In July 2021, Dr. Lillian Williams, professor in the Department of Africana and American Studies and former chair of the Department of African American Studies, approached the University Archives about the records of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. In the late 1970s, Dr. Williams, as part of the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier, worked to have these records microfilmed, and the film was deposited at Buffalo State College. Copies of the microfilm are housed at the North Jefferson Branch Library, the Buffalo State College Archives, and the Monroe Fordham Regional History Center, Buffalo State College. The original materials were returned to at the church.

The Interim Co-University Archivists, Sarah Cogley and Marie Elia, met with Dr. Williams and Dr. Barbara Seals Nevergold, co-founder of the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research & Education on Women, in summer 2021. By this point, 40 years after microfilming, the materials were fragile, and Dr. Nevergold was concerned for their physical preservation. As a member of the congregation and historian of Buffalo’s Black churches, she had used the records and had first-hand knowledge of their condition. She connected the Interim Co-University Archivists with Pastor Steve Lane, who expressed support in donating the records to the University Archives.

The Interim Co-University Archivists met with Pastor Steve Lane, Dr. Nevergold, and Josephine Cross, a warden of the church, at the University Archives in September 2021. University Archives proposed a plan for the stewardship of the church records, including accelerated processing and digitization timelines. University Archives also committed to hiring a UB student, with Dr. Williams’ recommendation, to work on the collection as a paid, experiential learning opportunity under the guidance of the Interim Co-University Archivists.

The records were donated in November 2021. A PhD student, BreAnna Rice, was hired in summer 2022 and completed processing in July 2022.