Published
Records and archives of associations, societies, networks, and other organizational entities that have or had an informal link to the General Convention or the DFMS of the Episcopal Church and exist independently of those bodies for the purpose of pursuing a specific mission direction.
Published
The DFMS archive on the American Church Institute (ACI) is largely focused on the years 1906 through 1967, although documentation on individual schools dates from 1867 (see AO-00-R0061-02-12). The collection represents a reasonably comprehensive record of ACI during its lifetime and, in most cases, a much briefer synopsis of the life of each of the individual schools, although student rosters and academic records are not present. The overall ACI administrative records consist of minutes, reports, legal and financial documents, correspondence, historical summaries, building plans, studies, surveys, publications, photographs, and ACIN's corporate seal. Records of the individual schools include copies of minutes of the boards of trustees, reports, correspondence, financial documents, institutional histories, personnel records, and publicity materials.
Board of Trustees, 1906-1968
Director's office, c.1907-1910, 1917-1953, 1966-1967
General Agent's office, 1905-1913
Secretary's office, 1950-1952, 1963
Treasurer's office, 1905-1913
General Conventions, 1937-1952, 1961
American Church Institute Study Committee, 1963-1968
Reports and Articles, 1929-1966
American Church Institute College Collective Records, 1930-1934, 1945, 1950, 1963-1964
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Originally called St. Stephen’s Normal and Theological School, Bishop Payne Divinity School (Petersburg, Virginia) was founded in 1878 as a branch seminary of the Virginia Theological Seminary. Its first graduate was James S. Russell, who went on to found St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School in nearby Lawrenceville. When the school was chartered by the State of Virginia in 1884, it was renamed Bishop Payne Divinity and Industrial School in honor of the Rt. Rev. John Payne, the first Bishop of Liberia.
Enrollment decreased dramatically in the 1890s following several canonical actions by the church that marginalized their African American congregations. The name was changed again in 1910 to Bishop Payne Divinity School when the school was given the power to confer the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Maintaining an adequate budget to operate and improve the school and competing with white seminaries which began to admit black students were constant challenges that led to the decision to close the school in 1949. Its assets were transferred in 1953 to the Virginia Theological Seminary for the purpose of recruiting and educating African Americans.
Published
The DFMS archive on the American Church Institute (ACI) is largely focused on the years 1906-1967, although documentation on individual schools dates from 1867 (see AO-00-R0061-02 through AO-00-R0061-02-12). This set includes records of the oversight of Bishop Payne Divinity School, Petersburg, Virginia. Records in this series consist mainly of correspondence, especially from the ACI Treasurer’s office concerning the school’s building fund (1932-1948, 1951), and also correspondence of the Rev. George A. Wieland, Home Department Director and later ACI Director (1929-1930, 1942-1951). Board of Trustees meeting minutes and correspondence (1938-1944, 1947-1948), financial documents (1939-1965), and two school catalogs (1945, 1946) are also present.
This material constitutes file series 10 of the ACI archive.
The Bishop Payne Library at Virginia Theological Seminary holds Bishop Payne Divinity School Records, 1885-1953, RG V19.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Founded in 1892 as an industrial and teacher training school by Charlotte Thorn, Calhoun School (Lowndes County, Alabama) was patterned after the Hampton Institute, an industrial school for African Americans in Virginia where Thorn had taught for a short time. Thorn served as the school’s first principal until her death in 1932. Support of Calhoun was taken up by the American Church Institute in 1941 after the Institute dropped its support for St. Mark’s School in Birmingham. In 1945 the school’s property was deeded to the State of Alabama and it became a Lowndes County public school.
Published
This set of records contains by-laws of the school (1892, 1937) and records of the school’s Board of Trustees, including meeting minutes and correspondence (1940-1944), annual reports (1919-1921), and reports to the National Council (1933, 1941). Also present is considerable correspondence by the ACI Director (1940-1945) and Treasurer (1939-1944) on school matters. Financial records (1940-1945) and Calhoun pamphlets (1905, 1937) complete the series.
This material constitutes file series 11 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Founded in 1895 by white and black community leaders, Fort Valley High and Industrial School was transferred to the control of The Episcopal Church in 1918 and was later renamed Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School (Fort Valley, Georgia), which operated as a two-year junior college. In 1939 Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School and the State Teachers and Agricultural College were combined by the State of Georgia to become part of the state’s university system.
