The records consist of an original volume and a carbon copy of a typed transcription of the volume consisting of handwritten extracts from correspondence, minutes of meeetings and sessions and reports for the period 1847-1849 concerning the building of a black church on Anson Street in Charleston (later known as the Zion-Olivet Presbyterian Church) by the Second Presbyterian Church and its governance. There are also newspaper clippings recording the controversy surrounding the decision to build the church and a list of those who subscribed for its erection.

The records were created by the Building Committee of the church to provide a brief history of this decision. The transcript, entitled "Records of the Second Presbyterian Church for Erection of Anson Street Edifice for 'The Blacks' 1847-1848," was prepared in 1936 by Isolee Shaffer of Columbia, SC, who was supervised by Flora B. Surles; it was part of Works Progress Administration (WPA) Project 65-35-118 sponsored by the University of South Carolina.