Profile of Archival Holdings

The House of Bishops is comprised of all actively serving bishops and those who have resigned their jurisdictions. Eligible members include all diocesan and assisting bishops elected or canonically appointed from the dioceses, area missions, and special jurisdictions of the United States and nineteen other countries, including a number of churches in Europe, Latin America, Taiwan, and Haiti.  The House of Bishops meets in special or “interim” sessions between meetings of the General Convention and, acting in their pastoral and teaching mode, may explore issues of theological, social or mission concern.  The House may not take any binding action, however,  without the approval of the General Convention.  The House may appoint committees, the most notable being the Theology Committee and the Committee on Pastoral Development.  The records of the House, which date from 1789, were maintained by the Secretary of the House and only periodically conveyed to the Archives, which resulted in an archive that is neither continuous nor complete.

Records of the financial operation include financial management, accounting and reporting, audit, property matters, and trust and investments.

The Assembly of Episcopal Healthcare Chaplains, formerly the Assembly of Episcopal Hospitals and Chaplains, has served the Church and its chaplains since 1950. The organization's title represents the Episcopal Church's long-standing tradition of ministry in hospitals. The Assembly’s records include conference papers, minutes and proceedings, scrapbooks, newsletters, and membership packets.

The Association for Episcopal Deacons (formerly the North American Association for the Diaconate, National Center for the Diaconate) serves to support the needs – including providing guidelines for training, life and work – for the nearly 3,000 deacons in the Episcopal Church. The origins of AED lie in the historical development of the Episcopal diaconal order, the establishment of the Central House of Deaconesses in 1953, and the establishment of the National Center of the Diaconate in 1974.  The AED archive includes collected biographical materials from as early as 1890, membership records, meeting minutes, correspondence, newsletters and printed materials.

The records of the Board of Trustees of Foreign Parishes, 1859-1992,  reflect the nature of the administrative and governing relationship of the organization, incorporated to establish and support Episcopal churches for purposes of providing a familiar place of worship and ministry for Americans living in or visiting Europe. The Board's influence corresponded to the enthusiasm shown by wealthy American Church lay persons living abroad, the interest of the Anglican Communion in maintaining a presence in Western Europe's cultural and military arenas, and the ability of clergy to elicit financial commitments for a ministry among the English speaking population living in Europe.  The Board’s archive includes administrative, financial and property files, and some printed materials.

The CPC’s mission is to provide multimedia resources -- literature and related materials -- to those who cannot otherwise obtain them, at all levels of the Church. The Archives holds the CPC Board’s meeting minutes, correspondence, and printed reports, some dating back to 1849.

The Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas is an affiliation of religious communities established in 1949 to spread knowledge about the religious life, present a united voice to the Church on common concerns, and serve as consultants to bishops or new communities in formation.  The organization’s records, which date back to 1948, include correspondence, reports, proceedings, minutes, and printed material spanning the period 1948–1991.

The Educational Center was the successor organization to the Episcopal Home for Children of the Diocese of Missouri, a diocesan orphanage that amended its charter to focus on religious educational research and ministry. The Educational Center had a large, national clientele through the 1940s to 1960s.  In its earliest period, it worked with the national Episcopal offices in developing pedagogical content and methods. In 2003, the Educational Center became independent of the Episcopal Church. The archive covers the period 1938–2003, and includes governance records, administrative files, parish client files on educational projects, a large amount of curriculum studies and instructional materials, newsletters and other occasional publications, and some audio-visual recordings.

