Diocese of Western New York

Diocesan Archives

The Diocesan Archives include historical diocesan documents and artifacts. The records from all closed diocesan churches are also retained in the archives. Limited historical information about all diocesan churches, primarily in the form of special anniversary booklets, can be found here, too.

The diocesan archivist maintains the collection, which is housed at the diocesan office. Please note:

• The Diocesan Archives are a closed archive, open by appointment to serious researchers.
• Requests for information may be to archivist Susan Witt at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Sacramental certificates from the records of the closed churches will be issued as soon as possible.
• Genealogical searches will be done only if sufficient information is given at the time of the request.
• We cannot do searches of a general nature when only a name is provided.
• Nominal fees are charged for research and copying.
   

Resources from the Archives of the Episcopal Church

Why have archives?

Churches have good precedent for preserving their records and historical materials for future generations:

The Lord said to Moses . . .they shall make an ark of acacia wood . . . and you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. Exodus 25:1, 10 & 16

We Christians are a history-centered people. We cherish the Bible as an historical record of God's mighty acts over thousands of years. Our faith in Jesus Christ is grounded in the four historical accounts of his earthly life and ministry preserved in the Gospels. We rely on the Book of Acts and the Epistles for much of the history of the early Church. Since that time thousands of Christians have faithfully recorded the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in their own lives.

The Holy Spirit, of course, is still inspiring us today, but we seldom think of our own experiences as part of the long history of the Church. Events in the past are revered for their age and for the traditions they have produced, but what we are doing as a Church today or did yesterday is often considered transient and hardly worth recording.

The fact is that we are all a part of that long Christian heritage. The work that we are doing as Christians in the world today is the beginning of a new chapter in the Church's history, and a record of that work deserves to be preserved.

Of all religious groups in America, none is more historically rooted than the Episcopal Church. As early as 1804, only fifteen years after the organization of the American Church the General Convention approved a canon prescribing the preservation of certain vital records, and in 1820 the House of Deputies passed a resolution to provide for the collection and permanent deposit of the church's historical records. In 1835 the General Convention appointed the first historiographer, and in 1841 the House of Bishops appointed the first registrar, who was to act as the official archivist of the house. In 1853 the House of Bishops created the Standing Committee on Records, and in 1865 the Convention created the Joint Commission on Church Archives. The Church Historical Society, now the custodian of the church's archives, was organized in 1910.

The importance of archives

The preservation and the use of archives and records is an often neglected but nevertheless extremely important task in the local church.

The church's past helps it understand itself now. Its stance on various issues, its commitment to the goals of the Kingdom of God, its willingness or lack of willingness to adopt new procedures and programs are all rooted in its history.

The church's heritage may enrich and stimulate its present membership to deeper commitment and, more profound service. This is an essential matter for every generation, but especially so in these years when the sense of meaninglessness has pervaded so many lives.

A knowledge of the church's past may help it to avoid the mistakes of earlier years.

Every Vestry has a responsibility to keep and preserve the parish registers of baptism, marriage, burial, and registers of services.

Archives also have a ubique value for many people beyond the church. At a personal level such records may help to provide some people with a sense of identity and belonging. The registers of baptism, marriage and burial have a high value for genealogists and family historians. Registers record important events which have religious significance both for the persons involved, and for the congregation. Also the events to which they point may express a sense of belonging and corporate unity, for they focus the community identity shared by the family and friends of the individual persons concerned. Even brief entries in registers identify high points in family life, the importance of which increases rather than diminishes with the passage of time.

The survival of some of these unique resources is threatened by time, poor storage procedures, and overall neglect. Papers to brittle to handle, crumbling newspapers, books damaged by mold or insects represent threats to access by future generations. The loss of any records, whether national, diocesan, or parochial, undermines our religious heritage.

The Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York is committed to acting as an information source for Church agencies seeking assistance in preserving their records for posterity.