Church Records Are Some of the Most Valuable Historical Documents Nobody Talks About

 Before the United States government required birth certificates, before county courthouses kept systematic records of marriages and deaths, before any of the civil record keeping systems we rely on today existed, churches were keeping records.

Baptism registries. Marriage books. Death records. Membership rolls. Burial registers. Account books. Meeting minutes.

For hundreds of years in communities all across this country and going back much further in Europe, the church was where the record of ordinary life got kept. And a remarkable amount of that record still exists.

What Church Records Contain

A baptism record will give you a child's name, date of baptism, and often the names of both parents and godparents. For genealogists trying to trace a family back before civil registration began this is often the only record that a person existed at all.

Marriage records contain names of both parties, often the names of witnesses who were frequently family members, and sometimes the names of parents. They place people in a specific community at a specific time.

Death and burial records give dates and often causes of death. In some traditions they give ages, which allows birth dates to be estimated even when no birth record exists.

Membership rolls list everyone who was part of a congregation over time. For communities where many people were part of the same church these rolls can serve as a census of the community going back generations.

Where These Records Are Now

Some old church records are still in the possession of the congregation that created them. If the church is still active, a polite inquiry to the pastor or church secretary can sometimes get you access.

Many old records have been donated to or deposited with local historical societies, county libraries or state archives. Some have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has one of the largest collections of genealogical records in the world and makes much of it available free online at FamilySearch.org.

Some denominations have centralized archives where historical records from congregations across the country are preserved. The Catholic Church, various Protestant denominations and other religious traditions each have their own archival systems.

What You Can Do

If you are doing family history research, identify the churches your ancestors were likely members of and search for their records. FamilySearch.org is a good starting point and is completely free.

If you belong to a church with old records, advocate for their preservation. Records stored in a church basement can be damaged by floods, fire or simple deterioration. Getting them scanned and deposited with a library or archive is the safest way to ensure they survive.

If you know of an old church building that has been abandoned or converted to another use, try to find out what happened to its records. Sometimes they were saved. Sometimes they are still sitting somewhere in need of attention.

These records are older than the country in many cases. They have lasted this long. With a little effort they can last much longer.

Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.

Why Old Buildings Matter and What We Lose Forever When They Get Torn Down

 There is a house in your town or your neighborhood that is old enough to have stories.

Maybe it was built in the 1800s. Maybe it was the first commercial building on a street. Maybe it was a church that served a community for a hundred years before the congregation moved away. Maybe it is just an ordinary house that has been standing since before anyone alive today was born.

That building is a physical historical document. And it is probably in danger.

What Buildings Carry That Nothing Else Does

An old building tells you things that no written record can fully capture.

It tells you about the technology and materials available when it was built. The craftsmanship of the people who constructed it. The economic conditions of the people who commissioned it. The way people understood space and light and function in that era.

It tells you about how a place changed over time through the layers of renovation and adaptation that got added to it over the decades. The doorway that was added. The room that was divided. The facade that was updated to look modern and then became old itself.

It carries in its walls and floors and foundations the physical evidence of every person who ever lived or worked or worshipped or gathered inside it.

Once it is gone none of that can be recovered. Not from photographs. Not from architectural drawings. Not from any written description. The physical thing itself is gone.

Why Buildings Keep Getting Demolished

Old buildings cost money to maintain. They often do not meet modern building codes without expensive renovation. They sit on land that developers want for new construction that will generate more revenue.

Local governments often approve demolition permits for historic structures without requiring documentation. Owners who want to demolish a building for development sometimes move faster than preservation advocates can organize a response.

In poor communities especially, historic buildings get demolished routinely with minimal public attention or opposition.

What You Can Do Before a Building Is Gone

Photograph every old building in your area that looks like it might be at risk. Exterior and interior if you can get access. Document the details that make it significant. The architectural features. The age. Any history you know about who built it or lived in it.

Upload those photographs to archive.org or to the Library of Congress Built in America collection which accepts photographs of historic structures.

If a building in your area is threatened with demolition, contact your local historic preservation commission. Most cities and counties have one. They do not always have the power to stop demolitions but they can sometimes slow the process long enough for alternatives to be found.

At minimum, document it fully before it is gone. A building that has been thoroughly photographed and described has left something behind even if the physical structure is lost.

An old building is not just a building. It is a container for everything that happened inside it. Treat it that way.

Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.

The Old People in Your Town Are Walking History Books and They Are Running Out of Time

 There is an old man in your town or your neighborhood or your family who remembers things that no book records.

He remembers what the main street looked like sixty years ago. What businesses were there and who ran them. Which buildings got torn down and what replaced them. Which families were prominent and which ones struggled. What the big events were that shaped the community and how people felt about them at the time.

She remembers what it was like to be a young woman in this country before certain rights existed. What work was available to her and what was closed off. What she had to do to raise her kids. What the hardest years felt like from the inside.

They remember names. Faces. Stories. Details about how life actually worked that never made it into any official record.

And when they die all of that goes with them.

This Is the Most Urgent Preservation Problem There Is

Books can be reprinted. Photographs can be scanned from originals. Documents can be digitized. But once a person who carries living memory of a time and place is gone there is no recovery. No second chance. No way to go back and ask the questions you forgot to ask.

Every day that passes without someone recording these stories is a day of irreplaceable history lost.

How to Do an Oral History Interview

You do not need professional equipment or formal training. You need a phone with a voice recording app and a list of questions.

Start with basic biographical information. Where were you born. What were your parents like. Where did you grow up. What was your neighborhood like when you were young.

Move into specific memories. What do you remember about this town when you were a kid. What did you do for work. What were the big events that happened in your lifetime that you remember most clearly.

Ask about the community specifically. Who were the important people in this community when you were young. What businesses were here. What has changed the most. What do you wish young people knew about how things used to be.

Let them talk. The best oral history interviews follow the person's memory rather than sticking rigidly to a script.

Record the whole thing. Let them know you are recording. Save the file somewhere it will not get lost. And if possible transcribe it or have it transcribed so the information is searchable.

Where to Put What You Collect

StoryCorps at storycorps.org accepts oral history recordings and deposits them in the Library of Congress. Your recording could become part of the permanent national historical record.

Your local library's local history collection will often accept transcripts and recordings from community oral history projects.

Archive.org accepts audio uploads and preserves them permanently for free.

You can also publish excerpts or summaries on a blog with the person's permission. Making the knowledge public is what transforms a personal recording into a historical document.

Pick up the phone today. Call the oldest person you know. Tell them you want to hear their stories. You are running out of time and so are they.

Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.