Facts on Local Church Records

The Historical Records Survey produced an inventory of the church archives in Pennsylvania, but it was never published. Arranged by county, the inventory is located in the state archives. A good number of church records have been published individually and in periodicals such as The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. Many copies exist in manuscript at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Library (DAR collection), and in other libraries. A good portion of the published material concerns German churches and Quaker meetings.

Some major religious bodies have libraries in the commonwealth with collections that include not only Pennsylvania church records, but those for other states as well. These include the following:

• The collection at the Friends Historical Library Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19081
  The library has original and microfilmed Quaker records, mostly for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and some for Virginia, including those for fourteen Pennsylvania meetings copied by Hinshaw but never published. While the basic meeting records are located at Swarthmore, other material can be found at Haverford College Library Quaker Collection Haverford, PA 19041-1392
• The Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2215 Millstream Road Lancaster, PA 16702-1499
  has a handout entitled Genealogical Resources at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. A research fee is charged for mail inquiries. The society also publishes a quarterly, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage.
• The Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society of the United Church of Christ 555 West James Street Lancaster, PA 17603
  loans microfilm of church records, covering German churches in Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Columbia, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, and York counties, as well as a few for Maryland and Virginia. Many German church records, particularly for the German Reformed and Evangelical church, have been published in books and periodicals.
• The Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147
  has records of over 20,000 churches and has published the Journal of Presbyterian History since 1901.
• The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center at the Balch Institute 18 South 7th Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106.
  has a microfilm collection of Jewish synagogue and cemetery records; other related material. Other important archives are kept by: The Moravians 66 West Church Street Bethlehem, PA 18018
• The Schwenkfelders Pennsburg, PA 18073
• The Lutherans Abdel Ross Wentz Library Gettysburg, PA 17325
• Luthean Theological Seminary 7301 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19119
• Pennsylvania, Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages: This database is a collection of Lutheran Church baptism and marriage records from southeastern Pennsylvania between 1730 and 1779.

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Facts on Local Cemetery Records

   Large collections of cemetery records are located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and at many local libraries and historical societies. The Pennsylvania State Library maintains the state's DAR cemetery collection. Several funeral director records for Philadelphia are in the Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State Department of Military Affairs has records of veterans' graves and burials. The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is currently in the process of microfilming cemetery records throughout the commonwealth.

   Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:

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