Voices of Vision: The ELCA at 25, 2008-present

Funded by a grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the project takes oral history interviews from ELCA church leaders for two purposes. This first phase involves initial audio interviews, to be followed in some cases by video interviews, of leaders in the early years of this church. The second phase will involve preparing a video presentation synthesizing the interviews for a birthday present to this church at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly. It is our hope that this video will be used thereafter in synods and congregations to celebrate our rich history and to inspire ministry and leadership development in the future. The audio recordings will be transcribed and placed for future use in the archives of the church. Project components include:

• Audio interviews with 30 churchwide, synodical and congregational leaders about their experiences of the ELCA since its formation in 1987.
• Video interviews with nine selected individuals from the first round of audio interviews.
• I Love to Tell the Story: My ELCA video interviews from the 2009 Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis.
• I Love to Tell the Story: My ELCA video interviews from the 2011 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando.

The Oral History Collection of the Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism, completed 1984.

• Documents inter-Lutheran cooperation
• 52 interviews transcribed, tapes available
• Published catalog: abstracts of memoirs, with general index: Kendrick, Alice M., editor, The Oral History Collection of the Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism, New York: Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., 1984. (Out of print.)
• Subject and name card file indices to all individual memoirs
• Most oral histories open for research although some have restrictions

The Oral History Collection of the American Lutheran Church, Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America, completed 1987.

• Documents the early history and merger of the three churches that joined to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• 70 interviews transcribed, tapes available
• Published catalog: abstracts of memoirs, with general index: Kendrick, Alice M., editor, The Oral History Collection of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church, Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and Lutheran Church in America. New York: Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., 1987. (In print, available free from ELCA Archives on request.)
• Subject and name card file indices to all individual memoirs

Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church Women, Oral History Project, 1978-1983.

• Documents the history of the LCW, the LCA's women's organization
• All interviews transcribed
• Led By the Spirit: A History of Lutheran Church Women, by Lani Johnson, 1985, was based in large part on this oral history project

Lutheran Church in America, Caribbean Synod Leaders, Oral History Project, 1984.

• Interviews completed for an M.A. Temple University, by Paula Kadel, former staff member of LCA, Lutheran Church Women
• Interviews not transcribed, tapes available

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Division for Global Mission and American Lutheran Church, Division for World Mission and Interchurch Cooperation, Women Missionaries, Oral History Project, Phases 1 and 2, 1985-1989 and Phase 3, 1990-1992.

• Documents women missionaries, single and married women, otherwise underdocumented in the history of global mission
• Two interviews completed in conjunction with this project were two former men who headed global mission work in the American Lutheran Church and predecessor bodies
• All interviews transcribed, tapes available
• Name lists: alphabetical, by country and by project stage, i.e. date of birth of interviewees
• Copies of transcribed interviews deposited in several other archives repositories
• ELCA Archives finding aid and OCLC collection level cataloging record completed

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Commission for Women, "Your Life of Faith as a Lutheran Woman," Oral History Project, 1988-1994.

• Documents the personal faith stories of ELCA women leaders
• Transcribed interviews deposited, other interviews still in process

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives, Commission for A New Lutheran Church and Transition Team, Oral History Project, 1989-1991.

• Interviews with the CNLC and Transition Team to document the ELCA merger process. All members were not able to be interviewed.
• Transcribed interviews deposited, other interviews still in process, tapes available