Quaker Archives

COVID-19 RESPONSE: Quaker Archives currently is closed for both in-person and remote services. Our earliest possible date for reopening is August 1, 2020. Many Quaker records are available via Ancestry.com and Guilford College publications online via this website, where you will also find some basic online guides to assist you until our return. 

• Unique research experiences for both beginning and advanced researchers as well as student internship and employment options.
• Acquires, organizes, preserves and makes available, not only to the College but to the wider community of researchers, materials, both published and unpublished, related to both Guilford College and the history of the Religious Society of Friends.
• Special responsibility for comprehensiveness in documenting and for nurturing research relating to the spiritual, intellectual and cultural heritage of Quakerism in the southeastern United States.
• National recognition as a resource for anti-slavery research.
• As the college’s archives, preserves and provides access to college records of enduring value, including both administrative records and campus scholarship.
• Opportunities for students to curate and reinterpret historical sources connecting Guilford’s historical legacy with larger events and issues remaining relevant in present day.

Research Room Hours

Tuesday through Friday
9 a.m. - noon and 2 - 5 p.m.

*Those wishing to meet with a librarian and/or make use of specific sources are strongly encouraged to make an appointment in advance to guarantee availability.

Manuscripts, archival materials, and rare books, as well as most genealogical resources, are restricted to use during research room hours.  Some Quaker books may be made available outside of research room hours by advanced arrangement by contacting archives@guilford.edu.

The North Carolina Friends Historical Society sponsors two opportunities for those researching and writing about topics relating to southern Quaker Studies. Below are the announcements and deadlines for the 2020 Hinshaw Fellowship and Poole Writing Award. The Hinshaw Fellowship provides reimbursement funding for a researcher using the Quaker Archives during the 2020 year. See https://library.guilford.edu/archives/fellowships for application details.