History & Archives

Trinity Church is an active Episcopal parish that has been an integral part of New York City’s history for more than 300 years. Learn more about Trinity Parish’s history here.

The records which tell the story of Trinity’s History–from its founding, to today–can be found in Trinity Church’s Archives. The Archives preserve, protect, and make available these records of enduring value to share and promote the mission and ministry of the church. The Archives house more than 2,000 linear feet of records generated by the parish. In addition to documenting the activities and growth of Trinity since its founding in 1697, the records provide information pertinent to the story of New York City and the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

Genealogical Research

Trinity Church Archives is in the process of making data from its Baptism, Marriage, and Burial registers available. Those conducting genealogical research are encouraged to go to Churchyards and Registers to locate a gravestone or to search for baptisms, marriages and burials. Register data entry is ongoing.

All onsite genealogical research is done by Archives staff on a fee-for-service basis, depending on the complexity of the request, at the Archivist's discretion. Fees incur after the first 30 minutes of work. Fees are $20/half-hour of research time; if scans or photos of records are desired, fees are $10/half-hour of scanning time.

Archives staff can search parish

Baptisms from 1749 to 1764 and 1778 onwards
Confirmations onwards from 1860

Marriages onwards from 1750
Burial records from 1777 to 1783 and 1800 onwards

The staff will also search communicants’ pew records, and records relating to St. Paul's Churchyard, Trinity Churchyard, and Trinity Church Cemetery.

Contact the Archives to request a research application at archives@trinitywallstreet.org . All requests will be answered as time permits. Please allow up to a month for a response.

Archives Use & Access

Trinity's Archives are open to qualified researchers engaged in scholarly research college-level or above.

Those wishing to visit the Archives for non-genealogical research must submit an email outlining your research purpose to archives@trinitywallstreet.org . The email should state in detail the purpose of the research, the affiliation of the researcher, and identify the objectives and intended products of the research inquiry.

If you are unable to visit the Archives in person, our Archivists may be able to complete the research for you on a fee-for-service basis. Fees incur after the first 30 minutes of work. Fees are $20/half-hour of research time; if scans or photos of records are desired, fees are $10/half-hour of scanning time.

Our Finding Guide is a document that describes the records in our Archives. The holdings are arranged by department function. Each department function has an historical note which provides background and a scope and content note which describes what records are available. The dates in the headings in parentheses refer to tenure of the person cited; dates without parentheses refer to the date span of the records available in the archive.

For a copy of our Finding Guide, please email archives@trinitywallstreet.org with a description of your research purpose.

Records that are more than 25 years old are open to the public, with the following exceptions. Confidential records, including personnel records and other documents containing sensitive personal information, are closed for a period of 75 years. The Archivists also reserve the right to restrict the use of records if they have not been processed or appraised, if they contain unseparated personal information, or if their condition is fragile.