Guidelines for Baptist Church records
What church records should be sent to the Atlantic Baptist Archives?
- Minutes of church meetings
- Minutes of annual congregational meetings
- Baptismal, marriage, burial, and membership records
- Annual reports and annual financial statements
- Reports and other records of standing, sub-, and ad-hoc committees appointed by the church
- Reports and plans regarding church property
- Architectural plans
- Records, minutes, and correspondence of all church groups
- Published and unpublished histories
- Church bulletins (these can be saved over the year and sent all at once to the Archives
- Church newsletters and other publications
- Pastoral letters
- Photographs (clearly identified and dated) of personnel, committees, buildings, special events, etc.
- Legal documents, insurance policies, deeds
- Sound records, audiovisual material, and oral histories
What records are NOT required by the Atlantic Baptist Archives?
The Archives does not need:
- Invoices and cancelled cheques
- Pulpit or Family Bibles (unless they contain important historical information not obtainable elsewhere)
- Duplicate congregational materials
- Hymn books
When should records be deposited in the Atlantic Baptist Archives?
It is difficult to provide exact guidelines for transferring materials to the Archives. A useful rule of thumb is that only records that are rarely consulted should be deposited in the Archives.
Churches may deposit records at any time of the year. If possible, please contact the Archives in advance.
Please hand-deliver your church records to the Atlantic Baptist Archives, or, contact an Archivist to make special arrangements.