The Library and Archives

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The Library and Archives

The Library and Archives is a department within the Christian Education program (Nurture Ministry) of the church. It serves to support all areas within the church's ministry structure with a variety of educational resources. It is administered by a ten member Council who develop the programs and activities under the auspices of Christian Education. The operations are headed by the Director of Library and Archives (Mr. J. Theodore Anderson) and a staff of 29 volunteers who maintain the day-to-day activities and operations.

The William Smith Culbertson Memorial Library is the cornerstone and center of operations for the Library and Archives Department. It is located on the second floor of the Administration Building, just across the driveway from the church. It provides the resources of more than 15,000 books, periodicals, vertical file materials, serials, and audio recordings of worship services. Space is available for individual study, small groups as well as browsing of the collections. It is open on Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and during the week Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Director of the library is on duty Sundays through Thursdays for assistance and research help.

The Satellite Library has been established in the lower level of the Main Church Building as an adjunct to the William S. Culbertson Library, and to provide more accessibility to the collections. This branch has only a portion of the books from the overall collection, but it is stocked with the newer and more popular selections. It is open on Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a staff member available for assistance. A wide range of children’s books are included in the collection. Some video tapes are being introduced as new media becomes available within the collection. Reserving books and well as the convenience of being able to return books at this location provide additional services for the patrons.

The Ervin N. Chapman Memorial Archives are housed in the main vault of the church with index materials in the Culbertson Library. An extensive collection of historical records, documents, photographs and other ephemera, dating back to the 1795 inception of the church are contained in this body of material of over 250,000 individual pieces. Arrangements can be made for study of the materials by special appointment with the Director of the Library and Archives. A Who's Who listing of information about current and past church members, together with various reports and written proceedings of official meetings, baptismal, marriage, and funeral records as well as selected important audio/video recordings are in the collection.

Resources and Services of the Library and Archives include:
§   Lending · Books, periodicals, vertical file materials, audio recordings of Sunday services can be borrowed for one month by check-out at the circulation desk.
§   On site references · Reference materials in the form of books, serial collections, maps, atlases, bound copies of worship bulletins and General Assembly minutes and directories and available for use on site.
§   Book Reviews · Ruth Sickafus, the resident staff book reviewer prepares timely reviews of new books both in hard copy for distribution at the library and in electronic format here on the web-site.
§   Official Records · Copies of church baptism, marriage and funeral records are kept in the archives and can be searched by special arrangement.
§   Minutes of Meetings · Recorded minutes of meetings of the Session, the former Trustees meetings, etc. are available for research also. Summaries of many of the meetings are available in hardcopy format for review. Currently Session meeting minutes are being entered into a database from which searches can be made from the library computers. Hardcopies of the last fives years of minutes are available in the Culbertson Library. Early minutes can be requested through an archival search.
§   Assistance and Information · For assistance and/or more detailed information on any of the resources or services available you can telephone the Director of the Library and Archives at 202.537.7529 or through the church e-mail system Library@NationalPres.org

J. Theodore Anderson, Director
The Library and Archives
National Presbyterian Church & Center
4101 Nebraska Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016-2793
202.537.7529
Library@NationalPres.org