HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES

Winter 1997, Vol. 42, No. 4

(Back Issues Available)

THIS ISSUE
1997 Award Winners
Grant Project Going Forward
Antique Toys, Christmas Cards & More on View for Holidays
Papers of C.F.W. Walther Now Being Arranged, Described
1997 Pieper Lectures a Success; Book of '96 Lectures Prepared
Own a Bit of History as You Help Restore C.F.W. Walther Furniture
Because Your Time is Precious & Church History is Priceless...
Membership & Subscription Changes in Effect for 1998
ILWML Book, One Cup of Water, Tells Tale of 5 Missionaries in China
Long-Range Planning Committee Keeps Its Focus on CHI'S Future
Personnel Changes at CHI
Names of Loved Ones Added to Book of Memories

THE ARCHIVIST'S CORNER
Archivists Discuss Standards, Training Video at 24th Conference
How to Find Archival Products
Standards for an Archives: The Nature and Function of Standards for an Archival Operation

Photo by Dave Kuenzel Concordia Historical Institute honored 18 men and women during the 24th annual awards banquet Nov. 6 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Awards of commendation were given to individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to Lutheran history and literature. Pictured are (seated, front row, left to right): Robert Bachmann and Darlene Bachmann (Saxon Lutheran Heritage, Inc.), Kathy Graumann; Rosalie Streng, Ada C. Johnson, Rose Ziemke; and (standing): Paul Devantier, Oswald C.J. Hoffmann, Ernst Wendland, Carl W. Bloomquist, Paul Rorem, Parvin Lambertus, James D. Heiser, Edward Engelbrecht, Ruby Young, and Louise Mueller. In addition, the personal service award was given to Gail Ann Ginapp (in absentia) and the Distinguished Service Award to Rev. Philemon Hensel (in absentia). Also not present were award winners Elaine Scott-Thomas and Leland Stevens. In addition, an award was posthumously presented to James L. Schaaf.

By Kristina Gray Perez
Special Project Archivist

The special grant project at CHI is moving at a fast pace. With the assistance of master's student Mary Laesch and seminarian Kevin Tiaden, LCMS records are being accurately and fully identified, arranged, and described according to archival standards.

For each record group arranged, we produce a brief administrative history, or historical note, as a standard component of the finding aid. Since a historical note traces changes in names, in responsibilities, and in Synod's structure, it is helpful to both researchers and to the CHI staff in archives and in reference/research. We also include a biographical note for individuals who either held a high profile position or who held an office for a long period of time, such as John W. Behnken who served as LCMS president for 27 years. A biographical note is a standard component in describing a collection of personal papers.

The next description step is to compose a scope and content note. This is the heart of archival description and the most important component for anyone using collections to do research. Here we describe the basic nature of the records and explain how the records have been arranged into series. A series is a group of like materials that are placed together usually in alphabetical or chronological order such as correspondence, subject files, or reports. In addition, the scope and content note indicates any gaps that appear in the collection and points out materials that might be of potential interest to researchers.

The final and most basic component of a finding aid is the folder list or inventory. Here we list the folder labels or volume titles. Each label is checked to insure that it accurately reflects its folder's contents. Every attempt is made to include dates with each folder label in order to aid researchers and staff in retrieving materials from the collections.

The following record groups (listed below) have been arranged, are currently being described, and will soon have finding aids available via the CHI World Wide Web page. As the project continues over the next 2.5 years, we anticipate updating these finding aids as more records are sorted and received.

• LCMS. Board of Directors Records, c. 1878-present. (51.2 linear feet, 50 vols.)
• LCMS. Council of Administrators Records, 1961-1991. (2.5 linear feet, 7 vols.)
• LCMS. Work Program Records, 1962-1980. (.8 linear feet, 1 vol.)
• LCMS. Fiscal Review Commission, 1962-1976. (.4 linear feet)
• LCMS. Fiscal Conference, 1926-1964. (.6 linear feet, 8 vols.)
• LCMS. Committee on Church Architecture, 1953-1979. (.4 linear feet)
• LCMS. Board for Church Literature Minutes, 1920-1960. (.6 linear feet)

The largest collection being processed at this time is the LCMS. Executive Offices Records, 1959-1979. (approx. 135 linear feet). During the Harms and Preus administrations, Synod's executives maintained a central subject file that they shared: the president, the first vice president, the secretary, and the executive director/administrative officer. Due to its size, work on this collection will continue through the winter.