Fort Valley was no longer expressly administered by the American Church Institute (ACI) after 1939 but the vast majority of its institutional appropriations continued to derive from ACI through at least 1959 and perhaps until the dissolution of ACI in 1967. The Dioceses of Atlanta and Georgia also contributed support to the college. In 1949 the school was designated as Georgia’s land-grant institution for African Americans. In 1966 a four-year liberal arts public college continued as Fort Valley State University.
Published
The archive contains mostly correspondence of the director, charter and by-laws, Trustee records, personnel files, programs of study, some addresses, and ephemera; organized to recognize the two school entities.
This material constitutes file series 12 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Gailor Industrial School (Mason, Tennessee) was founded in 1905 by the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Gailor III, Bishop of Tennessee, and first became affiliated with the American Church Institute (ACI) in 1921. The school was originally named in part for the donor, Rev. Charles A. Hoffman of New York, and then renamed Gailor Industrial School in honor of Bishop Gailor after his death in 1935.
Gailor Industrial School developed into a four-year high school for girls and boys, including boarders. Fire completely destroyed the school in 1945 but it was rebuilt and continued to function. ACI appears to have discontinued funding the school in 1949. The year the school closed is not known.
Published
The school's Board of Trustees records (1935, 1940, 1944-1946) are slight, but other documentation is present concerning finances and the closing of Gailor Industrial School, dating from 1919 to 1951. ACI Director's correspondence (1938-1944) is with Gailor's principal and the Bishop of Tennessee, and with others concerning the school's building projects. Historical information can be found in historical summaries (1924-1928), publicity (1943), and a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946).
This material constitutes file series 13 of the ACI archive.
The Tennessee State Library and Archives holds Gailor Industrial School Records, 1917-1973.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Frances Joseph-Gaudet, an African American woman, founded Gaudet Normal and Industrial School (New Orleans, Louisiana) in 1900. Mrs. Gaudet raised the money necessary to buy land for the school and served as its first principal.
Originally called the Gaudet Boarding School for Boys, then the Colored Industrial Home and School, it grew from a home for orphaned and disadvantaged African American children to an elementary and high school for boarders and day students.
In 1921, Mrs. Gaudet turned the school over to the Diocese of Louisiana, at which time the school came under the supervision of the American Church Institute (ACI). Gaudet developed a cooperative relationship with Dillard University, an historically black university built near the Gaudet campus in 1935. The elementary portion of Gaudet’s curriculum was discontinued by 1946, and the school then became known as Gaudet Episcopal High School. ACI continued its funding until about 1955 when the school closed and the Gaudet Episcopal Home opened in the same quarters.
Published
Records include Gaudet’s Board of Trustees minutes and reports (1940-1949, 1952) and financial records (1925-1953). ACI Director’s correspondence (1921, 1932, 1940-1945) is brief, primarily with Dr. Warren Kearny of the Gaudet Board of Trustees and the Church Periodical Club. The Home Department Director, Rev. George A. Wieland, has correspondence (1949) concerning building projects and improvements to Gaudet’s educational program. Historical summaries (1920-1934) provide background information. This series includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946).
This material constitutes file series 14 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Founded in 1902 by Wallace A. Battle, Okolona Industrial School (Okolona, Mississippi) did not become affiliated with The Episcopal Church until 1920 when the Diocese of Mississippi and the American Church Institute (ACI) assumed oversight. When Battle became Field Secretary for ACI in 1927, his wife Effie T. Battle took over as administrative head of the school and remained until the arrival of A.M. Strange in 1933.
The school had been renamed Okolona College in 1932. Strange is credited with most of the modernization of Okolona’s physical plant and equipment. In 1965 the Diocese of Mississippi decided to transfer its funding from Okolona College to areas of the state it considered having greater need. The school closed that same year. The campus remained unused until 1990 when the National Council of Negro Women purchased the site with plans of reinstating educational and other support programs for the African American community. The Okolona College site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
Published
ACI records on Okolona School include meeting minutes of the Board of Trustees (1938-1953, 1966) and its Executive Committee (1941, 1948-1952), the school President’s reports (1937-1942, 1944-1946, 1948), and financial records (1935-1968). ACI Director’s correspondence (1937-1944, 1950-1951) is primarily with the school’s principals and the bishops of Tennessee and Mississippi. This series includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946).
