Virtual Exhibits

The Emergence of a National Historic Site: St. Paul's Between the world wars

This is the text of an exhibition on display in the museum/visitors' center building at St. Paul's Church N.H.S., scheduled to be on view through January 2025.


A Special Role: St. Paul's Church and World War II


Text of an exhibition that was on display in the museum at St. Paul's from Feburary 2019 through January 2023. As an introduction, we reproduce here the opening panel of the exhibition:

The St. Paul’s area struggled with many of the challenges that confronted American communities on the home front during World War II. But during the conflict of 1939-1945, the parish realized a heightened sense of importance. At the time, St. Paul’s was recognized as a church representing something special about American heritage. This identity was rooted in the historic significance of the site in shaping fundamental national values. While this vision was historically exaggerated, the contemporary conviction presented St. Paul’s as the originating point of some of America’s most prized values, enshrined in the first amendment to the Bill of Rights. Those freedoms acquired a particular relevance in a war confronting brute intolerance and fascism abroad. The wartime restoration of the church interior to its original 18th century appearance and designation of St. Paul’s as a national historic site emphasized this association with the Bill of Rights

The worldwide conflict and the largest mobilization of people and resources in American history impacted the community in a variety of ways. Many parishioners were among the 15 million men and women serving in the nation’s armed forces across several continents from 1941-1945, the years of actual American military involvement. The tense emotional saga of following the military service and welfare of those on active duty consumed the lives of local families. A special altar in the St. Paul’s sanctuary provided a religious vehicle for maintaining a connection to the young men and women serving in the war.

While these were particularized elements of the community’s wartime experience, St. Paul’s shared components of the national challenges of living in a country at war. With the tremendous focus on the resources needed for the war effort, shortages of basic commodities affected the daily lives of local residents. The war’s great surge in employment and wages actually led to vastly increased income and wealth. Scrap drives, periodic blackouts, air raid drills and the ubiquitous expectations of investing in the war effort through the purchase of bonds were regular reminders of the struggle, even though the actual fighting was remote.

We invite you to learn about these extraordinary times through this exhibition utilizing documents, prints, photographs, art work, artifacts and sounds. It was made possible by:
National Park Service/Department of the Interior
Society of the National Shrine of the Bill of Rights
New York Humanities
BCM Mt. Vernon

Intrigue on the Village Green:
The Election of 1733 at St. Paul's


Text of an exhibition that was on display in the visitors' center museum at St. Paul's from February 2015 - January 2017. It explored the background, event and consequences of a famous election at St. Paul's, one of the earliest documented elections in American history,

A Conservative Union Parish:
St. Paul's Church and the Civil War


Text, and image, of an exhibition, that was on display in the visitors' center mueum, at St. Paul's Church N.H.S., from February 2013 - January 2015. It was produced to help commemorate the sesquecentennial (150th anniversary) of the Civil War. The exhibition explores how the St. Paul's community faced the social, political and military challenges posed by the Civil War.

Chief Executives on the Village Green: St. Paul's and the Presidents


Text, and image, of an exhibition that was on display in the visitors' center museum at St. Paul's, from Feburary 2011 - January 2013. It explored the interesting and varied connections to St. Paul's of five Presidents, from Washington to F.D.R.

 

Overlooked Hero

John Glover and the American Revolution

John Glover. There’s a name that’s familiar to people with an interest in the Revolutionary War, and that local residents might know as the namesake of the Pelham athletic fields. But who was he? What are his connections to the War for American Independence and to New York?

Click here to learn more.

 

A Clash of Cultures

Anne Hutchinson's Brief Life near St. Paul's Church

Anne Hutchinson's remarkable odyssey was a reflection of the powerful religious impulses which had a deep impact on society and individual lives in the English speaking world of the 17th century.

Click here to learn more.

 

The Trees of Saint Paul's Church

The Variety and History of Trees on the Grounds of St. Paul's

If planning a trip to Saint Paul's Church, visitors may want to print this guide for a self guided tour of the trees that grow on the church's grounds. It is also suitable as a virtual tour for those who are unable to visit the site. To view the guide, please click here.

 

A Selection of Epitaphs at Saint Paul's Church

This self-guided tour encompasses some of the gravestones at St. Paul's Church National Historic Site and focuses on the epitaphs of some of the individuals that are buried within the cemetery. Although the epitaphs at St. Paul's cemetery vary in theme, all are meant to memorialize the deceased. In our churchyard, religion clearly seems to be the dominant theme. To view the guide, please click here.

 

Wildlife at St. Paul's Church

Although the St. Paul's Church ecosystem is certainly not unique to the area, the six-acre cemetery provides a habitat for many typical "backyard animals," as well as some more surprising ones. Learn more about them.

 
many people parading on a street holding a large American flag
A large Preparedness parade in 1916.

Over Here, Over There:
America and World War I

Text of an exhibition -- produced to commemorate the centennial of American involvement in the First World War -- that was on display in the visitors' center museum at St. Paul's Church N.H.S. from Feburary 2017 - January 2019.

 

Last updated: March 28, 2023

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