API Documentation | American Religious Ecologies

Getting Started

The API is read-only and does not require authentication. All endpoints are accessible via HTTP GET requests. The base URL for all API endpoints is:

http://dev.database.religiousecologies.org/census/api/

Responses are returned in JSON format. For large datasets, always use filters to limit results.

API Root

Visit the API root to see a summary of all available endpoints with links:

http://dev.database.religiousecologies.org/census/api/

Denominations

Access denomination taxonomy and family classifications from the 1926 Census.

GET /census/api/denominations/

Returns a paginated list of all denominations with their family classifications.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
family_census	string	Filter by census family (e.g., "Baptist bodies")
family_relec	string	Filter by Religious Ecologies family classification
search	string	Search denomination names

Examples

All denominations
Baptist bodies
Search for "Methodist"

GET /census/api/denominations/families/

Returns unique denomination families with counts. Only includes families that have location data available.

Example Response

                            {
                                "census_families": [
                                {"name": "Baptist bodies", "count": 24},
                                {"name": "Methodist bodies", "count": 18}
                                ],
                                "relec_families": ["Baptist", "Methodist", "Catholic"]
                                }
                        

Examples

All families

GET /census/api/denominations/by_family/

Returns denominations grouped by family. Only includes denominations with location data.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
family_census	string	Filter to specific census family

Examples

Baptist bodies
Methodist bodies

Religious Bodies (Congregations)

Access individual congregation records from the 1926 Census.

GET /census/api/religious-bodies/

Returns detailed congregation records including location, denomination, membership, finances, pastors, transcription status, and schedule IDs. Use filters to limit results.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
denomination	integer	Filter by denomination ID
family_census	string	Filter by census family (e.g., "Adventist bodies")
family_relec	string	Filter by Religious Ecologies family
transcription_status	string	Filter by transcription status (e.g., "approved")
exclude_families	string	Comma-separated census families to exclude
urban_rural	string	Filter by "urban" or "rural"
bounds	string	Geographic bounding box as "south,west,north,east"
search	string	Search name, address, or census code
limit	integer	Limit number of results per page

Response Structure

The response envelope includes count, next, previous (pagination), denominations (array of denomination names matched by your query), and results (array of records).

transcription_status - Status of the census record transcription
schedule_id - Census schedule identifier
location_details - Nested object with lat, lon, city_name, county_name, state_name, place_id, address, urban_rural_code
denomination_details - Nested object with denomination info and family classifications
membership_details - Full membership breakdown: sex/age demographics, Sunday school, VBS, weekday school, and parochial school data
finances - Financial data: expenditures, benevolences, total_expenditures, edifice_value, edifice_debt, residence_value, residence_debt
pastors - Pastor info including education
urls - Links to schedule detail and filtered data table views
denominations (pagination envelope) - Array of distinct denomination names in the filtered results

Example Response (single record)

                            {
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Seventh-day Adventist Church",
  "census_code": "003",
  "division": null,
  "transcription_status": "approved",
  "schedule_id": 1234,
  "location_details": {
    "lat": 38.9072, "lon": -77.0369,
    "city_name": "Washington", "county_name": "District of Columbia",
    "state_name": "DC", "place_id": 567,
    "address": "123 Main St",
    "urban_rural_code": "U"
  },
  "denomination_details": {
    "id": 5, "name": "Seventh-day Adventists",
    "family_census": "Adventist bodies", "family_relec": "Adventist"
  },
  "membership_details": {
    "male_members": 45, "female_members": 62, "total_members": 107,
    "members_under_13": 18, "members_13_and_older": 89, "total_by_age": 107,
    "sunday_school_num_officers_teachers": 5,
    "sunday_school_num_scholars": 35,
    "vbs_num_officers_teachers": null, "vbs_num_scholars": null,
    "weekday_num_officers_teachers": null, "weekday_num_scholars": null,
    "parochial_num_administrators": null,
    "parochial_num_elementary_teachers": null,
    "parochial_num_secondary_teachers": null,
    "parochial_num_elementary_scholars": null,
    "parochial_num_secondary_scholars": null
  },
  "finances": {
    "expenditures": 1200.00, "benevolences": 350.00,
    "total_expenditures": 1550.00, "edifice_value": 25000.00,
    "edifice_debt": null, "residence_value": 5000.00,
    "residence_debt": null
  },
  "urls": {
    "self": "https://religiousecologies.org/census/record/1234/",
    "family_census": "https://religiousecologies.org/census/browser/?family=Adventist+bodies",
    "family_relec": "https://religiousecologies.org/census/browser/?family=Adventist&denomination=2"
  },
  "pastors": {
    "name": "Elder James White", "is_assistant": false,
    "college": "Battle Creek College", "theological_seminary": null
  }
}
                        

Examples

First 10 records
Adventist congregations (RelEc family)
Adventist bodies (census family)
Seventh-day Adventist (denomination ID)
Search "Seventh-day"
Approved records only
Mid-Atlantic bounding box
Urban congregations
Exclude Baptist and Methodist

Aggregation Endpoints

Pre-aggregated data for analysis and visualization.

GET /census/api/religious-bodies/denomination_families/

Returns comprehensive list of denomination families with counts of denominations and congregations in each family. Includes both census families and Religious Ecologies families.

Example Response

                            {
                                "census_families": [
                                {
                                "name": "Baptist bodies",
                                "denominations": 24,
                                "congregations": 1500,
                                "total_congregations": 2000,
                                "has_location_data": true
                                }
                                ],
                                "relec_families": [
                                {
                                "name": "Baptist",
                                "denominations": 24,
                                "congregations": 1500,
                                "has_location_data": true
                                }
                                ]
                                }
                        

Examples

All families with counts

Usage Tips

Best Practices

Always use filters to limit results and improve response times
Add ?limit=10 to test queries before running full requests
Use bounds filter for geographic queries
Use transcription_status=approved for verified data only
Use exclude_families to remove large denomination families from results

CORS

The API supports CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) for client-side JavaScript applications. You can make requests directly from browser-based applications.

Caching

API responses are cached for one hour. Since the underlying census data changes infrequently, most requests will be served from cache for faster response times.

Rate Limiting

There are currently no rate limits on the API, but please be considerate with your requests.