This material constitutes file series 14 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
St. Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute (Raleigh, North Carolina) was founded in 1867 by the Rev. J. Brinton Smith of the Freedman’s Commission and the Rt. Rev. Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of North Carolina, from the beginnings of a day and Sunday school for African American children of Christ Church Parish. Smith served as the first principal and Atkinson as the president of the Board of Trustees.
In 1893 the school changed its name to St. Augustine’s School. In 1919 the school became known as St. Augustine’s Junior College, then in 1928 as St. Augustine’s College. For some time it was the only four-year liberal arts college for African Americans sponsored by the Episcopal Church. It was one of the first schools to be affiliated with the American Church Institute (ACI) in 1906 and remained under that organization until ACI dissolved in 1967. It remains a four-year liberal arts college.
Published
Records of the school include its charter (1867) and initial agreement with ACI (1906), Board of Trustees' meeting minutes and President's reports (1931, 1940, 1947-1954), and documents relating to building programs (1929, 1947). Financial records include audit reports almost complete (1936-1967), correspondence (1939-1951), and budgets and salaries (1949-1954, 1957-1958). Correspondence is present between St. Augustine's president and the Home Department director (1948-1954), as well as the ACI director's correspondence (1919-1943). This series also includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946). Some documents dating from 1938 to 1941 relate to the Bishop Tuttle Training School, a Christian social work and religious education institution administered by St. Augustine's from 1925, including the school's bulletin and a survey report.
This material constitutes file series 16.1 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
After an appeal to General Convention of the need for a hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina for African Americans, St. Agnes Hospital and Nursing School was founded in 1896. The hospital occupied buildings on the grounds of St. Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute and served as both a hospital and nurses’ training school. By 1931 it had grown to a 100-bed hospital serving 2,000 patients annually.
St. Agnes was affiliated with the American Church Institute (ACI) from approximately 1906 until 1958, when ACI discontinued appropriations in order to conform to its mission to support only church-related schools and in anticipation of a new county health system.
St. Agnes Nursing School closed in 1959.
Published
The records of St. Agnes Hospital and School consists of correspondence (1924, 1927), documents relating to building requirements (1944, 1946-1949), and audits and financial reports (1945-1952). Correspondence is also present from ACI’s Director (with the Bishop of North Carolina, 1942, 1944-1947) and its Executive Secretary (with St. Agnes’ administrator, 1953-1955, 1958). A pamphlet and articles (1923, 1929, 1933) provide historical information of the hospital and school. This series includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946). While St. Agnes was a separate entity, it resided on St. Augustine’s campus and thus references to St. Augustine’s College can be found in these records.
This material constitutes file series 16.2 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
St. Mark’s School (Birmingham, Alabama) was founded in 1891 as an outgrowth of St. Mark’s Church, with financial support from J. A. Van Hoose, a white Episcopal deacon and the 10th Mayor of Birmingham. It was the first institution in the city to offer secondary education to black students and was initially established as a girls’ boarding school.
St. Mark’s was an American Church Institute (ACI) school from 1912 to 1941 when it was dropped due to the exorbitant expense necessary to renovate its buildings. Calhoun School in Lowndes County, Alabama was brought under ACI oversight in its place. It is uncertain whether the school continued to operate after 1941.
Published
ACI records on St. Mark’s School include the school’s Board of Trustees meeting minutes (1931-1935) and its report to ACI in 1912. Correspondence of founding board member J. A. Van Hoose (1912) and principal Rev. C. W. Brooks (1924) are very brief. Financial records relate to the school’s mortgage (1933-1936). ACI officers’ correspondence covers 1930 to 1940. Historical summaries (1934, c.1940) and a report of the school (1935) provide information about the establishment of St. Mark’s and its programs. The school’s disassociation from ACI in 1941 is touched upon in a Committee on Negro Work report (n.d.) and an ACI memo (1941).
