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Georgia Baptist History Portal

Church Records

Special Collections and Archives holds hundreds of church records from a variety of Baptist traditions in print and on microfilm.  Below is an alphabetical list of these holdings.  Microfilm records may be requested through inter-library loan via your local library.  (Church records are temporarily unavailable for loan, beginning March 2023.)

Please note that the quality of and quantity of information in church records vary.  Not every church clerk kept detailed membership records.  Baptist churches rarely (if ever) mentioned baptisms, weddings, and deaths in their minutes.

Church Histories (published)

Special Collections and Archives also holds hundreds of published church histories.  You can find these in the finding aid above or by searching our library catalog.

Church Vertical Files

Special Collections and Archives also has extensive vertical files of miscellaneous information on Georgia Baptist churches, and these may prove useful if no records are available.  Please contact us via email at archives@mercer.edu for assistance searching these files. 

Church Information in Association Minutes

If you have been unable to locate the records of or information on a specific church, it may be possible to find general information on the church in the minutes of the local association where that church was a member; this information could include the pastor's name, clerk's name, number of members, number of baptisms, amount of offerings, names of messengers to the association, and potentially more.  Here is list of association records held in Special Collections and Archives. 

This document lists Georgia counties with the Baptist associations that were in them.  If you know the county in which the church was located but not the association, it can help you narrow your search to a few associations which the church might have joined.


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