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Trinity Cathedral Records

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-138

Scope and Content Note

The Trinity Cathedral Records contain correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, registers, newsletters, event programs, photographs, and printed matter documenting the church's corporate, social, and sacramental activities from 1884 to 1993. The collection is divided into eleven series.

Series I: Office of the Dean contains correspondence, memoranda, and printed matter dating from 1885 to 1990. It is arranged in three subseries: Sub-Series A: Alphabetized Correspondence, Sub-Series B: Correspondence Arranged by Subject, and Sub-Series C: Assistant-to-the-Dean's Files. Of particular interest are the correspondence, press releases, and printed matter showing the Dean of Trinity Cathedral's public defense of California's controversial Bishop James Pike against censure by other Arizona Episcopal clergymen (Box 5, Folder 3) and correspondence regarding a lawsuit between parish vestrymen and clergy stemming from the parish's demotion to a mission district (Box 6, Folders 10-11B).

Series II: Cathedral Parish Records contains parish meeting minutes from 1910 to 1989. Series III: Vestry Records houses minutes and rosters dating from 1941 to 1987.

Series IV: Guild and Committee Records is composed of correspondence, minutes, rosters, and printed matter created by the Trinity Cathedral Guild and Junior Guild, the Episcopal Church Women, the Bishop's Committee, and the Diocesan Council between 1949 and 1990.

Series V: Registers and Sacramental Records houses registers of marriages, births, and church services, membership rosters, membership transfer records, and annual reports of the church to the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. These records date from 1884 to 1989.

Series VI: Financial Records contains books, worksheets, annual audit reports, insurance appraisal information, and Episcopal Church accounting methods manuals dating from 1953 to 1990. Series VII: Newsletters includes both diocesan and parish newsletters published between 1947 and 1991. Series VIII: Programs documents church services, ordinations, facility dedications, and plays from 1888 to 1992.

Series IX: Subject Files houses correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, registers, photographs, and printed matter dating from 1907 to 1993. Series X: Scrapbooks is composed of scrapbooks containing a variety of photographs and printed matter showing Trinity Cathedral and other Episcopal churches in Arizona from 1956 to 1981.

Series XI: Photographs and Photograph Albums houses individual prints and slides as well as images removed from disbound albums. Among the subjects depicted are Old Trinity Church, Trinity Cathedral, other parish churches in the Diocese of Arizona, the diocesan conference center in Prescott, Arizona, clergymen, parishioners, distinguished visitors, weddings, social activities, remodeling projects, family activities and trips, diocese missions and schools, parish-owned real estate, and pets. These images date from 1884 to 1993. Consult the Processing Note for more detailed information about the photographs' arrangement.

Dates

  • Creation: 1884-1993

Language of Materials

Material in English

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Tuesday through Thursday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.

Historical Note

In 1886, the Rt. Rev. George Dunlop was installed as bishop of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Arizona and New Mexico and conducted the first Episcopal services in Phoenix. A brick church was erected across from the court house in the middle of town and services were inaugurated there on the first Sunday of 1889. In that year, a separate building was erected to house the various church guilds that the congregation had established during the previous three years and the mission was incorporated under the laws of the Territory of Arizona.

Under a new Bishop, the Missionary District of Arizona was established in 1892 and additional clergymen were added to its compliment. In 1908, the mission was elevated to the status of a parish. Trinity's congregation grew alongside the progress of the community and it quickly became apparent that more expansive facilities were needed. The guild hall was enlarged and a tuberculosis sanitarium was constructed in tent-top cabins in the nearby desert. In 1910, architects were engaged to produce plans for a new group of buildings. Thomas Marshall, Vice-President of the United States, delivered the keynote address at a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the first of these structures on October 31, 1915. The first service was held in the new building the following Christmas. A bishop's residence was completed in 1918 and the Cathedral was erected in 1920. Another dwelling for the Dean followed in 1925, a Dean's office suite in 1928, and a multi-purpose wing in 1930. During this time of expansion, Trinity also grew in membership and added a school, a formal choir, and additional staff.

In the mid-1980's, a program to restore this complex placed the parish in some financial difficulty. The bishop decided to reduce the parish's status, once again, to that of a mission in order to infuse it with revenues from diocesan sources. Some disappointed vestrymen filed a lawsuit seeking estoppel. This suit was dismissed on the grounds that, unlike American political institutions, Episcopal churches are not democratic. Although the last records in this collection were generated in 1993, Trinity Cathedral continues to operate as a church and diocesan headquarters.

Full extent

57 Box(es)

Full extent

36 Linear Feet

Abstract

The Trinity Cathedral Records contain correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, registers, newsletters, event programs, photographs, and printed matter documenting the church's corporate, social, and sacramental activities from 1884 to 1993. The collection is divided into eleven series.

Arrangement

This collection consists of fifty-seven boxes divided into eleven series:

  1. Series I: Office of the Dean
  2. Series II: Cathedral Parish Records
  3. Series III: Vestry Records
  4. Series IV: Guild and Committee Records
  5. Series V: Registers and Sacramental Records
  6. Series VI: Financial Records
  7. Series VII: Newsletters
  8. Series VIII: Programs
  9. Series IX: Subject Files
  10. Series X: Scrapbooks
  11. Series XI: Photographs and Photograph Albums (CP SPC 296)

Provenance

Frederick Huls donated these records to the Arizona Collection between 1993 and 1994 (Accession #1993-00733, 1993-01179, 1993-01179A, 1993-01206, 1994-01276, and 1994-01390).

Related Materials

A guide to the photographs housed in Series XI: Photographs and Photograph Albums is available at http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/trinity_photos.xml.

A guide to unprocessed materials created by Trinity Cathedral is available at http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/trinity_acc.xml.

Interested researchers may also wish to consult MSS-164: Episcopal Diocese of Arizona Records (http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/episcopal.xml.

Processing Note

Photographs that were received separately from the manuscript materials constituting the bulk of this collection have been processed as CP SPC 296 and can be found in Series XI of this collection. Each image has been assigned a call number in the pattern of CP SPC 296:[Image Number]-[Image Number]. Images should be requested using this call number.

Photographs found interfiled with the manuscript materials remain in these folders and are described using folder-level notes throughout this finding aid.

Title
Trinity Cathedral Records
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Lane C. Cromby in January of 1998.
Date
2012
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding guide encoded in English.

Repository details

Part of the Greater Arizona Collection Repository

Contact

Arizona State University
P.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932