This material constitutes file series 17 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Rev. James Solomon Russell founded St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia in 1888 and served as its principal until his death in 1935. He was succeeded by his son, the Rev. J. Alvin Russell.
In 1941 it began to offer a four-year degree program and changed its name to St. Paul’s Polytechnic Institute. The school’s name changed again to St. Paul’s College in 1957. At one time it was the largest of the American Church Institute’s (ACI) schools with over 1,500 students.
The school was affiliated with ACI until its dissolution in 1967.
Published
Records of St. Paul’s contain legal documents on the founding of the school, Board of Trustees records and meeting minutes (1897, 1940-1951) and minutes of the Executive Committee (1940-1951), as well as reports from the principal from 1938 to 1957. Financial documentation spans 1935 to 1957 and includes budgets, treasurer’s reports, and audit reports. ACI director’s correspondence (1911-1953) occurs with St. Paul’s Board of Trustees members and school administration and covers financial, personnel, construction, and curricular topics. Correspondence from the Home Department Director (1949-1953) addresses a variety of topics including the search for a new president after the Rev. J. Alvin Russell’s retirement. School publications from 1907-1948 include historical pamphlets, bulletins, and some issues of the Southern Missioner. The fonds includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1946).
This material constitutes file series 18 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
St. Philip’s Normal and Industrial School in San Antonio, Texas was founded in1898 by the Rt. Rev. James Steptoe Johnson, Bishop of West Texas, and was headed by Artemesia Bowden as its dean from 1902 to 1954.
St. Philip’s was never administered by the American Church Institute (ACI), though appropriations were made to it from 1918 to 1931. It was incorporated into the San Antonio Independent School District in 1942 as St. Philip’s Junior College, affiliated with San Antonio Junior College under the control of the San Antonio Union Junior College District from 1946.
It began admitting white students in 1955; in 2003 the majority of its student body was Latino.
Published
The ACI series relating to St. Philip’s School is primarily the ACI director’s correspondence (1921-1937), which details the reasons that St. Philip’s was never made an official ACI school. St. Philip’s publications providing historical background include a brochure (c.1920s) and Opportunity (1923-1924, 1929). Documents relating to ACI’s financial appropriations to the school (1921, 1923, 1931, n.d.), correspondence of the Bishop of West Texas (1921-1922), and a report of an evaluative visit to the school (1926) complete this set of records.
This material constitutes file series 19 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Denmark Industrial School in Denmark, South Carolina was founded in 1897 by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute. Its name changed to Voorhees Industrial School in1902, in honor of donors Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Voorhees of Clinton, New Jersey.
In 1929 the curriculum expanded to include post-secondary education and the school was renamed Voorhees Normal and Industrial School. The name changed again in 1947 to Voorhees School and Junior College.
In 1962 it was accredited as four-year Voorhees College, and in 2022 it became Voorhees University. The school was affiliated with the American Church Institute from 1924 to 1967.
Published
Records of the Voorhees School's Board of Trustees include its by-laws (1926), meeting minutes (1939, 1941, 1949-1952), and the school president's annual reports (1947-1955). Financial documentation includes records relating to building construction (1947-1948). The ACI director's correspondence (1923-1954) addresses a wide variety of issues. Background information about the school can be found in historical summaries (c.1925, 1940). This series includes a survey report of the school by the George Peabody College for Teachers (1941).
This material constitutes file series 20 of the ACI archive.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Girls' Friendly Society (GFS) was founded in England in 1875 as the Church’s response to the needs of girls who had left their homes behind to work in factories and mills, or as domestic servants. Recognizing the same needs in the United States and using the GFS as a model, Elizabeth Mason Edson founded the first Girls' Friendly Society in America (GFSA) branch at St. Ann's Church in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1877. Upon formation of the Massachusetts diocesan organization in 1879, a center for national activities was established.
In 1886 the Central Organization of the GFSA was formed, a constitution was adopted in 1893, and the GFSA was officially incorporated in 1895, at which time they also began making systematic reports to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.
During the late 1800s, the GFSA established homes and centers for young working women and provided employment and housing assistance to immigrant women arriving in America. Between 1900 and 1920, they sought protective legislation for girls, worked for labor reform, and provided a number of war-related services. By 1914 there were over 46,000 members in 745 branches with 34 diocesan organizations.
