An Archives "Tour"
Archives Resource Library
This expanding collection includes published materials about religion, United States Lutheran history, Southern Lutheran history, Lutheran family history and the history of synods and institutions in Region 9. Many materials, such as synod histories and pastor sketches, are heavily used to look up "quick facts" and are among our most frequently consulted items. You will find a huge selection of other books of this nature in the Lineberger Library collection as well.
Periodical Journals
Our collection of journals and periodical literature is generally related to Southern Lutheranism in some respect-Southern editors, Southern publishing houses, Southern synods, Southern content such as the accounts of South Carolina missionaries to Japan in the Lutheran Church Visitor. Some of the journals date to the 1800s. The most fragile editions are stored in large flat files. The non-Southern Lutheran periodicals are housed in the general Lineberger journals collections, along with other periodicals.
Synod Minutes
Our collection of US and Canada synod minutes is extensive. Today the Archives only actively collects Region 9 synods although Lineberger Library collects the minutes of many synods. However, we house a valuable collection of early synod minutes dating to the early 1800s--often in German--for Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and other areas. The minutes are also referred to as Synod Proceedings and Synod Assembly Reports. The minutes are a valuable source of facts on the institutions in the synods (seminaries, orphanages, elder care), on missions, committees, obituaries, prayers, speeches, sermons, and congregational data. They are the single most important source of information for each synod. For Region 9 synods, we often have handwritten copies of the printed minutes (preserved in boxes).
Congregation History Collection
Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Thomas.
These are primarily from South Carolina, but we are gradually adding others, especially North Carolina. This is the place to find information about specific Lutheran congregations, including:
- anniversary facts
- histories
- pastors and their photos
- early member lists
- facility photographs
Histories are arranged alphabetically by state (then by city and church name). We would appreciate additional materials anytime.
Biographical Files
This is the beginning of a collection of vita, news articles, obituaries and similar biographical information on Southern Lutherans. It also includes some broader topic files such as Ordination of Women Pastors.
Seminary Theses
Our thesis collection starts in the 1890s and sometimes provides answers that other materials don't provide. A computer index allows staff to help researchers search by topic. Visitors frequently ask to see a parent's thesis!
Records of Individual Lutherans
A page from missionary A.J. Stirewalt's diary in World War II Japan.
Lutheran pastors, missionaries, scholars and their family members are increasingly donating family archival collections to our care. Often they include sermons, letters, photographs, daily journals and other memorabilia that will be interesting to researchers in the future. Among others, the records of Missionaries Stirewalt, Fisher, Poole and Linn are housed here along with records of former Seminary Professors Bedenbaugh and Kempson. We welcome the donation of private records from Lutheran families and individuals.
South Carolina Synod Records
We are completing the processing of this important large collection this year under a special grant from the South Carolina state archives, but much of it is already available to researchers. An incredible resource is the early handwritten synodal manuscripts, 1824-1930s. Besides these reports and minutes, we also house financial records, women's group records, men's group records, youth group records, publications and photographs.
North Carolina Synod Records
Over 80 percent of the large North Carolina Synod Archives has been relocated from Salisbury, N.C., to the Crumley Archives. It is one of the most valuable Lutheran research collections in North America. Microfilmed records, synod staff records, annual assembly minutes and some program archives and congregation histories are presently available for research.
Southern Seminary Records
Southern Seminary records constitute a huge part of the Crumley Archives holdings. The most important record group is the Board of Trustee minutes, documenting actions of the Board and including various reports to the Board. Other Seminary records include facility records, financial records, catalogs, yearbooks, presidential records, faculty meeting minutes, individual faculty records, Doctor of Ministry degree records (D-Min), accreditation records, and continuing education records.
Southeastern Synod Records
Records related to Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee are housed under the Southeastern Synod, which today oversees all these states. The boxes include synod-level records, such as council minutes, president/bishop records, early history, and committees, as well as congregation records. We house both active congregation records and disbanded congregation records. And in fact, we are the place where Region 9 parishioners of disbanded congregations come for baptism, confirmation and marriage evidence.
Because the history of the Southeastern Synod is particularly complicated, see also a guide to the Southeastern synods.
Florida-Bahamas Synod Records
This collection includes both synod-level records (bishops, publications, committees, institutions) and congregation records (active and disbanded). It is our best-cataloged collection, with excellent finding aids. Like the other processed collections, the documents are housed in acid-free folders inside acid-free boxes, where they are protected from dust (highly acidic), light and environmental problems. We have usually removed harmful elements such as rubber bands and metal clips. We have organized the documents into easy-to-retrieve series and developed finding aids that lead us to their location quickly.
Region 9 Records
We house over 50 boxes of records related to Dorothy Jeffcoat's ministry-most waiting processing-and more recently Region 9 Coordinator Harvey Huntley's ministry. The archives of the Crumley Archives, a Region 9 ministry, are also housed here.
Virginia, Caribbean Synods
Minutes from the Caribbean Synod Convention, 1982.
We house a growing collection of minutes, anniversary booklets and other records from the Caribbean and Virginia Synods. The Caribbean Synod is just starting to work with the Archives to preserve its 337-year old records. The Virginia Synod maintains an individual archives collection, while also partnering with the Crumley Archives. It is our goal at the Crumley Archives to provide one-stop research for scholars of Southern Lutheranism.
Document Collection of General Bodies
We house a comprehensive collection of minutes, yearbooks, almanacs and constitutions from the general bodies of the Lutheran Church. They range from the oldest body (General Synod) to the newest (ELCA):
- General Synod & General Council
- General Synod South--Confederate Synods
- United Synod South (the South didn't rejoin national Lutheran body until 1918)
- United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA)
- Slovak Synod (merged with ULCA as LCA)
- Lutheran Church in America (LCA)
- Synods which merged with the LCA to become the ELCA (Synod of the West, Augustana Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference, Norwegian Lutheran Church, ALC, TELC, TALC)
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Missouri Synod and others outside the ELCA
Convention minutes contain important information on the founding and operation of institutions and missions of the Lutheran Church. For instance, the General Council Mission Reports are the source for the development of Caribbean churches.
Crumley Lutheran Archives is the official home for the original documents of the General Synod South and United Synod South, and scholars and legal experts often consult with us about them.
Collections of Lowman Home, Newberry College, Lutheridge, Lutheran Family Services, etc.
Other Lutheran organizations in the South are partners in the Archives and house expanding collections here. Vietnamese resettlement records from Lutheran Family Services, Lowman Home operations records, Newberry College publications are but a few examples. The Archives' newest partner is the oldest Lutheran outdoor ministry in America—Lutheridge+Lutherock Ministries, based at Arden, N.C.
Changing Displays
To help share Lutheran heritage, the Archives manages three exhibit areas—one in the Archives reading room, one near the online catalog computers on the Library Main Floor, and one in the Refectory entryway. Take a look at these ever-changing displays as you pass by them.