Meanwhile, processing will begin for smaller collections such as the Council of Presidents, Office of the President (Preus administration), and the Commission on Church Literature.

Please contact us with any questions or comments related to the project.

Concordia Historical Institute Museum is featuring for the holidays a display of antique toys from its collection. On view are homemade and manufactured toys, some 150 years old.

Visitors will see a display of old Christmas postcards as well as a rare six-foot German feather tree from the 19th century decorated in period ornaments. The display can be seen Dec. 1 through Jan. 6, traditionally the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.

The Institute's museum, featuring items from the largest collection highlighting Lutheranism in America, is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The museum will be closed December 24-26. Admission is free to the museum and exhibit. Group tours can also be arranged.

For guided tours or more information call CHI at (314) 505-7930.

Archives assistant Brigitte Conkling cleans the dust off CHI's collection of C.F.W. Walther sermons, as just one part of the work that is involved with arranging and describing Walther's many papers in the CHI collection.

For the first time, Concordia Historical Institute has been able to fully arrange and describe the Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther Papers, 1827-1887.

The collection of papers from the first president of the LCMS fills just over 550 folders and a complete finding aid is being composed and will appear on the CHI Web page soon. In addition to the biographical note and to the scope and content note will be two appendices: an index to the letters at CHI which were written by Walther and a chronological list of Gutachten (faculty opinions) bearing Walther's signature.

Thanks to the work of Brigitte Conkling, assistant to the project archivist at CHI, the collection has been arranged into five series and various subseries: correspondence, writings, financial/legal photographs, and sermons. The writings series contains Walther's diary, "Lutherstunden", Gutachten, student notes, notes on the Formula of Concord, Der Lutheraner manuscripts, miscellaneous speeches, and one folder of unidentified materials.

The letters that are in Walther's own hand and all of his sermons are in Sütterlin script. There are approximately 1,200 letters written by Walther, only a fraction of the 800 that Walther estimated that he wrote per year. The letters have been divided into originals and photocopies/transcriptions/translations.

There are 100 folders of sermons all written in Walther's hand. Due to the amount of dust present, each original piece of paper in the Walther collection was cleaned when they were sorted into their present arrangement. However, the paper was in good shape and needed little repair.

Upon completion of the Walther finding aid, Mrs. Conkling will begin processing the papers of the first missionary to China, E. L. Arndt, with the generous assistance of his son, Dr. E. J. Arndt.

Plans are being made for the 1998 Pieper Lectures, co-sponsored by Concordia Historical Institute and the Luther Academy. Dates and the topic for discussion will be announced soon.

The Pieper Lectures are dedicated to the study and discussion of historical theology. Established in 1996 in honor of Dr. Francis Pieper, professor and president at Concordia Seminary, president of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and teacher of the Church, these lectures are intended to address issues currently under discussion in the church and to provide an historical context useful for this discussion.

Attendance for the 1997 lecture series, held Sept. 25-26 at Concordia Seminary, was up by about 30 percent. For those who were unable to attend, a book of the lectures will be available for purchase in the coming months. The topic for the 1997 lectures was church fellowship.

CHI and the Luther Academy are now offering a paperback bound volume from the 1996 Pieper Lectures on the Office of the Ministry. The book is available for purchase through the CHI Lobby Shop for $10. To order by mail, please write CHI at 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis MO 63105 and request your copy of the 1996 Pieper Lectures book, "The Office of the Ministry", including a total of $10 for the book plus $2 for shipping and handling and $1 for each additional book's postage. Checks should be made payable to the Luther Academy.

