From the late
1920s to the mid 1940s, many Presbyterian ministers in urban churches wore preaching suits
for Sunday services. Usually made of heavy wool, the charcoal cut-away or swallow-tail
morning coat was worn with a gray waistcoast, muted pin-stripe pants, a dress shirt with a
wing collar, and an ascot. The style--perhaps pretentiously, certainly curiously--typified
the "Fifth Avenue" formalwear modeled by the urban upper class. The Geneva
gown--a closed black robe with Puritan tab collar--began to replace the suit around 1945,
though ushers at some prominent urban Presbyterian churches wore a costume similar to the
preaching suit through the 1950s.
This suit belonged to Felix Bayard Gear, who pastored Presbyterian churches in West
Virginia, Mississippi, and Tennessee between the world wars. The suit is part of a display
honoring Gear at Columbia Theological Seminary, where
he served as Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean of Instruction from 1947 to 1969.
Gear was moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (US) in 1964-1965.
He worked diligently, but without success, during his term as Moderator to end segregated
worship in the southern denomination. The failure of the PCUS to desegregate at that time
thwarted reunion efforts with the northern United Presbyterian Church.
From the late
1920s to the mid 1940s, many Presbyterian ministers in urban churches wore preaching suits
for Sunday services. Usually made of heavy wool, the charcoal cut-away or swallow-tail
morning coat was worn with a gray waistcoast, muted pin-stripe pants, a dress shirt with a
wing collar, and an ascot. The style--perhaps pretentiously, certainly curiously--typified
the "Fifth Avenue" formalwear modeled by the urban upper class. The Geneva
gown--a closed black robe with Puritan tab collar--began to replace the suit around 1945,
though ushers at some prominent urban Presbyterian churches wore a costume similar to the
preaching suit through the 1950s.