Origins & Mission
The Digital Archive was created by necessity. When we set out to help a parish digitize its records, we realized that there was no digital archive dedicated to caring for Episcopal church records.
We created one.
Genesis of The Episcopal Project
Edna Johnston is a historian who grew up in rural Dinwiddie County in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia where her father was the Rector of Bath Parish. The closing of her home church of Calvary, along with a kick from the Almighty, prompted Ms. Johnston to put her skills and resources to work to preserve the records of Calvary and the other churches in the parish. Johnston pulled in her staff at History Matters, got the blessing of The Right Rev. Edmond Browning who baptized her, and began deploying the knowledge, advice, and labor of a cadre of gifted librarians, archivists, system engineers, storytellers, church elders, and many, many volunteers.
With the encouragement and prompting of the Rev. (now Canon) Willis O. Foster, Sr., the records of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, a church that was started by formerly enslaved Virginians in 1867 in Petersburg, Virginia was added. Johnston, Foster, and their colleagues started to explore how the records of churches, and the stories of Episcopalians in the Diocese of Southern Virginia could be collected, digitized, protected, and accessible. In 2023, they launched The Episcopal Project as a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to expand this work to churches and dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Petersburg Va
Our Story
Learn how we can help preserve your church’s history. This video, featuring Founder Edna Johnston and Board Member Nate Kettlewell, explains how The Episcopal Project came to be and the way it works.
Calvary Episcopal Church, Dinwiddie, Va