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- Title
The Use of Parish Records in Social Research.
- Authors
Harte, Thomas J.
- Abstract
This article analyzes the possible usefulness of the baptismal and marriage registers to sociologists in the U.S. Parish records constitute a rich, although, oddly enough, a relatively unexplored source of data for the social scientist. Every Catholic parish must maintain certain official records on parish life. The general law of the Church imposes on each pastor the obligation of recording all baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths in his parish, in addition to maintaining up-to-date census information on his parishioners. As of 1958, Catholic sociologists are reasonably familiar with the possibilities of parish and census and survey material for research purposes. There is one technical possibility not usually emphasized, that is, an up-to-date parish census that provides the social investigator with a made-to-order option for sampling purposes. Whatever the defects of the usual parish census information, these records can be invaluable in that they provide names and addresses for Catholic household units. The procedure proposed is only applicable in parishes with reasonably stable populations. Unfortunately for research students, entries in both the baptismal and marriage books are listed in chronological sequence, not according to families. Baptismal entries for the children of a particular set of parents do not appear together in the register but are spread throughout it. Name indexes, commonly attached to each baptismal and marriage book, are useful in locating the scattered members of each family, yet considerable detailed labor is still required of the investigator in reconstructing family genealogies.
- Subjects
CHURCH records &; registers; BAPTISMAL certificates; BAPTISMAL records; MARRIAGE records; SOCIAL scientists; SOCIAL science research; GENEALOGY
- Publication
American Catholic Sociological Review, 1958, Vol 19, Issue 2, p113
- ISSN
0362-515X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3709378