Around 1929, GFSA reincorporated and changed its name to the Girls’ Friendly Society of the United States of America (GFS-USA). Ensuing years of activity included work with refugees and conferences on women in industry. In the 1950s, the GFS-USA opened its national office in New York City, became an official observer to the United Nations, and joined the newly created Girls’ Friendly Society World Council.
By 1964, after falling short of its fundraising goals, the GFS-USA began to make heavy cutbacks in programs at the national level. These reductions continued into 1966 when the GFS-USA decided to incorporate its mission with that of The Episcopal Church. As a result, in 1967, the Department of Christian Education of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church took over responsibility for the national programs run by the GFS-USA. The diocesan and branch organizations continued to operate as before, but after the closing of the national office, many of them did not survive.
In the early 1980s, the GFS-USA reestablished its operation on a national level, however membership continued to decline. As of 2023, the GFS-USA oversees the few remaining local branches and is a member of GFS World.
Published
The records of the Girls’ Friendly Society in the United States of America (GFS-USA) provides an impressive historical record of the organization. Minutes and reports of the Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and Coordinating Board, as well as financial ledgers and audits document the organizations governing bodies and fiscal responsibilities. The relationship between the national headquarters of the GFS-USA and local chapters as well as the Department of Christian Education of the Executive Council is also well documented.
In addition, a large collection of publications provides a thorough history regarding the activities and mission of the GFS-USA from as early as 1878.
Governance, 1924-1998
Financial Records, 1916-1977
Administrative Records, 1885-1998
Provincial Profiles, 1963-1966
Program Materials, 1897-1966
Girls' Friendly Society Publications, 1878-2000
Relationship with the Department of Christian Education, 1966-1980
Artifacts, 1860-2000
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Founded in 1980 as an independent national organization of Episcopal women, the Episcopal Women's History Project has played an important role in recovering and documenting the lives of women who have made outstanding contributions to The Episcopal Church. The Project aims to raise awareness about the historic place of women in the Church and their ethnic, racial, regional, and class diversity. Since its formation, the group has produced historical resources, conducted oral history interviews, published a newsletter, distributed grants, and supported and encouraged research and scholarship related to the historical role of women in The Episcopal Church.
Published
The records of the Episcopal Women’s History Project contains interviews and corresponding transcripts conducted with eighteen distinguished Episcopal women along with photographs, printed materials, and correspondence relating to the interviewees. These interviews span 1979 to 1991 with the majority taking place between 1981 and 1986. Additionally, the collection contains a questionnaire and its associated responses and correspondence that was sent to thirty-eight Episcopal women leaders in an attempt to document their experiences in the Church.
Questionnaire for Episcopal Church Women Leaders, 1985-1988
Oral Histories, 1979-1991
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
Published
The records of The Associated Parishes comprises typescript meeting minutes from 1946 through 1970 as well as a small group of publications, including an incomplete run of the quarterly publication, Sharers.
Minutes, 1946-1970
Publications, 1953-1962
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Conference on the Religious Life (CORL) is an affiliation of religious orders in the Anglican Communion established in 1949 to spread knowledge about the religious life, present a united voice to the Church on issues, and as consultants to bishops or new communities in formation. By 1982, the Conference represented 24 member communities and 75 houses in the United States, Canada, West Indies, and Liberia. The Conference's Advisory Council served as its plenary body until 1986, when this role was assumed by the Superior's Council. In 2001, at the Annual Leaders’ Meeting in Racine, WI, the operating name of the conference was changed from the Conference on the Religious Life (CORL) to the Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas (CAROA), the name under which it operates today.
Published
Correspondence, reports, proceedings, minutes, and printed material can be found in this small collection.
General Administrative Records, 1949-1991
Conferences, Councils, and Conventions, 1952-1988
Correspondence, 1948-1988
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
When the Church Pension Fund was established by the General Convention in 1913, no provision was made to include deaconesses. To rectify this, deaconesses formed their own not-for-profit corporation and began to raise funds.
On September 30, 1927, the Retiring Fund for Deaconesses (RFD) of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America was formally incorporated to provide financial assistance to retired and disabled deaconesses who were unable to provide for themselves.
