Congregational Yearbooks

One of the library's most frequently used reference resources is a succession of denominational yearbooks dating back to 1854. They contain lists of active ministers, necrologies (obituaries) of recently deceased ministers, church statistics, and the denominations' annual reports.  This resource is particularly useful to churches preparing for an anniversary, genealogists, and authors researching church histories.

Listed below are links to digitized copies of those yearbooks from its inception through the present (except those published by the UCC) on the Internet Archive. Some are also available through Google Book Search or through the denominations' websites.  In those cases, we have included links to both.

Please note that the yearbooks for 1854-1914a are dated to reflect the years of their publication but contain statistics for the previous calendar year, while 1914b-1960 contain statistics for the year indicated.

Congregational Yearbooks

Yearbook of the American Congregational Union (1854)
American Congregational Year-Book (1855-1859)
Congregational Quarterly (1859-1878)
Congregational Year-Book (1879-1928)
Yearbook of the Congregational and Christian Churches (1929-1939)
Yearbook of the Congregational Christian Churches (1940-1960)

During the early 20th century, American Congregationalism experienced some fairly dramatic reorganization.  When the National Council of Congregational Churches and the General Convention of the Christian Church merged in 1929, their respective annual publications - the Congregational Year-Book and the Christian Annual - also merged to form the Yearbook of the Congregational and Christian Churches.

We have also digitized copies of the Christian annuals, and a chart detailing the titles' evolution.

When some members felt that the General Council was becoming too liberal, they broke away to form the Conservative Congregational Christian Convention in 1948. Another group opposed to the merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church formed the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches in 1955. The remainder of the General Council did eventually merge with the E&R to create the United Church of Christ in 1957.

Following the dissolution of the National Council, each new organization published its own yearbooks. The NACCC and CCCC have generously allowed us to make their respective annual publications available online.

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference Yearbook (1960-present)

National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Yearbook (1963-present)

United Church of Christ Yearbook (1961-present)