Regional Archives
The ELCA synodical and regional archives collect records relating to synods and congregations, including records from dissolved congregations. Some may also have records from early ELCA predecessor bodies.
Region 1 The core of the collection at the Region 1 archives is mainly from ELCA synods in that area and the Norwegian and Swedish predecessor districts and conferences, but the collections also include such items as the recently deposited records of Holden Village, Chelan, Wash.
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington Kerstin Ringdahl
ELCA Region 1 Archives
Archives and Special Collections
Mortvedt Library
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(253) 535-7586
E-mail:
ringdak@plu.edu http://www.plu.edu/~archives/
Region 2 Materials on the work of synods in the region are found at the Region 2 archives, as well as core collections from The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America districts and synods and their predecessors. A recent addition to this collection was the records of the former LCA Rocky Mountain Synod.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming Carol Schmalenberger
ELCA Region 2 Archives
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
2770 Marin Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708-1597
(510) 524-5264
E-mail:
archives@plts.edu
Region 3 The Region 3 Archives holds records of the work of ELCA synods in the region. It also houses materials from the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, later named the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which merged in 1960 into The American Lutheran Church, and records from the NLCA's predecessor bodies: The United Norwegian Lutheran Church, the Hauge Synod, and the Norwegian Synod. The records of the Lutheran Free Church are also deposited here. In addition, it has district and congregational information and materials from Lutheran foreign missions.
Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
Paul A. Daniels
ELCA Region 3 Archives
2481 Como Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55108-1496
(651) 641-3205
E-mail:
pdaniels@luthersem.edu http://www.luthersem.edu/archives/ Though not a current synodical archives, the Lutheran Church Archives at Gustavus Adolphus College holds administrative records of Minnesota affiliates of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and its predecessors, the Augustana Synod and the United Lutheran Church in America. Predecessor and supporting synods have included the Minnesota Conference and Synod, the Red River Valley Conference and Synod, and the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the Northwest. In addition, there are congregational histories, biographical files regarding clergy and church leaders, and microfilmed Swedish Lutheran church records (ending about 1930).
Region 4
For Arkansas, Oklahoma: Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod:
6391 S. 66th E.Ave. Suite 310
Tulsa OK 74133-1760
(918) 492-4288
E-mail:
ida@arokoffice.org For the Central States Synod, the archives are located at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kan., which had been the traditional location of the archives of the former Augustana Kansas Conference and its successors.
For Kansas and Missouri: Bethany College Archives
Wallerstedt Library
335 E. Swensson Street
Lindsborg , Kansas 67456-1897
(785) 227-3311, Ext. 8342
Archivist E-mail:
carsond@bethanylb.edu The collection at Texas Lutheran University has materials relating to Texas and Louisiana, with the earliest items dating back to the Texas Synod, starting in the 1850s.
For Texas and Louisiana: The Rev. Luther W. Oelke
ELCA Region IV-South Archives
Texas Lutheran University
1000 W. Court Street
Seguin, TX 78155
(830) 372-8021
E-mail:
loelke@tlu.edu Some materials related to the current Central States Synod territory of Kansas and Missouri may also be found in the archives of the Nebraska Synod, which are located at Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, Neb. That collection has both Augustana materials and records from the German Nebraska Synod, part of the former United Lutheran Church in America.
For Nebraska:
The Rev. Gary Panko
Nebraska Synod
4980 S. 118th St., Suite D
Omaha, NE 68137-2220
(402) 896-5311
Fax: (402) 896-5354
E-mail:
office@nebraskasynod.org
Region 5
In addition to holding material from the districts and synods of The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America, it is also the main repository for the former Iowa Synod, a church body that existed from 1854-1930.
Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Upper MichiganNancy Carroll
ELCA Region 5 Archives
Wartburg Theological Seminary
333 Wartburg Place
Dubuque, IA 52003-5004
(563) 589-0320
E-mail:
Region5archives@wartburgseminary.edu
Region 6 In Region 6, the collections are particulary rich for the former American Lutheran Church districts and the former Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Lutheran Church in America and its predecessors.
Indiana, Kentucky, lower Michigan, Ohio
Jennifer Long
ELCA Region 6 Archives
Trinity Lutheran Seminary
2199 East Main Street
Columbus, OH 43209-2334
(614) 235-4136, ext. 4606
E-mail:
jlong@tlsohio.edu http://www.tlsohio.edu/elca-region-6-archives
Region 7 Among the files of the Region 7 archives at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia are those of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, which was the first North American Lutheran church body, founded in 1748. The papers of the founder of that organization, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, are among the oldest records on file for ELCA history.
For all synods except Metropolitan New York and the Slovak-Zion Synod: John E. Peterson
Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia
7301 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794
(215) 248-6383
Fax: (215) 248-6327
E-mail:
mtairyarchives@ltsp.edu http://ltsp.edu/lutheran-archives-philadelphiaThe Metropolitan New York Synod's Sutter Memorial Archives are located at Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y. Materials in this archives date to the beginning of the New York Ministerium in 1786.
For Metropolitan New York Synod: Sutter Memorial Archives
Horrmann Library
Wagner College
One Campus Road
Staten Island, NY 10301
www.sutterarchives.org For Slovak Zion Synod: Bishop Wilma S. Kucharek
P.O. Box 1003
Torrington, CT 06790-1003
(860) 482-6100
E-mail:
wilma.kucharek@ecunet.org
Region 8 Older material in the Tri-Synod Archives collection relates to the former Pittsburgh Synod of the General Council.
For Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia- Western Maryland: Sarah (Sally) Roth
Tri-Synod Archives
Thiel College
75 College Avenue
Greenville, PA 16125
(412) 589-2131
http://www.thiel.edu/library/Archives1.htm#trisynod
For Central Pennsylvania, Delaware-Maryland & Metropolitan Washington, DC:
Derrick D. Little
A.R. Wentz Library
Lutheran Theological Seminary
61 Seminary Ridge
Gettysburg, PA 17325-1795
(717) 334-6286, Ext. 2131
E-mail:
region8archives@ltsg.edu http://www.ltsg.edu/Region8ArchivesAlso housed in the Gettysburg Seminary's
archives are the records of the first large confederation of American Lutheran synods, namely the General Synod. This archives also has significant personal papers collected by the Lutheran Historical Society.
Region 9 The archives in Columbia, S.C., hold material relating to the United Synod of the South, a church body that originated in 1863.
For Alabama, Florida-Bahamas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Caribbean Synod:
Jeanette M. Bergeron, Director
James R. Crumley Jr. Archives
4201 Main St.
Columbia, SC 29203 USA
803-461-3234
jeanette@crumleyarchives.org
www.crumleyarchives.org
For Virginia, also contact the Virginia Synod offices on the campus of Roanoke College, Salem, Va.
Keith Brown
ELCA Virginia Synod
P.O. Drawer 70
Salem, VA 24153
(540) 389-1000
Fax: (540) 389-5962
E-mail:
kbrown@vasynod.org