The Archives of the Episcopal Church welcomes inquiries from genealogical researchers. As the official repository for the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the General Convention, and other governing bodies of the church, the Archives has few records that are genealogical in nature as those vital records are more likely to be found in a local parish or diocesan archives.
Vital Records Inquiries in Parish Registers
Sacramental records of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as communicant membership of families, are maintained by the individual parishes. The Episcopal Church does not maintain central membership lists. Information on individuals and families who were prominent in local church activities, parish registers, and church directories can best be found by contacting the parish directly. If a church has closed, the records are typically found in the diocesan archives.
Contact information for all Episcopal parishes and dioceses can be found on the Find a Church Tool.
Please keep in mind that parish and diocesan archives generally do not have a full-time archivist, and that many pressing demands are placed on parish and diocesan staff. As a result, it may take the parish or diocese some time to respond to your inquiry. We recommend patience in these matters.
Clergy Biography and Contact Information
Though the Archives does not collect biographical data on all of the church’s clergy, directories kept by the Archives can frequently provide a rough outline of ministerial service and sometimes provide basic vital information. Information we may be able to provide includes: date and location of birth, parents’ names, education, ordination dates, spouse’s name and number of children, and the dates and locations of where the priest served. Please note that there will be much less personal information for priests who lived prior to 1920. We do not maintain contact information for the children and/or descendants of Episcopal clergy, nor do we maintain current contact information for active or retired clergy.
Episcopal Missionaries
The Archives of the Episcopal Church has collected the personal papers of some foreign missionaries, and documents individuals appointed by The Episcopal Church for missionary work. Most of this documentation exists in the form of personnel files. Information available in personnel files varies considerably from missionary to missionary, depending on length of service, time period served, and the missionary’s propensity to correspond with the home office. Please bear in mind that the personnel files are largely administrative in nature and document the missionary’s contact with the offices of The Episcopal Church in New York. As a result, there may be reports on the missionary’s work interfiled with requests for financial reimbursement, travel expenses, and other mundane exchanges. There is generally little information about the missionary’s family or other personal information. Personnel files also contain confidential personal information. The policy of the Archives is that all personnel records are closed to research for a period of 80 years after the death of the individual.
The Archives will conduct research for records older than 80 years, however, our staff cannot scan entire sets of files. Our policy permits copying of up to ten percent of a file. If the missionary’s personnel file is extensive, the researcher is encouraged to contact the Archives to arrange a research visit to examine the records on-site at our research office. In limited circumstances, we will review smaller personnel files and send copies of relevant records.
Colonial and Anglican Records
The Archives maintains several collections of colonial era manuscripts that are helpful for understanding the role of The Episcopal Church in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These records primarily focus on aspects of the national church and contain little personal or genealogical information. Churches that existed in the American colonies prior to the establishment of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789 should be contacted directly for more information on parish registers and membership. Additional information on colonial churches is available from Lambeth Palace Library in London, England, which houses the records created while the colonies were still under the ecclesiastical aegis of the Church of England. To learn more, visit the Lambeth Palace Library website.
The records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) contain papers of clergy who served as missionaries of the Church of England during the colonial period. These records are housed at the Bodleian Library at Rhodes House in Oxford, England. For more information on these records please visit their website: Bodleian Library at Rhodes House.
Information on clergy persons from other Anglican Churches outside the United States can be obtained by writing directly to the appropriate headquarters and researchers should consult the directory information available on the Anglican Communion website.