Ordination registers and indexes
Reference: DDR/EA/CLO/1
Dates of creation: 1771-1786 and 1836-1967
Extent: 5 volumes

Ordination lists
Reference: DDR/EA/CLO/2
Dates of creation: 1847-1853, 1879-1892, 1918-1944, 1965-1972, 1984-1994
Extent: 1 box
Lists of candidates at ordinations, with names, colleges (occasionally) and titles. In date order.
From 1756 to 1821 and occasionally thereafter until 1860, lists of candidates for ordinations were generally kept among the bundles of ordination papers, where they still remain. Some ordination lists were kept separately, especially for later ordinations.
Many of the ordination lists were drawn up before the ordination, to help with the arrangements for it. Some of the lists appear to have been drawn up afterwards, and serve as drafts for the act books or bishops' registers. A few of the most recent lists may be strays from the general ordinations correspondence files.
Ordination lists are also kept among the ordination papers for the years 1756-1860.

Ordination papers
Reference: DDR/EA/CLO/3
Dates of creation: 1730-1974
Extent: 136 boxes (c. 6,750 files)
Formal papers required from candidates for ordination to deacon's or priest's orders within Durham diocese. There are also a few papers from candidates for deaconess' orders.
The ordination papers required from a candidate for deacons' orders are as follows:

	Title	Usually in the form of a nomination to an assistant stipendiary curacy
	Letters testimonial (sometimes 'LT' in the lists)	A formal declaration by three named individuals that the candidate is of sufficient learning and of good character. The papers typically include one LT from the candidate's college (and/or ordination college), and one from his parish.
	Certificates of attendance at divinity lectures	Or other evidence of having studied theology (later, of having passed the General Ordination Examination)
	Certificate of “si quis” publication	A declaration of the candidate's intention to be ordained, which must be read out in his parish church on a Sunday preceding the ordination service. The notice invites anyone objecting to the candidate's ordination to contact the bishop. (The name is taken from the first words of the notice in its Latin form, meaning 'If anyone...'.)
	Baptism certificate	Sometimes replaced by statutory declarations, or supplemented by birth certificates
	Letters dimissory (sometimes 'LD' in the lists), or letters of request (for a candidate from another diocese)	A formal request to ordain from the candidate's own bishop to the bishop of Durham. The candidate's individual ordination papers may survive among his home diocesan records.

Candidates for ordination to priests' orders submit a similar set of papers, although by the mid-18th century, only the “si quis” notice and a single letters testimonial are usually required.
Some labels, ordination lists and other general papers are also included among the ordination papers.
The earliest ordination papers for Durham date from 1730. From then the sequence is almost unbroken, until 1974, except for a gap between 1826 and 1835 (during the episcopate of William Van Mildert). After 1974, formal sets of ordination papers are not kept by the Diocesan Registry. Instead, candidates for orders submit a baptism and/or birth certificate before the ordination ceremony, and these certificates are returned to the candidates.
Arranged in date order of ordination, then by orders, then by name (ie, all papers for a particular ordination ceremony are kept together, separated into the deacons' and priests' ordinations. Within each subgroup, the papers are arranged in A-Z order by surname). Where the date of an ordination is not clear from either the ordination papers themselves or from a register or act book, an approximate date is inferred from the papers or from related records. Square brackets are used to show this on the folder labels as appropriate, and a note is made in the list. If a precise date cannot be inferred or guessed, then the folder is sorted into the beginning of the appropriate year.
Letters dimissory sent to the bishop of Durham (ie, for candidates from outside Durham Diocese) are kept in sequence with the ordination papers for the Durham candidates. Ordination papers for candidates ordained outside Durham (by letters dimissory from the bishops of Durham) are kept in the main sequence, arranged (where established) by the date of the letters dimissory.
This class also includes some labels from the original parcels or bundles of ordination papers, together with a few ordination lists and other general papers relating to particular ordinations. These papers are sorted into the main sequence, at the beginning of the ordination (or year) to which they apply.
All ordination papers are subject to a 60 year closure period. More recent records are only available with written permission from the Diocesan Registrar or his representative.