Forty-five years later, on September 27, 1972, the RFD voted to change its name to The Retiring Fund for Women in the Diaconate in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America to reflect the ordination of women to the diaconate after the General Convention of 1970. It began operating under this name in 1973.
The RFD has since changed names twice more, both times to acknowledge an expanded membership. In 1998 it changed its name to The Fund for the Diaconate of The Episcopal Church in the United States of America, following a 1990 vote to admit male deacons. In 2018 it changed its name to The Fund for the Diaconate of the Episcopal Church, emphasizing its availability to all deacons of The Episcopal Church and continues to operate under that name.
Published
The records of the Retiring Fund for Deaconesses (RFD) comprise correspondence, minutes, printed material, financial documents, and reports that originated primarily in the files of Margaret Jackson, who served as the Secretary (1967-1982) and as a member of the Board of Directors (1982-1984). The correspondence reflects the devotion of women nurturing a community of former colleagues, a considerable portion of which documents the deaconesses’ position on the ordination of women as deacons and priests.
Corporate Minutes, RFD Board of Directors, 1966-1985
Administrative Correspondence, 1934-1985
Financial Records, 1927-1984
Topical Files, 1940-1977
Records of the National Center for the Diaconate
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
St. Margaret's House in Berkeley, California, had its origin in a deaconess training program initiated in 1907 by Edward L. Parsons, Rector of St. Mark's in Berkeley. Called at first St. Mark's Deaconess Training School, by 1910 it was known unofficially as St. Anne's House and officially as the Training School for Deaconesses in the Diocese of California, later the Training School for Deaconesses of the Eighth Missionary Department (1912). In 1914 it moved to a new home, St. Margaret's House, and was incorporated as the Deaconess Training School of the Pacific.
The School expanded to include a School for Christian Service, a Student House for women students at UC Berkeley, and a Church Service Center. In 1930, it relocated to larger quarters near its partners in education and added a Summer School of Religion, an extension department, field service, and a retreat and conference center to its broadening spectrum of activities. Eventually it came to identify itself as a graduate school, offering, in conjunction with the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, a two-year program leading to the Master of Arts in Christian Education degree. The name of the institution was formally changed to St. Margaret's House in 1950.
By the mid-1960s, the movement toward full equality for women in the church diminished the need for a separate women's training school. In 1966 the St. Margaret's House Board voted to terminate its educational programs. The Board of Trustees became the Berkeley Center for Human Interaction and Organizational Renewal, a non-profit unaffiliated with The Episcopal Church. Renamed the Strong Center in 1979, it eventually focused on the environment and became The Strong Foundation for Environmental Values, which is scheduled for dissolution at the end of 2023.
Published
This collection comprises printed materials, minutes, reports, correspondence, class lectures, photographs, literary works, and guest books created and collected by St. Margaret’s House to document its work educating women as deaconesses, missionaries, and educators. The majority of the records date from 1920 to 1950 with the largest number belonging to the Board of Trustees and the Dean’s Office.
Although most of the records pertaining to academics are from the institution’s final years of operation, there are some files relating to special academic programs, projects, and divisions pre-1945. Also included are a variety of material published by St. Margaret’s House, as well as other material collected by staff in scrapbooks, such as leaflets, articles, and photographs, spanning the organization’s history from its beginning in 1908. A small amount of material from the 1990s, related to the Strong Center, is also present.
Board of Trustees, 1910-1976, 1991
Dean’s Office, 1908-1969
Faculty, 1950-1966
Student Life, 1956-1965
Alumnae, 1913-1966, 1980
Academic Programs, Projects, and Divisions, 1925-1966
Guest books, 1908-1935
Printed material, 1908-1963
Scrapbooks and Newsclippings, 1908-1967, 1980, 1993-1997
Photographs, 1909-1959
Manuscripts, 1917-1966
Artifacts, 1924
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church (the Guild) emerged in 1939 when Robert Root, Norman Pittenger, Thomas S.K. Scott-Craig, and William Eddy agreed to call together like-minded Churchmen into an association of college and university contacts with the common goal of promoting the Christian faith and scholarship in institutions of higher learning. At the first conference, held in 1940 at Hobart College and attended by fifteen scholars representing eleven institutions, the decision was made to establish a formal association within The Episcopal Church.
