Browse items

Year

Title

Subject

Description

1902 Immigrant press Amerikas Latweetis (Amerikas Latvietis, American Latvian) was published in Philadelphia from 1902-1905.
1906 Latvian Baptists The Rev. Jānis Neibuks (John Neubuch, Neubuck, Neubuk) and his family are pictured in the February 8, 1906, issue of the Baptist periodical Avots, published in Rīga. Neibuks was the second pastor of the Philadelphia Latvian Baptist Church and also served as pastor of the Boston church.
1910 Latvian Baptists in Philadelphia A drawing of the First Lettish Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published in the April 28, 1910, edition of the Rīga-based periodical Avots. The building at 855 Preston Street was a two-story house that the congregation began using in 1910 but quickly outgrew. The illustration was created by J.W. Celms.
1912 Latvian Baptists In 1912, as part of an appeal to raise money for a new church, the Rev. Jānis Kvietiņš, then pastor of the First Lettish Baptist Church of Philadelphia, wrote a 16-page pamphlet on the history of the Latvians titled Who are the Letts?: A short historical sketch of the Letts and the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.
1913-1917 Immigrant press Jaunā Tēvija (The New Homeland) was an illustrated monthly for Latvian-Americans that was published by Andrejs J. Fūrmanis (Andrew J. Fuhrman) beginning in September 1913. The journal was religious (Baptist) and nationalist in tone. Its editorial office originally was at 787 North Preston St., Philadelphia, but as of the October 1915 issue it moved to Bradley Beach, N.J.

Until February 1916, the cover of the magazine featured a stylized "Jaunā Tēvija" title floating above an image of the Statue of Liberty shining a beam of light from its torch onto a passenger ship named "Baltija" as it steams toward a dock, where a standing Uncle Sam waits with outstretched arms. With the February 1916 issue (which also saw a change from the glossy covers of earlier issues), a stylized title remained, but now it floated above a pair of images drawn by Gustavs Aboltiņš. In one, on the left side of the cover, the sun rises on what can be assumed to be a scene in Latvia, while on the right side a young woman reads Jaunā Tēvija.
1914 Latvian Baptists The Rīga-based Latvian Baptist periodical Avots carried this obituary for the Rev. Jānis Neibuks (1849-1914) in its March 19, 1914, issue. Neibuks had served the First Lettish Baptist Church in Philadelphia from 1904-1909, but then moved to Boston, where he was pastor until 1913. Illness forced him to step away from the ministry, but after recuperating he began mission work through the Chicago congregation. Niebuks also served the small Latvian Baptist congregation in Sussex County, Virginia. Before his death, he had returned to Philadelphia to once again lead the congregation there. The obituary was written by the Rev. Jānis Kvietiņš, then pastor of the Baptist congregation in New York.
1916 Latvian Baptists in Philadelphia A photographic postcard featuring 71 members of the Philadelphia Latvian Baptist Youth Society, plus the Rev. Peter Buschman (Pēteris Bušmanis), 1916.
1917 Latvian Baptists in West Philadelphia James Yunag's military draft registration James Frederick Yunag's military draft registration, dated June 5, 1917, shows that he claimed exemption from the draft because of his religious faith.
1917 Latvian Baptists in West Philadelphia Martin Treyan's military draft registration card, submitted June 5, 1917, shows his place of birth as Sakkenhausen, Russia, which today is Saka Parish in Latvia. At the time he registered, Treyan was employed as a carpenter in Chester, Pennsylvania.
1918 Immigrant press The December 15, 1918, issue of Drauga Balss (A Friend's Voice). Published in New York, the periodical replaced Jaunā Tēvija as the voice of Latvian Baptists in North America. Initially it was edited by the Rev. John Birseneek of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Krišjānis Nātre of New York.