On March 2, 2022, All Soul's Unitarian Church hosts a panel where archivists from four DC churches—dating to the city’s early years—tell why their collections are valuable and explore how to save them.
Why do researchers often overlook church archives when trying to tease out the stories of the past? After all, churches represent some of DC’s oldest institutions—they might even be called our oldest grass-roots organizations. And how can we ensure that these treasure troves are preserved and made accessible to church members and researchers?
In this virtual program archivists from four churches in four different DC neighborhoods explore these questions, describe the state of their collections, and highlight some of their holdings, from All Souls Unitarian in Columbia Heights, founded in 1821; Riverside Baptist in Southwest, founded in 1857; First Baptist, Georgetown, founded in 1862; Lincoln Congregational Temple United Church of Christ in Shaw, founded in 1869.
All Souls Church, Unitarian
1500 Harvard Street, NW, Washington DC 20009
Contact: Mara Cherkasky, DC Historic Sites; National Park Service; Historic Preservation Office
All Souls was founded in 1821 as First Unitarian Church by some of Washington’s most prominent White men, including Secretary of State and future President John Quincy Adams; Secretary of War and future Vice President John C. Calhoun; Architect of the Capitol Charles Bulfinch; and newspaper publisher, city alderman, and future mayor Joseph Gales. Some of the founders were enslavers; others strongly opposed slavery. Bulfinch designed the church’s first building, at Sixth and D Streets NW, close to City Hall. President James Monroe donated $100 toward the bell, which was forged by Paul Revere’s son, Joseph Revere, and served as a sort of town bell. It hangs today in the church’s third location, at 16th and Harvard streets, NW. ;All Souls’ focus on social justice started with Rev. A. Powell Davies (1944-1957). The church was one of the few places in Washington where interracial groups could meet, and the congregation began pushing for Civil Rights in the late 1940s. Partnering with Change Economic Development Corp., it built 406 units of affordable housing in Columbia Heights in the 1970s. All Souls has long been a welcoming place for the LGBTQ community, and in 2009 Mayor Adrian Fenty signed DC’s Marriage Equality Act into law in All Souls’ sanctuary.
First Baptist Church, Georgetown
2624 Dumbarton St NW, Washington, DC 20007
https://www.firstbaptistgtown.org/
Contact: Vinette Saunders, vsaun2003@yahoo.com
First Baptist Church, Georgetown was founded in 1862 by the Reverend Sandy Alexander (1818-1902). Previously enslaved, Alexander had moved to Georgetown in the 1850s with the express goal of organizing a Baptist church. He did not find many Baptists there but was able to draw a number of converts, as well as many former members of the Shiloh Church of Fredericksburg (Virginia) who had migrated to Washington. The congregation built its first church, a wood-frame structure it called The Ark, on donated land at 29th and O but soon needed someplace larger. It laid the cornerstone for the current building in 1882. Rev. Alexander retired as First Baptist's pastor after 37 years in the pulpit, in 1889. Nearby Alexander Memorial Baptist Church and Goodwill Baptist Church are offshoots of First Baptist Church, Georgetown.
Lincoln Congregational Temple United Church of Christ
1701 11th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 (closed)
Contacts: Ms. Jeanne Cooper, jchome8206@yahoo.com; Ms. Ann Houston, anneth33311@gmail.com
See DC Historic Sites
Lincoln Temple, located on the corner of 11th and R Streets, NW, was established in 1869 on land deeded to the American Missionary Association by the Freedmen's Bureau. The church emerged out of the Colfax Mission (soon renamed the Lincoln Industrial Mission), which provided shelter, industrial training, and religious instruction to people of African descent, newly freed from slavery. Its first building went up in the late 1860s. In 1881, ten African American members of First Congregational Church became the nucleus of a new church (Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church). Then in 1901, Mary Church Terrell and her husband, Judge Robert Terrell, who were members of Park Temple Congregational Church, moved to bring about the merger of Lincoln Memorial and Park Temple. The name of the merged churches became Lincoln Memorial Congregational Temple. A new building (the current one) replaced the old in 1928, but Lincoln Temple retained its activist mission. Led by Mary Church Terrell, it organized restaurant sit-ins in the 1950s and hosted meetings to plan marches and protests. In 2018, the congregation voted to cease operations but support the presence and usage of the building by the Shaw Community Center and two non-UCC congregations.