Shipping and handling extra for orders mailed outside the USA.

By Rev. Mark A. Loest
Asst. Dir., Reference & Museum

Concordia Historical Institute Museum is the home of the personal desks of The Rev. Dr. C.F.W. Walther, 19th century American Lutheran theologian, first president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and first president of what is today The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

When you consider these desks of Dr. Walther you can't help but see him busy at work: opening the day's mail, writing sermons, offering his counsel and preparing the lectures, especially for what would become his most significant work, "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel". Unfortunately because of their present condition, these historic desks are not to be seen on display but are in storage at CHI. It is the sincere desire of Concordia Historical Institute to make these important desks a part of a permanent exhibit on Dr. Walther.

One of the greatest challenges a curator faces is finding funds to restore artifacts. Thanks to a "re-discovery", CHI is able to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a part of the Walther legacy. Recently within the archives, staff found a number of envelopes received by Dr. Walther. None of the envelopes can be identified with any particular correspondence. They therefore have been culled from the collection, according to the policies of the Institute's Board of Governors which allows items to be used to enhance the collection through such projects.

Each of these unique envelopes is being custom matted and framed in solid cherry with certification testifying to the authenticity of the envelope and a description of the Walther Desk Project on the back. In order to raise funds to restore the Walther desks, these envelopes are available as a thank you from Concordia Historical Institute for a gift of $200 toward the restoration project.

There is also a limited number of envelopes with Dr. Walther's own handwriting on them: mostly little jottings and memos. These are available by special arrangement.

In future "Collection Highlights" I look forward to reporting on the progress of the restoration of the desks.

For more information and a free brochure and order form, please contact Rev. Mark Loest, at (314) 505-7930.

Volunteers help the Concordia Historical Institute go - and grow!

The Institute is appreciative of those who give their time as volunteers at CHI and is now seeking others in the St. Louis area who would be interested in volunteering their time to help CHI in its task of preserving Lutheran history for the sake of our future.

Here is an overview of the areas in which volunteer assistance is needed:

• Administration:
  Serve as receptionist, assist in preparing materials for large mailings
• Archives & Library:
  File and organize materials, work with library periodicals, be responsible for specific areas of the collection, arrange and organize photographs, prepare biographical index cards from periodicals
• Museum:
  Serve as tour guide for groups, clean artifacts and exhibits on display, clean and organize museum storage area, inventory collection to verify presence of all items, create art work for specific and general exhibits, help with preservation and restoration of museum artifacts
• Reference & Research:
  Read and translate German resources, staff reference room to assist researchers and refile material, transcribe handwritten German script documents, prepare biographical index cards from periodicals.

For more information on volunteering, please call Mary Jo Mulder at (314) 505-7940.

As reported in the last issue of the Historical Footnotes and in the Fall 1997 Quarterly, Concordia Historical Institute will be adjusting its rates for memberships and subscriptions, effective January 1, 1998.

This action follows the approval of the Concordia Historical Institute Board of Governors on August 6, 1997. Opportunities for renewing at 1997 rates end with the calendar year, with renewals postmarked by Dec. 31, 1997.

Also beginning January 1, 1998, supporting memberships - a new category - will be offered for $20 per year, providing individuals the opportunity to support CHI while declining a subscription to the Quarterly. Supporting members will receive the Historical Footnotes newsletter (published quarterly), discounts on research service charges, voting privileges (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) and free CHI Service Bulletins. However, this new category does not include a CHI Quarterly journal subscription. Supporting memberships will, as the name implies, help to support the work of the Institute in preserving our Lutheran past for the sake of our future.

For more information on supporting memberships, please write CHI at 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis MO 63105, or fax your request to (314) 505-7901.

One Cup of Water, featuring five true stories of missionary women in China, is the newest arrival at the Concordia Historical Institute Lobby Shop.

This International Lutheran Women's Missionary League (ILWML) paperback book, edited by Joyce Kerper Brauer, describes the accounts of women missionaries who brought the love of God into the turbulence and destruction of China in the 20th century.