After a second conference, also held in 1940, the group met in 1941 under the name of the Easter Conference of the Guild of Scholars. The current name was adopted in 1949, just a year before the Guild began to hold its annual meetings exclusively at the General Theological Seminary. While there were initially hopes that regional chapters would be formed as a nucleus of a national association of Episcopal teachers and scholars, by 1950 the Guild had relinquished the idea of an expanded association of local chapters in favor of a single national conference.
In 1966 Virginia Harrington of Barnard College was the first woman invited as a guest; she became a member in 1968. In the succeeding years other women were invited first as guests and eventually to membership. The membership was also extended later to those in the scientific, medical, and technical fields. Membership is limited to the laity, unless a member is ordained after being admitted, with the one exception being the honorary membership granted to one of the original founders, the Rev. Norman Pittenger. The Guild continues with members from a wide range of academic and creative disciplines meeting annually to share their work, although meeting locations now vary.
Published
These records of the Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church document the organizations goal to promote the Christian faith and scholarship in institutions of higher learning. Included are annual meeting minutes, agendas, reports, and program descriptions; correspondence of the President and Secretary/Treasurer; scholarly papers; financial records; and photographs.
Annual Meeting Records, 1941-1999
Correspondence and Papers of the President, 1972-1996
Correspondence and Papers of the Secretary/Treasurer, 1955-1986
Financial Records, 1959-1985
Membership Records, 1939-1999
Program Records, 1943-1986
Scholarly Papers, 1950-2000
Bibliographies, 1957, n.d.
Photographs, 1940-1941, n.d.
History Files, n.d.
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
In the fall of 1911, deaconesses gathered for a week long retreat at St. Faith’s House for Deaconesses in St. Louis, Missouri and began to create a more formal organization. The National Conference of Deaconesses originated with the Central Committee of Deaconesses that first met in St. Louis, Missouri on October 21, 1916. The deaconesses used this Central Committee as an annual gathering prior to the triennial National Conference. The first National Conference was held in October 1919, in Detroit, Michigan and met every three years at the same time and city as the Church’s General Convention.
From the beginning, the deaconesses lobbied the General Convention for revisions to the Canons of the Church to establish clear requirements and responsibilities for their Order, just as any other clerical office requires. This line of reasoning evolved to the point that the deaconesses desired the same rights and privileges as their male counterparts. The Conference remained active throughout the 1950s. By the 1960s and 1970s, the Conference was advocating a canonical means to allow women deacons to become priests. Following a change to the Canons in 1970 that allowed women to be ordained as deacons the Conference became less active, but remained listed in the Episcopal Church Annual until the 1978 edition.
Published
The organizational records span from 1912,when the National Conference was still in development, to 1975 and include documents such as by-laws, annual reports, triennial reports, meeting minutes, Executive Committee meeting minutes, lists of deaconesses, and correspondence. Additionally, a small number of documents concern General Convention and the Lambeth Conference. Also present are program materials on conferences, retreats, and meetings held by the organization from 1916 to 1970 as well as miscellaneous publications and audio/visual materials, the bulk of which are printed materials and include prayer leaflets from the 1930s; newsletters, under numerous names, from 1927 through 1979; and scrapbooks from 1917 to 1935.
Administrative and Organizational Records, 1912-1982
Conferences, Retreats, and Meetings, 1916-1970
Reports and Minutes, 1916-1977
General Convention, 1920-1968
Publications and Audio/Visual Materials, 1917-1979
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Living Church Foundation, Inc. began in 1928 as the Church Literature Foundation. This non-profit religious corporation was established with two purposes: to publish Episcopal literature and, more specifically, to support The Living Church in the years the publication operated at a loss.
In the Spring of 1952, after over two decades of this financial relationship, Morehouse-Gorham Co. transferred ownership of the publication to the Church Literature Foundation. Clifford Morehouse resigned as editor on April 30, ending fifty-two years of his family’s editorial oversight, and on May Day of that year, The Living Church became the Foundation’s flagship publication.