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) is the successor organization to the Church’s most important fellowship and mission organization, the Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions/DFMS.  The Auxiliary was founded in 1890 to give independent expression to the domestic and foreign missionary activities that were mostly centered on supporting education, health, child care and protection, and poverty alleviation.  Historically, however, the organization was the chief vehicle by which the women of the Church exercised their influence and power in otherwise patriarchal Church structures and governance.  The “Triennial” gathering event of diocesan and provincial women leaders continues to be a rallying moment for the organization. As women entered the mainstream of Church life with ordination and recognized lay ministry, the ECW’s direction has transitioned to discovering new avenues of Church service.  The archive includes the organization records (minutes, reports, publications, recordings, and program materials) of national and regional organizations that coordinate the work of women in Episcopal parishes across the country.   These include:

The Women’s Auxiliary (DFMS), 1890–1963
The Episcopal Church Women (DFMS), 1978–2005
Episcopal Church Women of Province III, 1973–1999
The Auxiliary Episcopal Church Women of Province IV, 1934–1963
Episcopal Church Women of Province V, 1984–1997
Episcopal Church Women of Province VII, 1963–2004
Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of Oregon, 2006
Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of Texas, 1961–1995
Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, 1972–2010

The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice (ENEJ), established in 1996, is the Episcopal Church's leading organization in support of workers, working people and the right to a living wage. ENEJ grew from a commitment to a ministry of economic justice formally acknowledged by the 1988 General Convention, in its establishment of the Economic Justice Implementation Committee, which has advocated at both the national and local level for investment in community-based economic programs, including credit unions, loan funds, housing cooperatives, and worker-owned businesses.  The Archives holdings include Records of ENEJ, 2001-2009, which include annual meeting records, minutes, advocacy files, membership records, and some photographs; and selected newsletters that date back to the organization's founding year of 1996.

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 Episcopal women's history.  The Project has been a model for similar efforts in other faith communities. The Archives serves as the official repository for EWHP. Organizational records include minutes, correspondence, conference agendas, biographical data, resource files, program documentation, oral history guidelines, other interview-related material, and a selective run of the EWHP newsletter, Timelines, 1980-2011. The EWHP archive also includes a substantial collection of oral histories and oral interviews.

Forward Movement specializes in the publication of devotional tracts and spiritual guides.  In the midst of the Great Depression the Joint Commission on the Forward Movement was established in 1934 by the General Convention with the general charge to point the Church “forward.” Forward Movement’s first publications came out in 1935 including the first issues of Forward Day by Day, a daily devotional guide.  Authorized each triennium by the General Convention, Forward Movement Publications operates with the Presiding Bishop as its chair, and has published key ecumenical documents affecting the Episcopal church as well as other works of historical and biographical importance.  Its range of materials expanded in the period after 1986 with the closing of Seabury Press, which was the national Church’s publishing company. The collection is largely made up of an accumulating file of published material sent to the Archives of the Episcopal Church in regular mailings.

The Guild of Scholars emerged in the 1940s from an initiative of Episcopalians in the academy who called together intellectuals of like mind into an association of contacts. Since its founding, the organization's focus has been on sustaining an invisible college representing various disciplines and centers of higher education.  Annual meetings were held to deliver papers and discuss intellectual interests as a scholarly attempt to deepen appreciation of the Anglican faith. Historical records include annual meeting files, officer correspondence, financial, membership and program records, early photographs, and scholarly papers.  The archives spans the years 1940–2000.

Integrity, Inc. is the national organization of gay and lesbian Episcopalians and their friends and families, founded in 1974. The organization consists of a national coordinating body and local chapters throughout the United States and Canada.  Founder Louis Crew’s newsletter, Integrity Forum, served as a catalyst to the formation of the organization. At the 1976 General Convention in Minneapolis, Integrity established a critical presence in the institutional life of the Church by its witness.  It continues to focus much of its effort on preparation for influencing the decisions of the Church gathered at General Convention.  The archive includes administrative records, Chapter newsletters and some other chapter records, annual convention materials, General Convention materials, records of the Fund for Integrity, committee and task force records, subject files, and publications, including Integrity Forum and its successor publications.

The National Altar Guild was first established as the National Altar Committee by the 1922 General Convention.  It later became the National Association of Diocesan Altar Guilds, and continues today as the National Altar Guild Association. The purpose of the association is to provide a common network and resource for all altar guilds, which is the parish organization that is responsible for proper caring and provisioning of altars, sanctuaries, and other worship spaces. The Archives' holdings cover the period 1927–2006, and include administrative records, minutes and bylaws, photographs, reports, and historical publications, including copies of the newsletter The Epistle.