The title comes from the mission orphanage near Wanhsien, named "Eeh Wan Shway", which translates to "one cup of water".

The ILWML published the book "in honor of LCMS foreign mission work" and has dedicated it to all the women who served as teachers, nurses, deaconesses and missionary wives in China.

Featured are the accounts of Magdalene Meyer, Olive Gruen, Gertrude Simon, Laura Ziegler, and Martha Boss.

One Cup of Water is available in paperback for $7.00 through the CHI Lobby Shop. Purchase it in person between 8:30 and 4:30 p.m. weekdays or send $7.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling to have it mailed to you within the United States. (Costs will be higher for mailing to other countries; please write CHI for details.)

Be sure to mention the book by name when mailing your order to CHI at 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis MO 63105. Checks should be made payable to Concordia Historical Institute. Please include $1.00 for shipping and handling for each additional copy to be mailed within the United States.

Editor's note: This column takes a look at one of the working committees of the Historical Institute.

Two monitors in the Concordia Seminary long-distance learning lab show members of the CHI Long-Term Planning Committee using the lab for one of their recent meetings. The technology enabled Rev. Larry Rast (left), in Fort Wayne, to participate with the rest of the committee (right) in the meeting in St. Louis via satellite.

While Concordia Historical Institute is at work preserving the past, one special committee spends almost all of its time focusing on the future.

The long-range planning committee was created by the CHI Board of Governors earlier this year to address long-term needs of the Institute facilities. The committee will identify the problems, solutions and alternative ways to reach solutions to the challenges before CHI.

"The committee has met twice and we really have not reached a point in our work where we are ready to make any recommendations to the board, but we are brainstorming," said Rev. Daniel Preus, director.

The issues the LRPC will address are:

• dwindling space in the CHI stacks;
• lack of space in the accessioning area;
• large collections coming to CHI;
• lack of staff necessary to process collections;
• fire marshal code restrictions on use of the stacks.

A site analysis of the entire building has been completed by the director, identifying which aspects of the building work well and which areas need improvement. The director is also preparing a document regarding staffing needs.

"We know that we have no choice but to increase the amount of space available to our collections in the future," Rev. Preus said. "The question is, do we do so through an addition to our present building or by some other means?"

The CHI building was constructed in 1952, with the museum, archives stacks and other areas added in 1979. The site was expanded most recently when a two-story section was added in 1989.

Rev. Preus said increasing staff seems to be a solution that would have double the benefits. Not only could CHI improve its ability to process collections quicker, but also the extra help could work on describing what is already in the processed collections. This would make the collections more easily accessible to researchers.

Meanwhile, numerous short-term solutions to CHI space problems have been developed. The LRPC also plans to analyze the existing collection to better understand how space is currently used.

The LRPC is composed of Rev. Preus; Dr. Gerald Birkmann, president of the CHI Board of Governors; Mr. Eugene Finke, an advisory member of the BOG; Rev. Lawrence Rast, member of the BOG; Rev. Marvin Huggins, associate director for archives and library at CHI; and Rev. Robert Kuhn, first vice president of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

Mary Jo Mulder, formerly administrative secretary to the director, was recently named office manager for Concordia Historical Institute.

The move was one of several changes put into effect by CHI Director Rev. Daniel Preus, following the resignation of Jackie Feltrop, business manager since 1992. Mrs. Feltrop accepted another job closer to her home in Illinois.

Mary Jo Mulder joined the staff in May of 1995 as administrative secretary, performing a wide range of duties, from the director's correspondence, to scheduling, to supervising the other secretaries on staff. In her new position, her responsibilities include a variety of both personnel and financial matters.

Sandra Wetzstein has now joined the CHI staff on a part-time basis as secretary to Rev. Preus, handling the director's correspondence and filing.

