries of both through the sharing of facilities, resources, and leadership.

After changing its name from the Presbyterian Chinese Mission Church, the congregation continued to be know as the Chinese Presbyterian Church until 1958, when the current name emphasizing the church's recognition of its social context was adopted by its members. PCC is one church with three congregations: English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Out of this community came the first English/Chinese bilingual newspaper in the country, the first public school serving the early immigrant Chinese population in the United States, and the first Chinese daily newspaper in the country. The church also produced some of the earliest Chinese seminarians and pastors; was an early champion of women's rights, examining the intersection of gender, race, and class issues; and led the way in religiously based social activism among Asian American communities in the 1960s. The emphasis on youth and leadership training at Donaldina Cameron House and the church continues the mission of establishing strong lay and pastoral leadership to meet the needs of a growing Chinese American population throughout San Francisco.

(information from PANA website: http://www.psr.edu/pana.cfm?m=132 )

Historical Documentation Project

The Historical Documentation Project (HDoc) is an initiative to establish an archive document history of an Asian American faith community, focusing on the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown (PCC) as the project site in recognition of its importance as the first Asian American church in North America, founded in 1853. Because of the absence of documented history of PCC, the project initiated a three-step process: Production, Preservation, and Presentation. The HDoc will produce new records in the forms of oral history interviewing, photographs, and videotapes; preserve organization materials gathered, arranged, and housed at The Bancroft Library for long-term safekeeping with full public access for research and educationa purposes; and present interpretative materials to showcase the resources gathered by the project and emphasize the importance of documents of this type of community history.

The HDoc project, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, began on July 1, 2002 as a two-year partnership among the Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion (PANA), the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, San Francisco (PCC), and The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. The project has become the HDoc Committee of the PCC who will continue to administer the three-step process and carry out the mission of maintaining an archive document history of the church and its community.

(information from PANA website: http://www.psr.edu/pana.cfm?m=132 )

From the guide to the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, San Francisco, Historical Documentation Project records, 1848-2004, undated, bulk 1960-2003, (The Bancroft Library)