NEHA began as a conference of diocesan historiographers in 1961, first known as the Association of Episcopal Historiographers, then as the Conference of Historiographers within the Church Historical Society.  In 1980 the group decided to also include registrars, parish historians and archivists, and the name was changed in 1982 to the National Episcopal Historians and Archivists.  NEHA acts as a forum for dioceses, parishes and those involved in preserving the Church's history. The group hosts annual conferences, recognizes individuals and organizations who have made contributions to the field, and publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Historiographer.  The Archives serves as the official repository of NEHA records, which cover  the period 1960–present (bulk dates 1982-1990).  The collection includes administrative files, meeting records, correspondence, conference materials, financial records, parish history resources, and the NEHA newsletter.

Recovery Ministries (formerly the National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol and other Drugs or NECAD) is a network of Episcopal laity and clergy focused on studying the effects of addiction on the Church, which began in 1980.  The organization has assisted in establishing diocesan commissions on addiction recovery, promoting Alcohol and Drug Awareness Sunday, and creating educational resources on the topic.  The records of the organization are unprocessed, but include administrative files and publications from 1980 to 2006, and annual meeting and board minutes to 2008. See Archives’ holdings profile “Records Relating to the Ministry to Those Afflicted by Alcoholism and Addiction”.

Cathedral Films, Inc. was established in 1939 by the Reverend James K. Friedrich, an Episcopal priest who advocated film as a medium of Christian Education and ministry. In 1943 Cathedral Films became a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.  It remained a leader in the production and distribution of religious educational films, filmstrips and recordings across denominations for the next 30-plus years, with many films receiving national and international recognition. By the late 1970s, when rising costs began to affect the religious media industry's production abilities, Cathedral Films' Trustees and Directors proposed to turn itself and its assets over to The Episcopal Church, so that the Church could continue Cathedral's film ministry and ongoing media outreach. That agreement was formalized in 1981. The Archives became the official repository for Cathedral Films in 1999. The archive includes files, slide boards, photographs, audio recordings, 16mm and 35mm motion picture films, filmstrips, vinyl phonographs, administrative records, (some records and films are dated earlier, including copies of original Articles of Incorporation and subsequent nonprofit amendments).  A full listing of film titles is available.  The Archives also holds the papers (1958–1981) of founder and James Friedrich.

Bishop Paul Moore (NY) and Cincinnati Dean Morris Arnold (later Bishop of Mass) founded the Church and City Conference in 1959, to connect clergy and laity involved with the Episcopal Church's urban mission and ministry. Through committee work and annual meetings, the coalition focused on raising awareness of the variety and depth of problems affecting those specifically living in cities.  The Conference had a profound impact on directing the Church’s attention to urban poverty, social justice, and civil rights.  Records and administrative files date back to 1959 and continue through the early 1990s. More information can be found in the Archives' online exhibit, The Church Awakens.

The Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission (EPGM) was formed by General Convention (resolution 1997-A204) to extend the work of the Episcopal Council for Global Mission. Its purpose was manifold: to strengthen DFMS partnerships with other mission groups; to increase church-wide participation and cooperation in international missionaries; to provide space for those with disparate views on mission to gather and dialogue; to establish standards and best practices for the sending and receiving of international missionaries; and to provide a forum for theological reflection on mission.  EPGM disbanded in 2012, turning over its work to other mission networks. The Archives' holdings primarily include records from the 1990s, including  records from predecessor bodies, especially Episcopal Council for Global Mission.

The Episcopal Society for the Ministry on Aging (ESMA) was formed in 1964, in response to the Episcopal Church’s National Conference on Aging. The 1964 General Convention turned to the talent organized in ESMA as the agency to assist parishes and dioceses in establishing housing for the elderly, and served the Church for nearly four decades. In 2003, the Board voted to dissolve. Records include Board correspondence and meeting files, subject and general files, financial and fundraising files, survey records, resource files, and some audiovisual materials.

