For more than a quarter century the Birmingham Public Library and the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama have worked in partnership to preserve the church’s history. In 1989, the Diocese, at the invitation of the Birmingham Public Library’s first archivist Marvin Whiting, designated the library as the official archives for the diocese. A large number of historic records were transferred from Carpenter House to the library (to join other records that had been deposited at the library as early as 1981), and the archives staff has worked diligently for nearly two decades to preserve this material and make it available for research. Added together, there are now more than 300,000 documents relating to the history of Alabama’s Episcopal Church preserved in the Birmingham Public Library Archives.

In 2004 the archives initiated a project to collect information from parish registers into a unified database. Now available via the Internet (http: //bpldb.bplonline.org/db/episcopal), this database allows researchers to search these records by names of individuals as well as names of parishes. To date, several thousand names have been entered from more than fifteen parishes, with accompanying information about baptisms, deaths, marriages, conformations, and transfers. Parishes are encouraged to submit information for this database.

Akenhead, Linda and Barbara Mitchell

Survey of Six Historic Religious Structures in Birmingham

(AR 758)

Photographs and printed material documenting the history and architecture of six downtown Birmingham religious structures: Cathedral Church of the Advent (Episcopal), First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, St. Paul’s Catholic Church and Temple Emanu-El.

Size: 2 boxes

The Apostle

Subject Files

(AR 1909)

This collection contains clippings, photographs and other material gathered by the staff of The Apostle, the newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. The files relate to parishes, clergy, church related organizations and other topics.

Size: 3 boxes

Beckwith, Charles Minnegrode

Papers, 1903-1928

(AR 1046)

Charles Minnegrode Beckwith served as the fourth Episcopal Bishop of Alabama. He had previously been dean of St. Luke’s Cathedral in Atlanta and a missionary priest in the Diocese of Texas. Beckwith instituted Alabama’s first Episcopal college chaplaincy at Auburn University and expanded the church’s outreach to the deaf. Considered by many to be authoritarian, Beckwith often clashed with clergy and lay members of the diocese. He died in 1928. This collection contains correspondence relating to parishes in the diocese as well as some personal papers and publications.

Size: 4 boxes

Birmingham Youth, Incorporated

Records, 1973-1976

(AR 243)

Correspondence, by-laws and constitution of this organization affiliated with St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham.

Size: 1 box

Carpenter, Charles Colcock Jones

Papers, 1920-1969

(AR 241)

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Charles Colcock Jones Carpenter was an Episcopal priest and served bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama from 1938 to 1968. He died on June 29, 1969. The papers contain the files compiled by the bishop’s office and are divided into four series: parish files, office files, financial files and supplemental files transferred from the diocesan offices at a later time. In addition to correspondence, the files include such things as bulletins, pamphlets, news clippings, photographs, sermons and building plans. The parish files contain much routine correspondence between the bishop and the parish priest and between the bishop and parishioners concerning such matters as the formation of a new mission, property purchases, new building, divorce and remarriage, loss of a priest, and the calling of a new one. The office files include correspondence with various diocesan officials, information about organizations within the church, various discern facilities and other miscellaneous matters. There is a significant amount of material relating to the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and the nation. The financial files contain material relating to various bequests and trust funds set up for the diocese.

Size: 21 boxes

Cathedral Church of the Advent, Birmingham

Records, 1888-1991

(AR 1300)

In 1872 the Elyton Land Company, the real estate concern that founded the City of Birmingham, deeded a lot on 20th Street for the construction of an Episcopal Church. A wood frame structure was built the following year, and in 1893 the present structure was completed. In 1982, Advent was consecrated as the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Today, Advent has a congregation of more than 3,800 members and is one of the largest Episcopal parishes in the United States. The collection includes vestry minutes, parish registers, records of the Altar Guild and other women’s organizations, scrapbooks and records documenting the founding and early history of Advent Episcopal Day School.

Size: 21 boxes

Claiborne, Randolph Royall, Jr.

Papers, 1949

(AR 1594)

Randolph Royall Claiborne served as Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama from 1949 to 1952. Born in Virginia in 1906, Claiborne was the son of an Episcopal priest. He graduated from the University of Virginia and Virginia Theological Seminary. Claiborne served as rector of a Georgia parish and rector of Church of the Nativity in Huntsville from 1938 to 1949. He was elected suffragan bishop in 1949, and in 1952 was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, where he served until his retirement in 1972. This small collection contains some correspondence, sermons, newspaper clippings, a scrapbook and other material.

Size: 1 box

Cobbs, Nicholas Hamner

Papers, 1847-1861 and 1944

(AR 1593)

Nicholas Hamner Cobbs served as the first Episcopal Bishop of Alabama. Consecrated in 1844 at Christ Church, Philadelphia, Cobbs served until his death in 1861. Born in 1795 in Virginia, Cobbs worked as a teacher and was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church at age 29. He served as chaplain at the University of Virginia and as rector of the Episcopal parish in Charlottesville, Virginia. From 1839 until 1843 Cobbs was rector of St. Paul’s church in Petersburg, Virginia, and rector of St. Paul’s in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1843 until his election as Bishop of Alabama. During his tenure as bishop Cobbs oversaw modest but steady growth in the Alabama Episcopal Church and served as rector of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa and St. John’s, Montgomery. An opponent of secession in the months leading up to the Civil War, Cobbs died in Montgomery on the same day that Alabama withdrew from the union. The papers include a small amount of correspondence generated by Cobbs and two sermons. The collections consists primarily of material about Cobbs, such as sermons and newspaper clippings.

Size: 1 box

Episcopal Church in Alabama

Clipping Files

(AR 1911)

This collection contains newspaper clippings and other material collected by the staffs of the Birmingham Public Library’s Southern History Department and the Archives. The files relate to parishes, clergy and church related organizations.

Size: 4 boxes

Episcopal Diocese of Alabama

Records, 1830-

(AR 1046)

The records of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama include correspondence and financial records; parish registers, vestry minutes and other material from active and defunct parishes; photographs; newspapers and other publications of the diocese; and other material.

Size: 50 boxes

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