Archives Committee

The Vestry established an Archives Committee charged with supervising an archive program which will protect Emmanuel's records and valuable memorabilia. The Committee will recommend to the Vestry a collection/retention schedule for archival records, a set of rules to govern the use of materials in the archives, and the procedures which would best preserve the materials.

Members of the Committee are nominated by the Rector and elected by the Vestry.

State of the Archives

The archives contains valuable mid-to-late 19th century and 20th century documents, past and current legal papers of the parish, the Charter of the church, certificates of consecration of the nave and the St Matthew Chapel, published and informal histories of the parish, a nearly complete history of Old St Mary's Chapel on Oconee Street, the Minutes of the Vestry from 1843 to the present, valuable Bibles and Prayer Books, incomplete materials on Emmanuel's charities and outreach, 20th century Service Bulletins and Newsletters, records of the ladies' auxiliaries under their evolving names, a wide assortment of photographs, incomplete data on the Church School programs, documents relating to church organizations, data on the architecture of some of our buildings, and all of the books published by the church. All of this material is now completely processed and accessible, with a Shelf List and Box Lists.

We have made a safe environment for Emmanuel Archives by arming one of the large closets adjacent to the Common Room with a burglar and humidity alarm system, metal bars on the window, acid-free paint on the walls, shelving which does not emit acid fumes, acid free file boxes and file folders, and two metal file cabinets which are fire-resistant up to 400+ degrees for 30 minutes.

We have also catalogued and made a photographic record of all of the objects of value in the nave, chancel, vestry, and sacristy.

Our most valuable historic documents have been de-acidified, rebound or museum mounted as appropriate: Minutes of the vestry, Vol. 1, 1842-1893; the Charter; the Certificates of Consecration of the main church and the St Matthews Chapel; the seal of the Bishop of Georgia. Vestry Minutes Vol. 2 and our Britches Bible have been repaired and rebound. Nothing special has been done to subsequent Minutes, which are in good repair.

Scope of the Collection

Emmanuel Archives has about 50 items of official correspondence for the last third of the 19th century, almost none from the 20th century. Vestry Minutes are complete and continuing, 1843 to the present. Beginning in 1994 the print version is also on computer diskette. Volume I of the Minutes: 1843-1893 is on microfilm in the Library of the University of Georgia. The most complete collection of 19th century historical material is related to a law suit brought against the Wardens and Vestry by the Bishop of Atlanta concerning the latter’s claim of some real estate acquired by Emmanuel from Old St. Mary’s, an unattached chapel built by a communicant of Emmanuel for his mill workers

Treasurer’s records are extensive from late 1 890s to the present. Endowment Fund records are incomplete.

Two early to middle 20th century scrapbooks provide much social and personal history of the church, as do an almost complete collection of Service Bulletins and Newsletters, the latter of which are preserved on computer diskettes, as of 1997.

Emmanuel has published books, pamphlets, and one magazine, all of which are in the archives; these include a centennial history of the church, augmented by a sesquicentennial history.

The types of records include random correspondence; photographs of 1840s old church, pre and post 1924 present church, modern pictures of people & events (many with

negatives), and a pictorial record of all objects of value in the nave, chapels, & sacristy; published books (histories of Emmanuel, collections of sermons by two rectors, pamphlets on programs, and a study of the stained glass windows); early to mid 20th century memoirs of the church by members; official publications of church administration; minutes of women’s guilds; early to mid 20th century scrapbooks. The collection contains some gifts of 19th century Prayer Books, a Hymnal, & britches Bible of historic and esthetic value.

Organization and Arrangement

The records were not organized until 1998, when they were arranged by functions within the church: administration, education, church groups, history, architecture, outreach, and parish life. Items in each category are filed chronologically. The pictures are not chronological but are generally coded for content: A (activities), B (buildings), M (missions), P (personnel), S (sesquicentennial), V (vestry), and 0 (other, assorted).

Box Lists

The box list is the catalogue of these archives. The division into boxes is arbitrary; the folders contain the archives sequentially. The box list includes items actually in the file boxes, items in the 8 drawers of the fire-resistant cabinets, and unboxed items on the shelves.

Folder Lists

When more than one item is in a folder on the Box List, the items within the folder are indicated either by indentation or by announcement.