Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Maryland State Archives

Access Policies

Researchers can telephone or fax requests for materials at the numbers given above. In most instances, requests for copies or government records can be fulfilled within 24 hours. On weekdays the Search Room remains open at lunchtime, but no records are retrieved from the stacks. Please call ahead for information on State holiday closings.

Research fees: The Archives staff will search the Baltimore City birth and death record indexes for up to five years or the county indexes for up to 10 years for a single individual and provide a copy or an abstract. The fee is five dollars per name for one index search. For a search of both indexes, the fee is ten dollars per name. Additional copies for the same name are three dollars each. The Archives staff will search available indexes for other records. The fee is twenty dollars for one hour of research, including the copy of one document if it can be photocopied or copied from microfilm and is under 20 pages. After the initial 20 pages, the fee is 50 cents per page.

Photocopying fees: When a patron provides an exact citation, the fee is ten dollars per record. If the document exceeds 20 pages, there is an additional charge of 50 cents per page. Some records cannot be photocopied because of conservation concerns or because they are unavailable on film. These records must be copied by the Archives' photolab, a process that may take several weeks. The Archives can produce copies of microfilm for ten dollars per reel; cost varies for special projects. In the Search Room self-service copies from film are available for 50 cents per page. Debit cards are used to operate the reader printers. Pages from library books and periodicals can be copied for25 cents per page, plus a service charge of one dollar per 20 pages. Other forms of photographic reproduction (slides, prints) are available; call or consult the Archives' WWW home page for more information.

Interlibrary loan fees: Microfilm can be borrowed through interlibrary loan for 30 days for five dollars per reel.

Reference Policy:

The Archives accepts telephone and mail reference questions from the general public. Ability to answer reference questions over the phone depends upon the nature of the question and the amount of research involved to locate the answer.

Borrowing Privileges:

Not a lending institution, although microfilms will be sent out on interlibrary loan for a fee.

Networks/Consortia:

Information about state agency records is available on RLIN. Archives staff cannot do RLIN or OCLC searches for researchers.

Background Note:

The Hall of Records, predecessor of the Maryland State Archives, was created as an independent agency in 1935. The Hall of Records was incorporated into the Department of General Services in 1970. In 1984, it was renamed the Maryland State Archives and became an independent agency within the office of the Governor. The Archives' holdings date from Maryland's founding in 1634, and include colonial and state executive, legislative, and judicial records; county probate, land, and court records; church records; business records; state publications and reports; and special collections of private papers, maps, photographs, and newspapers.

Description of Collections

Archives, manuscripts, correspondence, and oral histories:

Church records for over 250 churches in Maryland and surrounding states. The earliest date from 1663, and extend to the present day; the majority of the records are from the 19th and 20th centuries. These include administrative records and minutes; membership records; registers of births, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths; financial records; cemetery records; and other materials such as pamphlets, deeds, letters, parish school lists, and unpublished parish histories. Among the denominations represented in the collection are the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, Baptists, the Church of God, Free Methodists, Lutherans and Evangelical Lutherans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the United Brethren. Restrictions apply to some recent (since 1920) materials. In most cases both original documents and microfilm copies are available; access to original documents may be restricted such as post-1920 baptisms of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Consult Archives staff or the website for details.

Descriptions of many of the collections are available on the Archives' web site: (http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/church/html/records.html). Most entries give a brief summary of the history of the individual church and a collection overview.

Enquiries about the collections should be directed to Nancy Bramucci, Director of Special Collections.

Microforms:

See above. Most of the religious records in the collection are also available in microfilm.

Vertical files:

Approximately 12 cubic feet of material related to Maryland churches.

Subject Headings

Bibliography

Jacobsen, Phebe R. Quaker Records in Maryland. Annapolis, MD: Hall of Records Commission, State of Maryland, 1966.

Inventory of the Church Archives of Maryland. Protestant Episcopal: Diocese of Maryland. Baltimore, MD: Maryland Historical Records Survey Project, 1940.

Maryland State Archives Religious Records Program [Online]. Available HTTP. URL http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/church/html/records.html. Accessed Sept. 1996. Superseded by Guide to Maryland Religious Institutions, draft edition [Online]. Available HTTP. URL http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/religion/cfm/. February 2002.