The St. John's Episcopal Church Records includes administrative records; member registries; meeting minutes of the Vestry and church circles; Bibles, Books of Common Prayer, hymnals, and other liturgical works; documentation of the history of St. John’s Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Florida; service bulletins and other periodicals; sermon transcripts; photographs; and motion pictures.
St. John's is the mother church of the Diocese of Florida. It was founded as a mission parish in 1829, and the church's first building was erected in 1837. The Diocese was organized at St. John's in 1838 and Francis Huger Rutledge, who became rector of St. John's in 1845, was consecrated the first Bishop of Florida in 1851. The original church burned in 1879; a new church was built on the same site and consecrated in 1888, and it is still the parish's principal place of worship.
For more information about the collection, visit its finding aid.