Eleven years later, in 1963, the Church Literature Foundation changed its name to The Living Church Foundation, Inc. to reflect its continuing stewardship of The Living Church. It still operates today as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that publishes twenty issues of the magazine a year.
Published
This collection is primarily composed of bound volumes and single issues of The Living Church magazine. The bound volumes, which begin with Volume 3 (May 6, 1880-April 30, 1881) and continue through Volume 245 (July-December, 2012), were bound for and explicitly donated to the Archives as preservation copies by The Living Church Foundation. Single issues begin with Volume 246, number 1 (January 6, 2013), and continue through the present day. The Archives also holds Volume 1 (November 2, 1878-October 30, 1879) and Volume 2 (November 6, 1879-May 6, 1880) on microfilm only.
Microfilm, 1878-1880
Bound, 1880-2012
Single Issues, 2013-present
Young Churchman/Living Church Publishing. Records
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The Rural Workers Fellowship (RWF) was first organized in 1924 in Madison, Wisconsin at the National Episcopal Conference of Rural Workers, with which many of its leadership maintained a long relationship. The Fellowship’s founding bylaws stated its purpose as: (1) to promote the interest of the whole ministry to the Church in rural communities; (2) to increase the fellowship among those interested in such services; and (3) to aid the National Council in its service to the rural and field workers. While maintaining its operational independence, the RWF was very closely aligned through mission and personal relationships to The Episcopal Church’s National Council.
For many years the Department of Christian Social Service’s Division of Rural Work led the effort to support rural ministry and provided a subsidy to the RWF to that end. In 1934, the Division of Rural Work was abolished and the Department of Christian Social Service continued the work of rural church promotion as best it could.
In 1941, there was revival of the RWF in the life of the national body as the National Council reorganized and rural work became a part of the Department of Domestic Missions. In 1946, the Fellowship was incorporated and in 1947, a new constitution and bylaws were adopted. In 2005, the Rural Workers Fellowship was renamed the Rural Ministries Network. The RMN appears in The Episcopal Church Annual in 2017, however, by 2019 it was no longer listed.
Published
This collection consists primarily of administrative records and publications of the Rural Workers Fellowship. The administrative records include materials relating to governance and membership of the Fellowship, information about the Fellowship’s publications (including a history of the publication Crossroads), and correspondence about the Wilbur Cochel Memorial Library. Publications include the Fellowship’s official organ The Rural Messenger, 1927-1943; Crossroads, 1943-1962; and Crossroads Newsletter, 1962-2010. The run of Crossroads Newsletter is nearly complete, although it ends with the August 2010 issue. The records also include a run (with index) of a related publications distributed as an interdenominational resource entitled Christian Rural Fellowship Bulletin, which was an influential voice documenting Episcopal and other twentieth-century rural ministry.
Administrative Records, 1947-1972
Publications of the Rural Workers Fellowship,1927-2010
Christian Rural Fellowship Bulletin, 1935-1965
Records of Roanridge Training and Conference Center, 1931-1978
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.
The first issue of “The Witness was published on January 6, 1917. The Rt. Rev. Irving Peake Johnson, of Colorado, was the first editor-in-chief and also formed the first board of directors for the publication. William B. Spofford succeeded Johnson as editor. In the earlier years, The Witness combined traditional church news and advertising with impassioned editorials concerning workers' rights and other issues of religious and social consequence.
Sometime in the 1940s, Irving Johnson and William B. Spofford, along with several other men, established the Episcopal Church Publishing Company (ECPC) that continued to publish The Witness. After Spofford’s death in 1972, publication temporarily ceased. Resuming in 1974 after the formation of a new board of trustees, the first issue featured the irregular ordination to the priesthood of 11 women deacons in Philadelphia.
Although it had undergone changes in frequency of publication and appearance, The Witness retained its emphasis on social action and justice in light of the gospel. Its roots remained Episcopal, but its readership ecumenical. Publication ceased in 2003.
Published
This collection from the Episcopal Church Publishing Company consists of a full run of The Witness from January 1917 through October 2003 and includes a mix of bound and unbound copies. The issues dating from 2003 to 2006 are paper prints made from the Witness website when the publication moved to an online-only format. The complete run of the publication has been digitized by the Archives.
Arranged chronologically
Records of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company
Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.
The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.