Religion in North Carolina

Every once in awhile, you stumble across a collection so rich that it just begs to be shared! Such was the case last weekend when I ran across a collection on Internet Archive called "Religion in North Carolina." Partner institutions for the project are Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University. The collection's description states "the materials in this collection include local church histories, periodicals, clergy biographies, cookbooks, event programs, directories, and much more."

At the time I'm writing this post (in advance), there are 6,222 items in the collection. That's pretty amazing. The collection has seven collections within it. I will list each and give a few examples of materials included.

Meetings, Proceedings, and Conference Reports (2727 items)

Minutes of the Buncombe Baptist Association of Buncombe County, 1931-1940
Minutes of the United Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North America, 1930
Minutes of the Salem Presbytery

Church and Religious Body Histories (1102 items)

Henry R. Mathis. Along the Border: a History of Virgilina, Virginia and the Surrounding Area in Halifax and Mecklenburg Counties in Virginia and Person and Granville Counties in North Carolina.
Winnie Wills Broglin. Antioch United Methodist Church, Hot Springs, North Carolina: Built on Faith.
Adelaide I. Fries. Records of the Moravians in North Carolina: volume II, 1752-1775.

Newsletters, Newspapers, and Serial Publications (1520 items)

Zion's Landmark (vol.  33, 1899-1900)
American Jewish Times-Outlook (1961-1962)
The Primitive Baptist (vol. 6, 1841)

Ephemerals: Cookbooks, Event Programs, and Directories (368 items)

St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Washington, N.C.) Keys to the Kitchen
O. Norris Smith and Rebecca H. Smith. Family Burying Grounds and Abandoned Church Cemeteries in Guilford County, N.C. and Immediate Environs
Dedication Service of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Creech Road, Raleigh, North Carolina, Sunday, August 28, 1977

Clergy Autobiographical and Biographical Materials: Journals, Testimonies, Etc. (152 items)

M. W. Williams and George W. Watkins. Who's Who Among North Carolina Negro Baptists with a Brief History of Negro Baptist Organizations
C. T. Thrift. Robert Paine. Methodist Bishop: a Great North Carolinian, Person's Greatest Son
S. C. Ray. I'm Glad I Stayed, 1949-1979

Theosophy, Philosophy, Psychology & Religion (77 items)

Claude E. Spencer. Periodicals of the Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups
Alva Washington Plyler. What Western North Carolina Owes
James O. Kelly. Essay on Negro-Slavery

Sermons of North Carolina (111 items)

R. H. Morrison. Funeral Sermon of the Rev. John Robinson, D.D., Late Pastor of Poplar Tent Church, Preached at Poplar Tent, February 22d, 1844
C. Daniel Crews. What It Was, Was Jesus: for the 250th Anniversary Service of the Southern Province of the Moravian Church, Wait Chapel, Wake Forest University, Sunday, November 16, 2003
W. A. Harper. The Spirit of Elon College: An Excellent Spirit

The list above is a mere drop in the bucket of what is available via this resource. I've tried to include materials from many denominations and even from Judaism.

Writings on American History

We are moving a set of seldom-used books from Reference to In-House Storage today. I noticed that many of the pages of this set of books had never been cut. As I was looking at the pages that I was beginning to cut, I recognized the value of this set for genealogical researchers. Entitled Writings on American History, the set was published (at least in the late teens to early 1930s) as a supplement to the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. It was later published without the supplement annotation. It ceased publication in the early 1960s and when it resumed publication, a set covering the missing years (1962-73) was published. It ceased publication after the 1989/90 edition. It is often difficult to find indexes to older periodicals, but this one does just that. It also includes books published as well as book reviews. It covers mainly the United States, but to a lesser extent it covers all the Americas, including Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America. Let me give you a sampling of some of the articles that might be of interest to genealogical researchers from the 1919 issue of the publication.

Condict, Lewis. "Journey of a Trip to Kentucky in 1795," New Jersey Historical Society Proceedings, n.s. vol. 4 (1919): 108-127. - Described as a "journal of a horseback trip from Morristown, N.J., to Kentucky."

Dow, George Francis, ed. "Topsfield Selectmen's Records, 1704-1730," Topsfield Historical Society Collections, vol. 24 (1919): 90-112.

Kenny, Laurence J. "The Gallipolis Colony," Catholic Historical Review, vol. 4 (Jan. 1919): 415-451. - Described as "an account of this French colony on the Ohio, as the first successful western Catholic colony."

Bradwell, I. G. "Battle of Cedar Creek, Va.," Confederate Veteran, vol. 27 (Nov 1919): 411-412.

Hough, Frances L. "History of Pulaski County Episcopal Church," Illinois Historical Society Journal, vol. 11, no. 3 (Oct 1918): 418-421.

Thompson, Joseph J. "The Irish in Early Illinois," Illinois Catholic Historical Review, vol. 2 (Oct 1919): 223-238.

Hull, John T. "The Old Eastern Cemetery in Portland, Maine," Sprague's Journal of Maine History, vol. 7 (Aug 1919): 79-80.

Goodwin, Cardinal. "The Movement of American Settlers into Wisconsin and Minnesota," Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 17 (Jul 1919): 406-428.

Reynolds, Louise Wilson. "Tax List of Greene County, State of Tennessee, for the Year 1783," D.A.R. Magazine, vol. 53 (Apr 1919): 196-203.

Bowman, George Ernest. "Capt. Peter Bennett's Will (1749) and the Estate of His Wife Priscilla," Mayflower Descendant, vol. 21 (Oct 1919): 171-175.

Perkins, Emily Ritchie. "The Perkins Family: A Sketch of Intercolonial Migration," Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania Publications, vol. 7, no. 2 (Mar 1919): 163-178.

"Marriage Licenses of the District of Columbia, 1801-1820," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 8 (Apr 1919): 27-31.

Conger, John L. "South Carolina and the Early Tariffs," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 5 (Mar 1919): 415-433.

As you can see, this publication holds a wealth of information that is useful to genealogists. I'm looking forward to seeing what gems I can find that will help me in my personal research and to making notes of articles that may be useful to me in the future.