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Episcopal Church Archives to close in January in preparation for move to Georgia

November 12, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] The Archives of The Episcopal Church is getting ready to move. The church announced this week that its archive in Austin, Texas, will close for four months at the start of 2027 to facilitate the long-envisioned move to a new permanent location in Oakwood, Georgia. For researchers, that means time is short to submit pressing archival requests before the archives temporarily close on Jan. 1. And for church planners, that means a logistical challenge is quickly approaching. The Episcopal Church Archives has been housed in a leased warehouse in Austin since 2021 after previously occupying space at the Seminary of the Southwest for about 60 years. The collection is vast — about 9,400 cubic feet, plus 500 linear feet of library and reference books — all of which will need to be boxed up soon and transported to the new location, about 50 miles from Atlanta. The physical move is planned for three weeks in February. Then, the focus will shift to setting up the materials in the new facility’s 14,000 cubic feet of storage, which is a 40% increase over the previous storage space. “Those with immediate research needs as they draft reports for the 82nd General Convention are encouraged to reach out to the Archives soon,” the church said in a Nov. 11 news release announcing the temporary closure. “Other internal historical research will be prioritized and completed if feasible. External researchers will be directed to other resources or asked to follow up later in 2027.” The church expects to reopen the archive in its new location by May 1. In the meantime, digital archives will continue to be available on demand, including governance records and the Virtual Reading Room. The Archives of The Episcopal Church was established by General Convention in 1835. Its holdings now include letters, diaries, photographs, motion pictures, plans, maps, certificates of ordination, journals of every diocese, various periodicals and magazines, church newspapers, paintings and parish histories. The church’s archival material is generally separated into three categories: materials generated by General Convention and the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the church’s corporate entity; personal papers of historically important Episcopal leaders; and various special collections that are focused on specific topics or document types. Some documents date to the 10th century, but the core materials are from the 18th century and later, including the establishment and early years of The Episcopal Church. General Convention first passed a resolution in 2006 initiating a search for a new home for the archives. Early plans involved building a new facility on a property the church purchased in Austin, but in 2018, the church chose instead to sell the undeveloped lot and make a temporary move into leased warehouse space. In June 2025, Executive Council, the church governing body between meetings of General Convention, authorized the purchase and redevelopment of a 3.5-acre property in the Diocese of Atlanta that formerly housed St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church, which closed in October 2023. Site preparation work began in June 2026 for the $4.5 million project. The new facility will include offices and a reading room. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.