The 1991 General Convention passed Resolution 1991-A104, which tasked "the Bishops and members of each Diocesan Deputation" to encourage all congregations in their jurisdiction to enter into dialogue on the complex issues surrounding human sexuality. The result was a grass-roots organization called the National Steering Committee for Dialogue on Human Sexuality, often referred to as "the Whitaker Committee" as it was chaired by Bishop O'Kelley Whitaker, then President of Province II.  The archive of that dialogue includes correspondence, questionnaires, tabulated and actual responses, and study guide evaluations.

This committee (Comité ecuménico del hymnario Español) was initially a cooperative venture among Episcopalians, Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ that gathered in the 1990s to compile an Ecumenical Spanish Hymnal.  The Episcopal edition of the hymnal, called El Himnario, included over 500 hymns, which representated a large variety of Hispanic cultures. The holdings include hymnal resources, directories, correspondence and meeting records. Around 2010, a later group revived and reorganized the project as the “Cancionero Songbook Project,” for which the Archives serves as repository for committee files, song/artist evaluations and other project records.

For sixty years (1907–1966) St. Margaret’s House in Berkeley, CA, educated women for service in the Episcopal Church as deaconesses, missionaries, and educators.  It had its origin in a deaconess training program initiated in 1907, and later, the program expanded beyond training to include a School for Christian Service; a Student House for women students; and a Church Service Center.  Although its building had been named St. Margaret's House since 1914, the institution formally adopted the name in 1950.  By the 1960s, the movement toward full equality for women in the church had diminished the need for a separate women’s training school, and in 1966 the St. Margaret’s House Board of Trustees voted to terminate its educational programs.  St. Margaret’s House itself  became the Berkeley Center for Human Interaction and Training Center for Organizational Renewal, (later renamed the Strong Center) a non-profit unaffiliated with the Episcopal Church.  The archive of 3.8 cu. ft. ranges in date from 1908 to 1966 and includes organizational records, class lectures, and photographs; material dated 1967–1997 concerns successor organizations and biographical information of former faculty.

Arthur Jones and Netta Powell both served as missionaries to China, living and working there for nearly thirty-three years.  They were among the last missionaries to leave when they departed in 1951.  Arthur began his work in China in 1918 with the YMCA, serving as Secretary to the International Committee in Nanchang. The couple were appointed Episcopal Church missionaries in 1931, and taught at Boone School and St. Hilda's through the 1930s until eventually Arthur took on the role of effectively serving as the Church's mission treasurer in Kunming.  Their service is somewhat documented in the Archives' financial records of the National Council, but their personal papers, donated by their son, include correspondence, diaries, prayer books and some photographs, ca. 1930-1975.

Deaconness Evelyn M. Ashcroft was a missionary to China and the Philippines from 1937-1969. The papers consist of correspondence between Deaconess Ashcroft and members of the Woman's Auxiliary of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Forrest City, Arkansas, who provided Ashcroft with financial and material assistance for her missionary work.

Bishop George W. Barrett served in the dioceses of Rochester and Los Angeles, and performed the irregular 1975 ordination of four women, sometimes called the "Washington 4".  His personal papers cover the period 1938 to 2000, and include correspondence, subject files, sermons, statements, photographs and printed material.

Born in Franklin, Kentucky, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, John Claypool received his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Baylor University.  His theological training took place at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin.  Claypool was ordained to the ministry in 1953 and served as pastor of five Baptist Churches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas and Mississippi.  After being ordained an Episcopal priest in 1986, the Rev. Claypool served as Rector of Saint Luke's Episcopal Church in Birmingham for nearly 14 years.  He later joined the faculty of Mercer University's School of Theology as Professor of Homiletics, a position he held until his death on September 3, 2005.  Claypool was widely admired for his preaching skills, and his message of theological inclusiveness.  Mrs. Ann Claypool (now Beard) donated her husband’s papers to the Archives in 2011.  The papers cover the period 1953–2005 and include a large archive of audiovisual recordings, indexed sermons, correspondence, books, and scrapbooks.  The Archives marked the opening of the Claypool Papers with a special exhibit on the life of this much admired preacher.

