St. John's Episcopal Cathedral, Providence (Mss. Gr. 94)

The records of St. John's Cathedral were deposited in the Special Collections Department by the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island in a series of transactions beginning in 1976. Sizable transfers of records were made in 1976, 1982, 1991, and 1998, with smaller deposits made in the intervening years. Prior to their transfer, the records were housed in St. John's Cathedral in Providence.

St. John's Cathedral is both the religious center of the diocese and a parish church. Consequently, there are records in this collection which document both functions. Prior to 1929 when St. John's became the cathedral, it had served as a local parish for more than 200 years. It began as King's Church in 1722 and became St. John's Church in 1794. Thus, the bulk of the records document the activities of St. John's as a parish rather than as a cathedral. Records for the eighteenth century are scattered, while those for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are fairly comprehensive.

The physical condition of the records ranges from poor to good. Some items in the collection were damaged by flooding of the area in which they were housed during the 1938 hurricane. Rust- and water-stained documents and decomposing leather bindings are evidence of that 1938 disaster.