The Archives of the Episcopal Church is happy to provide assistance to those seeking their baptismal certificates, records of confirmation, wedding certificates or other personal sacramental records. However, The Archives of the Episcopal Church does not hold sacramental records for rites performed in local parishes, other than those performed on a domestic or foreign United States military base by a federal chaplain.
Records of baptisms, confirmations, and marriages not performed on a U.S. military base are typically retained by the church where the event took place. If the congregation has closed, the records are retained by the diocesan office in which it resided. If the church where the event was performed has merged with another congregation, the sacramental records from the closed church should be found at the remaining church.
For access to these records, you will need to contact the appropriate congregation or the diocese directly. Researchers can determine whether a congregation still exists and its current address by using the Find a Church tool.
Please keep in mind that parishes and diocesan offices 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.
If you are seeking documentation of a baptism, confirmation or marriage performed on a U.S. military base by a federal chaplain, please provide the Archives with the name and location (city and state or foreign country) of the base, and the date of the event, and we will search our holdings. Please note that, because these records contain personal and sensitive information, it is our policy to provide this information only to the person named on the certificate. We do make an exception for parents requesting on behalf of a minor child. If you are seeking this information on behalf of another adult, whether a relation or not, please have that person contact us directly.