{"value"=>"<p>The <span class=\"emph\">Vital Records</span>sub-series in this collection is sparse. Early records include some membership lists and Sunday school rolls dating from 1879 and a brief listing of unemployed aided by the Church during the Depression. Later material comprises a few baptismal and marriage certificates from the 1940s and 1950s as well as an extensive membership survey taken when Rev. Licorish became pastor in 1957. Members were asked to fill out a two-page questionnaire concerning their background and opinions of church life. The survey draws a portrait of a working class membership, many born in the South, employed as domestics, postal clerks, nurses, porters, Navy Yard or railway workers, who ask for better management of the church, greater unity, attention to youth, and a return to a time when the Church was an active social center for its membership.</p>"}