Introduced and transcribed by Richard J. Mammana
The Bishop White Prayer Book Society (BWPBS) is one of the few survivors of the multitude of local American organizations formed in the nineteenth century to promote distribution of the Book of Common Prayer. Based in Philadelphia, and affiliated closely with the Diocese of Pennsylvania, the BWPBS was established in the year 1834 'with the view to supply missionaries, destitute parishes, and Episcopalians everywhere, with the public formularies of the Church'. Still active today, the society has a remarkable record of supporting not just distribution of the BCP, but also translations into languages other than English, and the provision of related materials such as hymnals and supplementary liturgical texts. The modern researcher on the BWPBS is fortunate to have a wealth of annual reports of its activities, many of them with an address by a prominent lay supporter, or an anniversary sermon by a local rector or diocesan bishop. The society was of course named for Bishop William White (17481836, Bishop of Pennsylvania 17871836, Chaplain of the Senate, and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in two terms: 1789, and 17951836).
The 1845 report noted a very wide degree of activity during the preceding calendar year, and a small increase over previous years' work:
This annual report also included an address by Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786 — 1868), an American attorney, diplomat, and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the House from 1835 — 1837, and from 1841 — 1849. He also served as United States Minister to the Court of St James from 1852 — 1853 under Millard Fillmore. (Joseph's father Jared [1749 — 1822] was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Constitution.) A graduate of Princeton, Ingersoll was a parishioner at St Peter's Church, Philadelphia. Ingersoll's involvement in the Bishop White Prayer Book Society was as a layman and financial backer, and his understanding of the contemporary American religious situation is both careful and subtle.
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