Dating back to 1780, the Diocesan Journals Collection is the accumulating archive of the published proceedings of annual diocesan conventions and councils, which include the official record of the bishop diocesan’s reports and addresses, clergy and parish lists, annual reports of diocesan agencies, parish statistical reports, diocesan budgets, and directories. As a means of “providing for an accurate view of the State of the Church from time to time,” the General Convention of 1804 enacted Canon 11 requiring the submission of a parochial report at every annual diocesan Convention. These parochial reports together with Episcopal addresses and official acts, were presented to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies and the House of Bishops at the General Convention and printed in the journals of diocesan conventions. The Diocesan Journals archive is a central documentary resource of the Episcopal Church and a cornerstone research collection of statistical, biographical, and evidential information on Church activities.
