Almost 20 years after a General Convention resolution was adopted allowing the Archives of the Episcopal Church to relocate to a site “adequate for the present and future needs” of the organization, a property has finally been purchased that meets the criteria. The location was approved by the Executive Council in June and the purchase was completed on October 16.
A 3.5-acre parcel of land that was the former site of St. Gabriel’s Church in Oakwood, Georgia—about 45 minutes from Atlanta—will be transformed into the permanent home of the archives.
“Now we own the land,” said Larry Hitt, chair of the Archives Advisory Committee. Hitt shared the news with the governing body on October 21 during its meeting in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Visibly excited, he opened his remarks by saying, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.”
“It is entirely possible that we could break ground in the first quarter of 2026,” he added, citing a 12-month construction timeline. If all proceeds as planned, the new home of the archives will open in the spring of 2027. The repository, which has a collection of more than 15,000 cubic feet of archival material, some of which dates back to colonial times, now occupies an interim space in Austin, Texas.
Hitt credited the council’s November 2024 meeting as the turning point that helped bring the decades-long search to a close.
“We had a new Presiding Bishop who would really make this a priority, and we’re grateful for that, Sean, believe me,” Hitt said.
After the 81st General Convention adopted Resolution A016—directing the Executive Council to identify a new home for the archives by July 1—the search for a site was fast-tracked, particularly during the months of April and May, Hitt said.
Chris Lacovara, the Episcopal Church’s chief financial officer, described how the future facility would look. He said Executive Council’s preferred plan is to renovate St. Gabriel’s old building—measuring nearly 9,000 square feet—and to construct an adjacent shed-style building to house the bulk of the archives.
“The development of the program and space plan and the capacity was done very much in conjunction with the Archives staff,” Lacovara said.
In response to a question from council member Dianne Audrick Smith of the Diocese of Ohio on who among the current staff might move to Georgia, Lacovara said the plan is to offer all personnel the opportunity to relocate.
He also said that having a permanent location “allows us to search for a permanent archivist, which we don’t currently have—and that was another one of the attractions of the site.” Oakwood is a university town near Emory University.
Mark Duffy, who served as canonical archivist and director of the archives for 30 years, retired in 2022.
Lacovara also said that the architect of the future facility—designed with the necessary environmental controls to protect historic records—has previously designed the archives at Emory.
Costs to complete the new structure were not discussed, nor were there questions from council members. In 2016, Executive Council approved a $3.3 million budget for the project.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