CHI appreciates the financial gifts given to pay tribute to special people and honor special occasions in the lives of loved ones. Gifts given in honor of the following persons, received since our last listing, are as follows:

• Dr. Arthur Ahlschwede, given by Rev. & Mrs. Arlen J. Bruns;
• Mr. Heinz Böer, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harlan Wehrman and Mr. & Mrs. Emil Wehrman;
• Mrs. Virginia von Dissen Risk, given by Mr. & Mrs. Howard W. Kramer;
• Mr. Elmer Kenneth Enfield, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harold Grovender;
• Mr. Robert Gilmore, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harlan Wehrman;
• Mr. Ottomar Hammerbacher, given by Rev. A. M. Bickel;
• Mr. Elmer Kastner, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harlan Wehrman;
• Mrs. Robert (Esther) Leege, given by Dr. & Mrs. August R. Suelflow, Mr. & Mrs. Norbert Seebach, and St.
• Paul's Lutheran Church (Ute, IA)
• Mrs. Irene Alwina Marie (nee Bode) Matzke, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harold Grovender;
• Mr. W. O. Moerbe, Sr., given by Rev. & Mrs. Patrick T. Erickson;
• Mrs. Elsa Zschache Neusüs, given by Mrs. Katherine Naumann;
• Mrs. Etta Jakobik Schrader, given by Mrs. Mabel Loesch;
• Mrs. Mathilda Esther Schutz Thompson, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harold Grovender;
• Mr. Leonard Wehrman, given by Mr. & Mrs. Harlan Wehrman.

Standards for district archives and the production of a training video for beginning archivists were the main topics of discussion at the 24th Conference on Archives and History hosted by the Institute on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Nov. 6-8.

Some 70 people, primarily representing the districts of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the International Lutheran Women's Missionary League, spent several workshop sessions discussing the nature and function of standards for an archival operation.

Dr. Glenn Offermann, archivist of the Minnesota South District and of Concordia College, St. Paul, Minn., presented a draft of archival standards for consideration by the group. The text of this draft is included on page 7 of this issue of Historical Footnotes. Discussion in workshop sessions related the standards to the current situation in district archives that was revealed in a pre-conference survey of district archivists. The standards will be considered and discussed over the next two years and presented for consideration, analysis and evaluation at the next biennial conference in 1999. Articles in future issues of the Footnotes will discuss various elements of the standards and how they might be implemented.

Specific areas for standardization were presented to the group by Judith Koucky, archivist of the Southeastern District and a staff member of the National Archives, and by the Rev. Robert E. Smith, archivist of the Indiana District. Koucky presented the group with an introduction to international standards that have been developed for the description of archival materials. Smith shared some proposed standards for database structures of accessioning records and finding aids. Further information on these presentations will also be appearing in future issues. It is hoped that a manual for district archives can be developed following the outline of the standards document.

Peggi Lawrence, archivist/historian of the International Lutheran Women's Missionary League, offered to the conference a draft script for a video presentation of basic archival principles and practices that could be used to help new archivists learn about their tasks and responsibilities. The conference resolved to authorize a committee to refine and develop the script and to find a way to produce the video. Lawrence will be chairing this committee.

Historical presentations were also part of the conference program. Two papers dealt with the Missouri Synod's transition from German to English at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Rev. Jon Vieker, pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church, West Bloomfield, Mich., spoke on "'The Fathers' Faith, the Children's Song': Missouri Meets the Sunday School in the Sunday-School Hymnal of 1901". The Rev. Todd Peperkorn, admissions officer at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., then presented a biographical sketch of the hymnal's editor in "Missouri Learns English: The Life and Theology of William Dallmann." Brigitte Conkling of the CHI staff gave a review of the life of Emilie Lohmann Koenig based on correspondence with her family, "As Thou Leadest Me: A Lutheran Pastor's Wife in the 1850s." The Rev. Marvin A. Huggins, associate director for archives and library at the Institute, shared a summary of LCMS foreign-tongue missions in the early twentieth century, "Mission from the Grass Roots: Early LCMS Cross-Cultural Ministries." And Robert E. Smith told the group of his recent efforts to research the life of Friedrich Conrad Dietrich Wyneken.

