Under Construction!

This page where we will provide summary guides from the individual provincial/congregational archives (working together on the more comprehensive research guides).

For example, there are records related to the EWI Province stored in different places:

Eastern West Indies Province

In 1732 Moravians established a mission among enslaved Africans on the Caribbean island of St.
Thomas. Soon Moravian missions began on other islands: St. Croix (1740), St. John (1754), Jamaica
(1754), Antigua (1756), Barbados (1765), St. Kitts (1777), Tobago (1790/1827), Trinidad (1890), and
the Dominican Republic (1907). In 1879 the General Synod in Herrnhut declared the Moravian work in the West Indies a mission province, with its own administration and less dependent on financial contributions from the Mission Board in Herrnhut. Soon this large province was split into two: Jamaica was to be its own mission province (today Jamaica and the Cayman Islands), while the other islands formed the province of the Eastern West Indies (EWI). In 1963 EWI became an independent province of the Moravian Church.

Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, PA, United States: 120 linear feet of local congregation records, as well as provincial and administrative records, are in the custody of this facility. A full inventory/finding aid is available here: https://www.moravianchurcharchives.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EWI-finding-aid-web.pdf.

Unity Archives, Herrnhut, Germany: Summaries of the EWI records held in Herrnhut are summarized for researchers here: https://www.unitaetsarchiv.de/en/resources/holdings-about-provinces#tab-content-21462.

Eastern West Indies Province: Many records are kept locally in the sanctuaries, manses, and parsonages of congregations in the EWI Province. Users interested in records kept locally are encouraged to contact the Rev. Dr. Cortroy Jarvis and visit the EWI Province website at https://www.moravians.net/en/about-us.

Caribbean Genealogy Library: This is a non-Moravian archives and library that contains useful information and records related to and supportive of Moravian studies in the U.S. Virgin Islands: https://cgl.vi/.

Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet): This is an additional archives (non-Moravian but helpful for Moravian studies) where one can find sources for the history of the Danish colony in the West Indies. The colony consisted of the islands of St. Thomas, St. John (St. Jan) and St. Croix and belonged to Denmark between 1672 and 1917. They were then sold to the USA and were given their present name, the US Virgin Islands. https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/en/collection/theme/8.