Dear Deborah,

Offhand, I am not aware of of a single source that would answer you question. However, there are excellent archival resources, and the Research Assistants there may be better suited to address your interests. I can attest to two specific archives. 

The first is the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, which is located on the campus of the University of Richmond <https://baptistheritage.org/>. The Research Assistant there is Darlene Slater Herod. She is a great resource. I am unsure if their collection extends to central Virginia. My research there focused on the middle peninsula. At a minimum, she should be able to direct you the sources that you want.

The second is the Special Collections branch of the McGraw-Page Library at Randolph Macon University. They hold the archival collection of the Methodist’s Virginia Conference. <https://library.rmc.edu/c.php?g=718044&p=5323566>

You may also want to look at the general organization of church records that the LDS Church has collected as part of their larger genealogy project for Virginia. <https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Virginia_Church_Records>. It can be enlightening to see how they organize the records on their website.

Hope this helps.

Edward DuBois Ragan, Ph.D.


> On Mar 20, 2023, at 8:17 AM, Deborah Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> As a follow up to Paul Finkelman's post, can anyone easily point me to a
> source showing what religions were represented in Central Virginia in the
> late 1800s and early 1900s?
> 
> I am interested in understanding better what the phrase "without respect to
> religion or sectarian distinctions" meant for institutions at the time.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Deborah Smith, Executive Director
> Jones Memorial Library
> 2311 Memorial Avenue
> Lynchburg, VA 24501
> Tel. 434-846-0501
> [log in to unmask]
> 
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