Guidelines for Managing Records of the Annual Conference and the Local Church

The General Commission on Archives and History makes these guidelines available to facilitate the planning and creation of retention schedules for your annual conference and local church. They are available in two versions: pdf for formatted viewing and printing on line and as an MS Word document. Both versions can be downloaded and printed out. To read the pdf version you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader version 5 or later. If you don't have it you can download it for free at www.adobe.com.
There is also a small set of Guidelines suggesting the type of records which should be kept from closed local churches.  
In addition we are now offering basic guidelines for managing and preserving electronic records.  This still is a developing area.  The guidelines are meant to offer some information on basic management of your electronic records while offering some thoughts for the long-term preservation of the same.  And remember recommendations in the Records Guidelines apply to all records irregardless of format.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us at: research@gcah.org

Records Guidelines - PDF version

 Records Guidelines - Text version

Closed Church Records - PDF version   Closed Church Records - Text version

 Electronic Records Guidelines -PDF Version      

     Electronic Records Guidelines- Text Version

Guidelines for Creation of Electronic Conference Journal - PDF
Serving the Church's "Ministry of Memory" so we may continue to learn from our past and anticipate our future.

For More Information Contact

Research Archivist's desk

Phone: 973-408-3196

Email: research@gcah.org

or use  our reference form

Our research staff  is here to help you with your history and research questions.

List of Publications

The General Commission on Archives and History has a variety of publications for use in the local church or at the annual conference level.  Some may be downloaded from this site, and others are for purchase

See our list

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