The conference re-elected its planning committee for another two year term: Glenn Offermann, chair; the Rev. Kurt Bodling, archivist of the Atlantic District, LCMS, vice-chair; the Rev. Albert Buelow, archivist of the Iowa District West, LCMS, secretary; Florence Friedrich, archivist/historian of the Minnesota North District LWML, and Robert E. Smith, members at large.

The next conference is planned for the fall of 1999.

Frequently, CHI is asked for information about where to purchase supplies for archives. The following companies can provide catalogs of their resources to help you in your work. Many of these catalogs will include more than just prices - look for helpful information in them on how to preserve and care for archival materials.

Editor's note: The following standards for an archives were presented as a draft to the 1997 CHI Conference on Archives and History.

For the development of an archival collection to its optimal level, it is helpful to determine a set of standards that provide guidance as well as a challenge to improve and attain an excellence beyond that which has traditionally been achieved. Such standards must be achievable, philosophically appropriate, relevant to the operational context, and adequately challenging to make the effort to attain them worthwhile. A good set of standards will provide guidelines or a checklist from which to structure a program, criteria from which to determine quality characteristics for implementing an archival program, and an evaluative strategy to check past performance.

Standard 1: Mission, Goals, and Objectives

1. The archives has a statement of its mission in relation to the mission of the parent organization (district, national body).
   1. The mission statement was developed by the archivist in consultation with other district officers, archivists of district congregations or societies, and colleagues at large.
   2. The mission statement is recognized and approved by the parent organization.
2. A statement of objectives is regularly prepared (probably annually) and used as a guide for normal operations and for evaluation purposes.

Standard 2: Administration - Relationship of the Archivist to the Parent Organization

1. The archives are formally recognized by the parent organization and included as a unit in its formal structure.
2. The archivist is appointed by the president of the parent organization for a specific period of time after which a review and evaluation take place.
3. The archivist is encouraged and supported in the attendance of conferences and other in-service training opportunities.
4. The archives maintains written policies and procedures manuals covering its governance and operation activities.
5. There is a systematic and continuous review program, identifying successes and shortcomings along with plans for improvement.
6. There is a budget, providing monetary resources for supplies, processing of materials [potentially including computer-related costs and staffing assistance], public relations, in-service training and the like.

Standard 3: Organization of Materials

1. The collections are organized according to generally accepted conventions and arranged for efficient retrieval.
   1. Additions to the collection are accessioned upon receipt, following generally accepted archival practices.
   2. The principle of provenance is respected where appropriate.
   3. The archivist maintains a current administrative chart and an administrative history.
   4. Inventories and descriptions are employed where needed.
   5. Accessions, inventories and descriptions are kept in digitized formats compatible with related archives and the CHI.

Standard 4: Collection Development

1. The archives has an acquisitions policy that describes the types of materials collected and their sources.
2. The archivist collaborates with other organizational officers to maintain and implement a records retention policy, including systematic transferal of materials to the archives.

Standard 5: Standards for Housing Collections

1. The collections are housed in a facility that provides controlled access and security.
2. The collections are housed in a facility that provides temperature and humidity control.
3. Materials are stored in acid-free folders and/or boxes.

Standard 6: Relationship to Congregations/Societies

1. There is a directory of congregational or societal archivists.
2. There is regular communication between the district archivist and the congregation/society.
3. There is a schedule of materials each congregation or society would ordinarily submit to the district and/or CHI.

Standard 7: Services

1. Access to information or materials from the collection is reasonable relative to the demand.
2. Finding aids and the like are available relative to the demand.
3. The archives is part of a network that facilitates access and relationships with other district archives and the CHI.
4. There is a program to develop the archival literacy of its constituency.

"Historical Footnotes" newsletter is published quarterly by Concordia Historical Institute, 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis MO 63105. The Institute is a not-for-profit organization, serving as the Department of History and Archives for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Editor-in-Chief: Rev. Marvin A. Huggins
Writer and Layout Editor: Chris Boshoven

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Copyright © 1997 Concordia Historical Institute