District of Columbia Church Records

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in the District of Columbia were the Roman Catholic, Baptist, Protestant Episcopal, and Methodist Episcopal churches. To locate church records see A Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in the District of Columbia, 1939 (Washington, D.C.: District of Columbia Historical Records Survey, 1939; FHL book 975.3/W1 E4h; film 1036761).

The Family History Library has few District of Columbia church records. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located:

Baptist
American Baptist Historical Society

The Library in Rochester is now closed to researchers, with interim director Betsy Dunbar working full-time, preparing collections for packing. We are not accepting any more research requests "by mail" in 2007 nor are we scheduling appointments to our Rochester Library at this time. We will also close the Valley Forge Archives Center to visitors beginning in mid-June. We are inviting researchers to plan to visit us in 2008 at our new location on the Atlanta campus of Mercer University at http://www.baptisthistory.us/.

An informative history is:

Brush, John Woolman. Baptists in Massachusetts. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Judson Press, 1970. (FHL book 974.4 K2bj.)

Episcopal
The Episcopal Church Historian Washington National Cathedral Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20016 Telephone; 202-537-6200 Fax: 202-364-6600 Internet: http://anglicansonline.org/resources/history.html

St. Alban's Parish Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenue, N.W. Washington DC 20016-5098 Telephone: 202-363-8286 FAX: 202-363-6828 Internet: http://www.st-albans-parish.org/

Mailing Address:

3001 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington, DC 20016

For information on Episcopal churches see Inventory of Church Archives in the District of Columbia: The Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Washington, Two volumes. (Washington, D.C.: Historical Records Survey, 1940; FHL book 975.3 K2h; film 1036702 items 1-2).

Methodist
United Methodist Archives Center Drew University Library 36 Madison Avenue Madison, NJ 07940 Telephone: 973-408-3289 Fax: 973-408-3909 Internet: http://www.gcah.org/center.htm

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 127 Madison, NJ 07940-0127

Roman Catholic
Historiographer Archdiocese of Washington 5001 Eastern Avenue Washington, D.C. 20017 Telephone: 301-853-4500 Fax: 301-853-3246 Internet: http://www.adw.org/home.asp

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 29260 Washington, DC 20017