Elizabeth Catherine Deahl, born in 1894, was an Episcopal missionary to China. Born and raised an Episcopalian, she was a member of Grace Church in Alexandria, Virginia and worked for a short time as a teacher before applying to do mission work in the District of Shanghai. The DFMS appointed her a missionary to China in 1921. While serving, she met and married Dr. Mac Carlyle Fellows, who was also serving as part of the mission staff. Deahl resigned her appointment in 1924, but remained in China with her husband and their two children until her passing in Shanghai in 1933. Catherine Deahl's papers were donated to the Archives along with a trust fund to support mission documentation by her daughter, Catherine Fellows. The archive includes photographs and some family papers, research files created by Catherine Fellows, which document the history of many of the missionaries to China.

Elizabeth Dyer was the first woman deputy to General Convention. She was elected with voice and vote from the Diocese of Missouri in 1946 although not without objections. Her election was judged to be allowed due to the interpretation of the term "layman”; however, different interpretations appeared in subsequent General Conventions that barred women from being seated with voice and vote until full inclusion in 1970. Dyer, who was very active in the local Church was persuaded by clergy friends in the Missouri diocese who felt that it was time for women to have a voice in the convention. Her papers were donated by a third-party, and include original materials collected onsite at General Convention in 1946, correspondence, and clippings. A more detailed biographical profile may be found in the Archives' online web exhibit, The House of Deputies: "The Senior House".

The Rev. Percy Stickney Grant served for thirty-one years from 1893–1924 as rector of the Church of the Ascension in New York. He is remembered as a prominent figure in controversies surrounding his 1907 establishment of an "Open Forum" on socialism and his views on divorce in the Episcopal Church. Born in 1860 in Boston, Grant graduated from Harvard and received his theological training at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge. He was ordained a deacon in 1886 and a priest in 1887. Before becoming rector of Ascension, he served first as both an assistant and priest-in-charge at several congregations in Massachusetts. His personal papers include letters, photographs, writings, poems, sermons, publications, ledgers, college notes, sermons, correspondence, musical scores and copies of The Public Forum Weekly of Ascension Church of New York.

The Reverend William Baillie (Bill) Green was a priest, theologian, teacher, and ecumenist whose career became centered in the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest (SSW) in Austin. Through his early adult years, Green was a practicing Presbyterian and was ordained as a minister by the Presbytery of Westchester, New York in 1953. While he was teaching at Colorado Women’s College in Denver (1966–1970), he found himself theologically attracted to the Episcopal Church. After moving to the SSW faculty in 1970, Green was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1972. He died in April 19, 2011. His personal archive includes writings and sermons, prayers for which he was especially known, course teaching materials, research on Paul Tillich, and important records of his work in the Anglican‒Orthodox Theological Discussion.

Born in 1786 in Middletown, Connecticut, Samuel Farmar Jarvis was the first historiographer of the Episcopal Church.  He was the son of Bishop Abraham Jarvis of Connecticut.  Ordained in 1811, he served as rector of several New York and Boston churches in his first 15 years of ministry, including St. James’ Church in New York City (1813-1819), and St. Paul’s Church in Boston (1820-1826).  During this time period, he was also appointed the first professor of biblical learning at General Theological Seminary, shortly following its establishment.  After traveling Europe on a tour of its most important libraries, Jarvis returned to America in 1835 to serve as a professor at Washington (Trinity) College and then as rector of Christ Church, Middletown from 1837 to 1842.  The General Convention named him historiographer in 1838, directing him to produce a history.  One volume, The Church of the Redeemed, was published in 1850.  Jarvis died in Middletown in 1851.  He has been remembered as “a theological writer of distinction,” and also for his notable private library.  The Jarvis Papers, donated to the Archives by the Diocese of Connecticut, include unpublished manuscripts, notebooks of his wife, Sarah Hart Jarvis, and correspondence, which complements his correspondence in other Archives' collections.  A substantial portion of the papers includes an inventory of purchases made in Italy, which he seems to have created in relation to a divorce petition sought by his wife.  The Papers total six cubic feet, and include an oversize, framed oil portrait of Jarvis.

