The Religious News Service records, circa 1930s-1983, includes news releases, photographic prints, photographic negatives, press clippings, articles, and other materials produced and/or disseminated by the Religious News Service (RNS). The records document the history of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Eastern Orthodox religion in the United States and around the world. The bulk of the materials pertain to Protestant and Catholic communities, although attention is also given to Jewish and Eastern Orthodox groups. The records chronicle the "purely religious" activities of religious groups and personalities—gatherings, conferences, public speaking engagements, mergers, programs, institutions, and the like—as well as the intersections of religion and politics, society, and culture, both in the United States and abroad. Additionally, the collection itself stands as a marker of the media's representation of twentieth century American religious beliefs, values, and practices. Thus, researchers interested in American religious history, the relationship between religion and politics/society/culture, and the media's representation of religion in the twentieth century will find this collection useful.

The Religious News Service records are divided into the following record groups:

RNS RG 1: Photographs, 1945-1982
RNS RG 2: News Releases, 1936-1981
RNS RG 3: Subject Files, circa 1930s-1983
RNS RG 4: Administrative Files, 1940s-1960s

RNS RG 1, Photographs, 1945-1982, contains photographic prints, photographic negatives, photograph captions, and photograph catalogs from the Religious News Service (RNS). These photographs—a mix of candid snapshots, photojournalistic images, and arranged portraits and group shots—visually document the history of American Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish groups during the twentieth century.

Materials are arranged in four series: "Photograph catalog, 1945-1981;" "Photographs, 1945-1973;" "Photographs, 1973-1982;" and "Photographs, 1946-1953."

The first series, "Photograph catalog," is a catalog of all the photographs distributed by the RNS between the fall of 1945 and February 2, 1981. The catalog consists of ten logbooks that contain a handwritten record entry for each photograph from this period. The entries are ordered by date and negative identification number. Each entry contains a brief description of a negative and the name of the negative's creator. Many of them also note the caption titles and sales figures for particular photographs. The catalog is especially useful for researchers who want to quickly search the photographs in the RNS collection by date or negative identification number.

The "Photographs, 1945-1973" series contains photographic prints, negatives, and corresponding captions distributed by the RNS between 1945 and 1973. Each print, negative, and caption set is housed in an envelope and labeled with a five-digit identification number. Please note that some sets do not contain all three elements. RNS purchased most of the photographs from other news services and individual photographers. One box in this series, titled Miscellaneous, contains photographic prints and captions from 1962 to 1963. Materials in this series are arranged by identification number, which places them in chronological order.

This series includes photographs documenting Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish groups. Coverage of Protestants (especially mainline Protestants) and Catholics constitutes the bulk of the series; significantly less coverage is given to Jewish and Orthodox Christian groups.

The photographs fall into a number of thematic groupings, including domestic politics (e.g., U.S. presidents and presidential elections, the Civil Rights Movement/race relations, and anti-war demonstrations); foreign affairs (e.g., World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the conflict in Northern Ireland); religious conferences, conventions, ecumenical gatherings, and visitations (e.g., the Second Vatican Council); activities of significant religious figures (e.g., Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Billy Graham, and Martin Luther King, Jr.); religious institutions and organizations (e.g., the World Council of Churches, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, congregations/church buildings, seminaries, and colleges); foreign and domestic work of clergy and missionaries; obituaries of significant religious figures; religious trends (e.g., rosaries, the Jesus People Movement, and home Bible study); arts and entertainment; and religious observances (Christmas, Passover, Easter, Purim, and saints' feast days). The series also includes religion-themed inspirational photographs and cartoons.

The "Photographs, 1973-1982" series contains photographic prints, negatives, and corresponding captions distributed by the RNS between 1973 and 1982. Each print, negative, and caption set is housed in an envelope and labeled with a five-digit identification number. RNS purchased most of the photographs from other news services and individual photographers. Materials in this series are arranged by identification number, which places them in chronological order.

This series includes photographs documenting Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish groups. Coverage of Protestants (especially mainline Protestants) and Catholics constitutes the bulk of the series. Only a few Protestant denominations—Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist—receive extensive, specific coverage; there is little specific coverage of Presbyterian churches.

The materials in this series cover a variety of themes and topics, often (but not always) from a religious perspective. Thematic groupings include domestic politics (e.g., U.S. presidents and presidential elections, the Watergate scandal, anti-war demonstrations, abortion, nuclear proliferation, race relations, and the energy crisis); foreign affairs (e.g., the Vietnam War, the Iranian hostage crisis/Iranian revolution, the conflict in Northern Ireland, Arab-Israeli conflicts, and the persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union); religious conferences, conventions, ecumenical gatherings, and visitations; religious institutions and organizations (e.g., the World Council of Churches, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, seminaries, and colleges); foreign and domestic work of clergy and missionaries; obituaries of significant religious figures; arts and entertainment; and religious observances (Christmas, Passover, Easter, Purim, and saints' feast days). The series also includes religion-themed inspirational photographs and cartoons. The "domestic politics" and "foreign affairs" categories receive more attention beginning in the mid-1970s.

The "Photographs, 1946-1953" series contains photographic prints, negatives, and corresponding captions distributed by the RNS between 1946 and 1953. These materials were sorted for review from the photographs in Series II in 1984 because of the physical properties of the negatives. Each print, negative, and caption set is housed in an envelope and labeled with a five-digit identification number. Please note that many sets do not contain all three elements. Materials in this series are arranged by identification number, which places them in chronological order.