Quaker Records

We do not accept records by e-mail. With the rapid changes in technology (remember 5-inch floppy discs?), paper records have better longevity for archival purposes. Please print out or copy minutes and records on acid-free paper. Having each meeting print or copy their own records on archival paper (instead of e-mailing them and asking us to print them) helps stretch our limited staff time and supplies.

Yes. Mail documents to: Quaker Archives, Guilford College, 5800 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27410. We will send an acknowledgment to the clerk of the meeting, unless you specify another contact person (such as recording clerk or historian).

Think about what will be important 25, 50, or 100 years from now. Most meetings deposit minutes, as a minimum. Membership records provide a wealth of information for future genealogists.

We do not have space to keep bulky, repetitive items (such as bulletins, flyers, or annual directories). You may want to keep these records on file at the meetinghouse. Meetings are welcome to deposit a sampling to show major changes, such as one per decade, or to show pastoral and staff changes. We recommend eventually discarding/destroying papers that are summarized in official minutes, such as bank statements.

If your yearly meeting does not have a collection policy, you can start with N.C. Yearly Meeting (FUM) Faith and Practice (2012 edition) and the Committee on the Care of Yearly Meeting Records (2002 policy) recommendations that official monthly meeting minutes, membership records, Ministry and Counsel minutes, quarterly meeting minutes, quarterly meeting Ministry and Counsel minutes, minutes of yearly meeting committees and boards, and written histories or publications about the meetings be deposited in the Archives. Other records are optional (such as committee minutes or building records).

Minutes as recent as 25 years are restricted to meeting members only, unless written permission is provided by the meeting. Membership records with personal information like birthdates are restricted for 75 years, and will not be posted online before that time limit. Some records may be published with permission from the meeting (such as meeting histories with pastor biographies). Records may have tighter restrictions upon request (for example, Ministry and Counsel minutes available only to M&C members), but should be available to the public after 75 years.

Call us at 336-316-2264 or e-mail archives@guilford.edu. We’ll figure out if they are missing records or duplicates. If they help complete the collection for your meeting, we’ll be glad to help process them.

Click on the tab on this page to find a list of what we have for your meeting. Or you can call or e-mail us and we will research the status of your records.

Staples and metal paper clips rust over time, causing damage to records. Loose pages are acceptable, or you can use vinyl-covered paper clips to separate records. Do not invest in binders or pretty folders, as we may discard those.

Yes, double-sided paper saves space and resources. We do recommend that each month start on a new page, so that particular minutes are easy to find.

In 2012, Ancestry.com scanned minutes and records prior to 1937 from the archives at Haverford, Swarthmore, Guilford and Earlham colleges. After indexing the records, Ancestry posted them online in May 2014. Friends who don’t have an Ancestry membership can access the records at Guilford College and some local libraries.

Friends kept meticulous records prior to civil (government) records, but not everyone is listed. A few meetings have lost records by fire or other means. Friends did not record the children of members who were disowned (eg. for joining the military, marrying a non-Friend, owning slaves). And some Friends moved to remote areas away from an established meeting. However, we have records for North Carolina and other areas in the Southeast back to the 1600s. Quaker records are an excellent place to start researching your family.

Our research room is open to visitor weekdays by appointment. Contact us (archives@guilford.edu or voice call to 336-316-2264) to schedule a time. We are not able to offer weekend or evening access. There is no charge, but donations are appreciated. Please make checks out to “Guilford College,” with Quaker Archives on the memo line.

Turn off New Garden Road onto George Fox Drive and park in any of the visitor spaces on the left. Follow the sidewalk past Duke Hall to Hege Library.

We may already have them. Please jot down a list of titles and send it to Gwen Erickson at archives@guilford.edu.

If you bring it to Archives, we will copy the pages with genealogical information onto archival paper and return the Bible to you to keep in your family. If you don’t wish to leave your Bible for a week or two, please call ahead for an appointment.

We have limited space, and an archives is different from a museum. Therefore, we can only accept items that specifically document Quaker history and fit into the space we have (such as letters from conscientious objectors, photographs of meeting houses, maybe a missionary’s hat). Please contact the archivist, Gwen Erickson, for answers in each case.

We do not accept items on loan. Circumstances such as death, multiple heirs and disputed ownership can lead to legal complications. Therefore, donated items become the property of the Quaker Archives.