The Rt. Rev. Everett Holland Jones was elected the 4th Bishop of West Texas in 1943. As Bishop of West Texas, Jones founded many important community resources which still serve the San Antonio area today, including the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the Good Samaritan Center. A devoted Texan, in 1942 Jones turned down the office of Bishop of Honolulu, and in 1958 he objected to his nomination as a candidate for Presiding Bishop on the grounds that he wished to stay in West Texas. He lived in San Antonio with his wife Helen until his death in 1995 at the age of 93. Jones, a prolific writer, was known for his weekly column,  A Bishop Looks at Life; these "sermonettes" discussed modern life from a Christian perspective. His papers cover 1893 to 1990 and document Jones’ familial life and ministry via family papers, travel diaries, sermons, addresses, and course outlines, and extensive correspondence with parishioners and church officials.

Dr. Charles Radford Lawrence II (1915-1986) was a long-time Church leader, social activist, and educator. Lawrence served as a Deputy to General Convention from 1967 to 1985, attending eight conventions. In 1976, he became the first African American, and third lay person, elected President of the House of Deputies, a role he held until 1985. Both he and his wife, Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence–a renowned pediatrician, psychologist, and educator–shared a passion for social justice and racial equality. The Lawrence Papers document Charles’s activities as a sociologist, professor, civil rights activist, and President of the House of Deputies of The Episcopal Church and include lectures, sermons, addresses, correspondence, photographs, audio recordings, news clippings, and awards and honoraria. Margaret Lawrence’s life’s work and research, which centered on the long-term effects of racism on the health of black families, is also well documented in the collection.

Civil rights leader the Reverend Canon Thomas Wilson Stearly Logan, Sr. devoted over sixty years to the Episcopal Church. He spent his ministry in dedicated serving on commissions and community groups as well as in parochial leadership, serving as rector of Calvary Church in Philadelphia from 1945-1984. Upon his retirement in 1984, he received the title Rector Emeritus. Logan passed away, at the age of 100, in 2012. At that time he was the Church's eldest serving African American priest. Logan was a leading advocate and strong voice for equality and participation of African-American clergy in the life of the Church. His papers, 1908-2007,  include photographs, transparency slides, and audio tapes. The papers also include information from Logan's period as president of the Church Workers Conference 1951-1961 and the earlier Conference of Church Workers Among Colored People and the Church Workers Conference, which were precursors to the Union of Black Episcopalians. A more detailed biographical profile may be found in the Archives' online web exhibit, The Church Awakens.

The Rt. Rev. Richard Bland Mitchell was the eighth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas. He was elected in 1938 and retired in 1956. He is remembered for his leadership in carrying the diocese out of a difficult period into a renewed era of growth, particularly in the establishment of new congregations, and for authorizing the land purchase for the building of that is now known as Camp Mitchell. Mitchell is also remembered for raising his voice in support of the Supreme Court's ruling on Brown v. Board of Education, and following his retirement, he briefly served as Chancellor of the University of South. He died in 1961. The Personal Papers of Bishop Mitchell include a substantial collection of personal objects, diaries, books, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, clippings, administrative and financial papers, and other family memorabilia, from the late 19th century to 1961.

Ellen Sitgreaves Vail Motter is memorialized by the donation of the Bowman-Vail papers to The Archives of the Episcopal Church. Ellen Motter was the daughter of Ellen Ledlie Bowman Vail and Thomas Hubbard Vail. The collection consists primarily of the correspondence of Samuel Bowman and Thomas Hubbard Vail, 1840–1886. Letters, photographs, and printed material illuminate the bishops’ ministries, the development of the Diocese of Kansas, and the relationships among other bishops and church leaders.

