The vertical file is organized by subject with a finding aid in the drawer. There are also photographs or engravings of every American Episcopal Bishop from 1786 to the present. A vertical file folder exists for each portrait. This program consists of two extensive databases, the Cathedral Art Database and the Dramatis Person Database . Together, these databases include over 2,500 entries, recording not only works of art in stone, wood, needlework, glass, and iron, but also important persons such as benefactors, artists, architects, and clergy.
Extensive research is done on each work or person.
This information is then condensed into a single page of text using more than 30 standard information categories. The retrieval capabilities are based on full-text support, i.e. every major word in each document is an entry point to that document. The database includes several hundred graphic images, some in color. The Program is meant to assist clergy, students, and visitors and to act as a comprehensive repository of information on the Washington National Cathedral. Hymn Society, 1958.