LibGuides: Special Collections: Religion Resources: Archival Material

Searching for Archival Material

Archival material includes unpublished records such as letters, diaries, financial records, and photographs. Information about our archival collections may be found online in the Subject Guide to the Collections. You can also browse the A-Z list of archival collections (the link is below). Our finding aids are processed at different levels. Some include item-by-item level descriptions and others are processed at the folder or box level.

A-Z list of RBSCP archival collections

Archival Religion Collections

RBSCP is home to a number of collections that reflect the religious life and practices of Rochestarians.

Links to Finding Aids

Philip S. Bernstein papers
Correspondence, drafts of sermons, speeches, miscellaneous printed material. Archive relates to Rabbi Bernstein's tenure at Rochester's Temple Brith Kodesh, as head of the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the National Jewish Welfare Board during World War II, as advisor on Jewish affairs to the U.S. Army Commanders in Europe following the war, as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and as chairman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York papers
Correspondence, financial and legal records, printed material, minutes of meetings. The Church's early history and the pastorates of William Channing Gannett, Edwin Alfred Rumball, and David Rhys Williams are represented in these papers. Included are records of the Women's Alliance, Laymen's League, and Boys Evening Home.
Franklin Florence papers
Correspondence, mimeographed flyers and other materials, reports. A social activist in Rochester, Minister Florence worked in the FIGHT organization of the 1960s and 1970s. Material relates to FIGHT and Florence's pastorates at the Reynolds Street Church of Christ and later the Central Church of Christ.
William Channing Gannett papers
Correspondence. William Channing Gannett was a Unitarian minister in St. Paul, Minnesota (1877-1883), and in Rochester, New York (1889-1908). The papers concern the Western Unitarian Controversy, the Port Royal Experiment during the Civil War, temperance, women's rights, Unitarian Church organization and membership.
David Rhys Williams papers
Correspondence, sermons, speeches, prayers, newspaper clippings, church publications, manuscripts, memorabilia. Williams was the minister of the First Unitarian Church of Rochester from 1928 to 1958. His papers reflect his interest in many social matters, including birth control, woman suffrage, race relations, labor disputes and the protection of civil liberties and human rights in the United States and other countries.

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