Born in Reigate, England in 1927 and educated at Oxford, Nigel Renton emerged as a prominent lay leader in The Episcopal Church after settling in California in 1957. He was soon involved in Church politics on the national level, elected by the Diocese of California to serve as first alternate lay deputy to the 67th General Convention in 1982, and three years later, as a full deputy.  He was a familiar presence on the House floor until 2006, acquiring the nickname the “Terminator” for his success in drawing debate to a close. Renton’s activity in Church governance also included a passion for the development of Episcopal liturgy and worship. His papers, which cover topics of liturgy and governance for the period 1962-2008, help document lay participation in Church life after the adoption of a new Book of Common Prayer in 1979.

The Rev. Malcolm Riker was an Episcopal priest, educator, and accomplished photographer, whose images from his travels throughout the United States and Western Europe illustrated confirmation classes and other courses he taught during his long career.  Riker was instrumental in the growth of the Diocese of Texas, founding 11 Episcopal churches and revitalizing and dramatically increasing the number of communicants of extant parishes.  The collection spans from 1963 to 1995 and is made up of photographic slides documenting his international travels (focusing primarily on church and historical sites, landscapes, and street scenes) and his years spent in the Navy in World War II.  The collection includes a very small quantity of papers, including course outlines, notes, and correspondence.

The Rev. Edgar Bolling Robertson and his wife Marilyn Kean Robertson were Episcopal missionary-educators who dedicated nearly forty years of service in Liberia. Prior to teaching in Africa, Marilyn received her B.A. from the University of Wyoming and served as Director of Christian Education in Michigan; Edgar Robertson graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary and was appointed missionary to Liberia in 1944, the year after he became a priest. The two married in 1962. Bolling Robertson is remembered for being central to the Diocese of Liberia's education ministry, from his role as principal of the Episcopal High School and as head of all Episcopal schools throughout Grand Cape Mount. He also headed the Theology Division at Cuttington University College from 1975-1983. After a brief return to the United States upon his retirement in 1984, the Robertsons moved permanently to Liberia. Bolling died in 2006. The Robertson Papers document over four decades of their life and work, primarily their time in Liberia, and include correspondence, personal memorabilia, diaries and journals, studies and reports on Christian Education, research files, audio-visual recordings, photo albums, scrapbooks, and collection publications for the period 1925-2003.

The Rev. Canon Henri Alexandre Stines, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on October 29, 1923, was a dynamic and formidable preacher, parish builder, multilingual liturgist, and proponent of racial equality and nonviolence during the Civil Rights era. Through his direct ministry in urban congregations such as Grace Episcopal Church in Detroit, Church of the Atonement in Washington, DC., and Trinity Episcopal Church on the south side of Chicago, Stines was an outspoken critic of racism and sexism in the Episcopal Church. From 1964-1966 he served as a director for the Episcopal Society of Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU). The Stines Papers, 1944-1995, include correspondence, sermons, printed material, legal documents, and photographs. A more detailed biographical profile may be found in the Archives' online web exhibit, The Church Awakens.

The Rev. Dr. Frank Sugeno was a teacher, historian, author and ecumenical advocate. A Seattle native, he joined the faculty of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in 1964, where he taught full-time for nearly thirty years in the areas of church history and missiology. The Sugeno Papers include organizational files, especially pertaining to the Seminary Consultation on Mission (SCOM), African Anglican Seminary Network, Episcopal Council for Global Mission (ECGM), and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.

Rev. William White was not only the first President of the House of Deputies, but also the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Bishop White was born in Philadelphia in 1748. After his graduation from college in 1765, he studied theology, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1772. In addition to ministering to the United Parishes of St. Peter’s and Christ Church in Philadelphia from his ordination until his death, he was the chaplain to the Continental and Constitutional Congresses and the Senate from 1777 to 1801.

