Further Reading

Christ Church and Georgetown

• Historic American Buildings Survey, Christ Church, HABS DC-243 (1969): history, description, rector list and photographs, free at the Library of Congress.
• National Register of Historic Places nomination, "Christ Church" (1971): National Park Service.
• DC Preservation League, DC Historic Sites: Christ Church, St. John's, Georgetown.
• Chronicling America (Library of Congress): Washington newspapers of 1885–87 describe the cornerstone laying and the consecration. Start with the Evening Star, 2 June 1887.
• Hugh T. Taggart, "Old Georgetown", Records of the Columbia Historical Society 11 (1908): Internet Archive.
• Stephen P. Dorsey, Historical Christ Church in Georgetown (Washington: Christ Church, 1949): the parish's own history, the main source for later accounts. Ask the parish office about copies.
• The parish's bicentennial article on Francis Scott Key (PDF).

Books on the Anglican tradition

• Mark Chapman, Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2006). The best short introduction.
• Stephen Neill, Anglicanism (Penguin, 1958; 4th ed., Mowbray, 1977). A classic survey of the worldwide Anglican family.
• Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (Yale University Press, 1996; revised 2016). The standard biography.
• Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe's House Divided, 1490–1700 (Allen Lane, 2003; in the US, The Reformation: A History, Viking, 2004). The European context.
• Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400–c.1580 (Yale University Press, 1992; 2nd ed. 2005). What the Reformation changed in English parishes, and what it cost.
• Alan Jacobs, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2013). A short, lively history of the Prayer Book.
• Paul Avis, Anglicanism and the Christian Church (T&T Clark, 1989; revised 2002). Anglican theology from the Reformation on, for readers who want depth.

Books on the Episcopal Church

• Robert W. Prichard, A History of the Episcopal Church (Morehouse, 3rd revised ed., 2014). The standard one-volume history.
• David Hein and Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr., The Episcopalians (Praeger, 2004; Church Publishing, 2005). History, with short biographies.
• Marion J. Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book (Seabury Press, 1980; reissued 1995). Where every part of the 1979 Prayer Book comes from.

Primary texts, free online

The Prayer Books (The Society of Archbishop Justus, except where noted):

• The Exhortation and Litany, 1544
• The Book of Common Prayer, 1549 · 1552 · 1559
• The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, also on the Church of England's website
• Seabury's Communion Office, 1786
• The American Prayer Books of 1789, 1892 and 1928
• The Book of Common Prayer, 1979, the book used at Christ Church: online or as the official PDF. Its Historical Documents (pages 863–878) include the Articles of Religion and the Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral.

Other texts:

• The Thirty-Nine Articles: the Church of England's text; the American text of 1801.
• Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: Keble's edition, volume II on the Internet Archive (Book V); page images of each book at Project Canterbury.
• George Herbert, "The British Church", from The Temple (1633): Wikisource.
• John Henry Newman, The Via Media: Newman Reader.
• Samuel Seabury: E. E. Beardsley, Life and Correspondence of Samuel Seabury (1881), with the Concordat: Internet Archive.
• Project Canterbury (anglicanhistory.org): thousands of historic Anglican and Episcopal texts.

Reliable websites

• An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, The Episcopal Church.
• The Episcopal Diocese of Washington: history.
• Washington National Cathedral: history.
• The Anglican Communion.