Biographical Vertical Files Index
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Congregation Vertical Files Index
Biographical Vertical Files Index
Hall's Index of American Presbyterian Congregations

Database Index to Biographical Vertical Files (RG 414)

This database indexes the biographical vertical (data) files assembled by the Society. The files mainly document ministers who served from the 1700s through the present from the following denominations:

  • the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (PCUSA),
  • the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA),
  • the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A (UPCUSA), and
  • the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Files for some ministers in other Presbyterian denominations, significant lay people, home missionaries, and early religious and Reformation leaders are also available. Files for overseas missionary personnel are located in other record groups including the Database Index to Foreign Missionary Personnel Files (RG 360).

You may search the database by:

  • name,
  • date of birth, or
  • date of death.
Content of the files indexed by the database varies and may contain minister application forms, school records, images, incoming and outgoing correspondence, medical and financial records, press releases, obituaries, and/or other printed material. Society staff add new material to these files regularly as it is received.

Due to the denomination's access policy and personal privacy issues, some medical, educational, and personnel records found in the files of living persons may be restricted. Society staff will review the contents and may remove certain records before providing access to the files.

For information on our Biographical Sketch Service, which provides photocopies of biographical information from these files, visit:
http://www.history.pcusa.org/services/reference/bio_sketches.cfm