White was instrumental in forming the new Episcopal Church’s constitution, and was a staunch proponent of lay membership. In The Case for the Episcopal Church, which he published anonymously in 1782, he proposed that since the American church had no episcopate of its own, ordinations might be performed by deacons and presbyters until an episcopate could be established. This proposal was not adopted; however, after the Scottish consecration of Bishop Samuel Seabury, it was not needed. White and Samuel Provoost of New York soon followed in Seabury’s footsteps and White was consecrated Bishop of Pennsylvania on Feb. 4, 1787. White had originally been a proponent of a single House, but in a compromise with Seabury, he agreed to sit apart from the deputies. White served as Presiding Bishop of the Church from July 18 to Oct. 3, 1789, and again from 1795 until his death in Philadelphia in 1836.

The Papers of William White contain primary sources created, collected, and/or annotated by William White and his descendants, including correspondence, sermons and manuscripts, financial and family estate records, printed illustrations and photographs, and research materials. The collection covers a broad period from 1643 to 1957, although the bulk of the material dates from around 1784 to 1836, when White was most active in the Episcopal Church until his death.

John Worrell was a priest who spent most of his ministry in the Diocese of Texas. Worrell is remembered for the independent publication he established in retirement, Nevertheless: A Texas Church Review. In addition to a full run of Nevertheless, the papers include correspondence, subject files, some audio recordings and publications, and document his early ministry in the late 1950s, his support for racial integration at St. Philipp’s in Beeville, TX, as well as his later involvement in student ministry through Autry House at Rice University.

The Rev. Seiichi Michael Yasutake (b.1920, d.2001), the first Nisei (second generation Japanese American) Episcopal priest ordained in the Diocese of Chicago, worked extensively in the fields of civil and human rights, racial justice, the sovereignty of indigenous peoples, and the rights of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience through Episcopal, ecumenical, and non-religious organizations. The two national organizations he founded and led, the United States-Japan Committee for Racial Justice, and the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project, sought to redress injustices caused by individuals, businesses, cultures and governments. The papers cover the period 1939 to 2001 and consist of correspondence, journals, photographs, writings, and organizational records that document Yasutake’s life and work.

Vertical files begun in the mid-twentieth century by the then named Church Historical Society include occasional manuscripts and autographs, news clippings, ephemera, and visual images including prints and photographs, obituaries, biographical sketches, and some genealogies. Most of the files relate to ordained ministers with more recent additions covering women and lay persons. The collection holds approximately 4500 names and is used chiefly as a quick reference source.

The national Archives attempts to collect editions of every congregational and diocesan history.  These volumes are typically prepared to mark an anniversary occasion.  They are useful for local history studies, biographical research, and topical studies in liturgy and worship practices, demography, and church architecture.

Also known as "The Cameron Tracts," in honor of the bibliographic index compiled by former Diocese of Connecticut historiographer Kenneth Cameron, this collection of pamphlets includes approximately 3,000 volumes from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. As Cameron notes in the preface to his index, the collection is potentially valuable to any student of those periods, since the "political, literary and apologetical issues...were largely debated and won in pamphlet warfare." Cameron also noted the pamphlets' usefulness for research in the department of parochial origins and growth. The collection complements the Archives' collection of early Episcopal pamphlets (see entry below).

The Archives maintains a collection of published serial journals, newspapers, and newsletters that were produced by Episcopal publishing houses or organizations that were not officially associated with the institutional church.  Most of these publications are available from local research or seminary libraries.

The Archives' pamphlet collection is an artificial collection of over 3,000 titles, documenting topics and issues of concern to the early-American and nineteenth-century Episcopal Church. The catalogued collection includes biographies, addresses, topical sermons, and tracts on ecclesiastical, liturgical and devotional matters. The pamphlets were prepared for public consumption and often refer to civil events that occasioned their publication.

The Archives of the Episcopal Church maintains several twentieth century collections that speak to the Church’s attempt to tackle alcohol addiction as a disease with its roots in a falling away from faith in oneself and in God. The Episcopal Church, unlike other Protestant denominations, supported temperance, but did so without a full embrace... read more.