Riverside Baptist Church
699 Maine Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20024
Contact: Sarah Fairbrother, SarahAFairbrother@gmail.com
Riverside Baptist Church started out in 1857 as the all-white Island Baptist Church, on D Street between 4 1/2 and 6th Streets S.W. When the congregation moved into a new brick structure in 1869, it renamed itself Fifth Baptist Church. The nearby construction of a roundhouse in the 1880s disturbed the congregation with its smoke, coal, dust, and noise. A successful lawsuit against the railroad provided the money to relocate to 6 1/2 and E Streets, where a new church was dedicated in 1902. On its 100th anniversary, Fifth Baptist was forced by urban renewal to move yet again, this time to 7th Street and Maine Avenue. It now became Riverside Baptist, with a much smaller membership, since urban renewal had displaced 37,000 Southwest residents. In 1971 the church began working toward becoming truly bi-racial, and in 1992, it took a step further, welcoming gay and lesbian members. As Southwest redeveloped again more recently, Riverside in 2017 replaced its 1967 building at 7th & Maine Ave.
Mara Cherkasky is a long-time resident of DC and the co-founder of both the historical research firm Prologue DC and the digital public history project Mapping Segregation in Washington DC. She joined the All Souls Unitarian archives team in 2012. Now in its third location, All Souls was founded by some of Washington’s most prominent White residents — including John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun — and somehow maintained a balance between anti- and pro-slavery forces for many years. Since the 1940s the church has been known for its social activism. Ms. Cherkasky recently oversaw the publication of an updated church history as part of All Souls’ bicentennial celebration.
Jeanne D. Cooper became part of Lincoln Congregational Temple United Church of Christ as a young teen and over the years served the church in various capacities. Lincoln Temple was established in 1869 on land deeded to the American Missionary Association by the Freedmen’s Bureau. The church emerged out of what was the Colfax Mission, which provided shelter, industrial training, and religious instruction to people of African descent, newly freed from slavery. Since the final worship service in September 2018, Ms. Cooper has been part of a team charged with envisioning and planning for the future uses of the church building and the preservation of valuable memorabilia and artifacts.
Derek Gray (moderator) has been an archivist in the People’s Archive at the DC Public Library since 2008. The collection he manages (the DC Community Archives)
documents the political, social, and cultural history of DC and includes oral histories, photographs, family papers, church records, business records, neighborhood records, and much more. He has a special passion for the preservation, documentation and presentation of African American experiences in Washington. Mr. Gray has contributed several articles for Washington History, the scholarly journal of the DC History Center, and is one of four co-authors of Angels of Deliverance: The Underground Railroad in Queens, Long Island, and Beyond (Queens Historical Society, 1999). His new book,\ The NAACP in Washington, DC: From Jim Crow To Home Rule, analyzes the role and work of the District's NAACP branch, and will be out next Monday, March 7th.
Sarah Fairbrother is a long-time resident of DC, a graduate of both George Washington University and American University, and a former project director of Cultural Tourism DC. She currently serves as Administrator at Riverside Baptist Church. Formerly known as Fifth Baptist Church, Riverside Baptist has been in Southwest DC since 1857. Now in its fifth building (or is it the sixth?), Riverside has survived many changes in the city, including urban renewal. It has a great deal of history, but due to the moves and the changes, some has been lost, and much of what remains is uncatalogued, and hard to access. Vinette Saunders is a native Washingtonian and a life-long member of First Baptist Church, Georgetown, growing up in the church and serving in various positions and ministries. She has been working with the church’s Historic Archives Ministry since its inception in the early 2000s, became the ministry’s chair in 2015, and continues to hold that position. Ms. Saunders also serves as co-chair of the Heritage & Archives Committee of the Washington DC Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. First Baptist Church, Georgetown, was founded by the Rev. Sandy Alexander, who was born into slavery. It will celebrate its 160th anniversary on Oct. 5, 2022.