LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 311

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310 SPECIAL AND SUNDRY MATTERS

tragedies occur when individuals and people lose their
memories. Consequently, the theme of this convention and the
extraordinary program, “Forward in Remembrance,” are the
very essence of the institute’s objectives, services, and commit-
ments—and also of our report to the 54th Regular Convention
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Expanded Facilities

The dedication of the greatly expanded facilities of the
Concordia Historical Institute on Feb. 11, 1979, marked the
beginning of the utilization of additional space so desperately
needed for more than a decade for the Institute’s collections
and services.

All our users, contributors, board, and staff continue to be
grateful to the Synod, which provided the basic cost of $516,000
for the construction of the new addition, largely money received
from the 125th anniversary thankoffering in 1972. However, it
was also agreed that the cost of equipping and furnishing the
new facilities would be raised independently by the Institute.
Inflation has brought that figure to $360,000, of which approx-
imately $120,000 remains to be raised. Of this amount, $50,000
is needed to complete the payment for the five-level archives/manu-
script stacks, and $70,000 is needed for additional equipment
and furnishings that would make the new building fully
efficient and usable. We thank the many individuals who have
already contributed, some frequently and sacrificially, to this
project over the past two years.

A grant of $16,000 from the Aid Association for Lutherans,
Appleton, Wis., enabled the furnishing and equipping of the
new conference room. Suitable tables and chairs for confer-
ences of up to 70 participants were provided, as well as a large
conference table and matching chairs for smaller meetings,
classes, and board sessions. The room’s projection center was
equipped with a full range of audiovisual equipment for
movies, slides, filmstrips, and overhead-projector presenta-
tions. Sound systems with cordless microphones were installed
in both the conference room and on the two levels of the new
museum.

Dr. Edward J. Arndt of Falls Church, Va., completely
equipped a photographic laboratory in memory of his sainted
father, Dr. E. L. Arndt, the pioneer of Missouri Synod mission
work in China, The Edward L. Arndt Laboratory enables the
Institute to provide copies of, as well as to preserve, the
thousands of photographs in its collection. The Arndt Labora-
tory will also serve as a work center for the restoration and
preservation of important documents and manuscripts in the
collections.

September 1980 saw the completion of the five levels of the
new stackroom housing the manuscripts and archives of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The new five-level stack-
vault provides space for two decades of expansion and permits
the separation of manuscript/archives material from the
historical library. For the first time in more than a decade all
the materials of the Institute’s collections, some of them boxed
and warehoused in other places for storage, are back under our
own roof. A great amount of staff time in the past biennium
was devoted to moving, reorganizing, and properly filing our
many books, periodicals, papers, records, and museum pieces.

Weare also most grateful to Dr. Benjamin M. Holt of Fargo,
N. Dak., standing on the threshold of almost 100 years, who
sponsored the construction and development of a permanent
exhibit in our new museum area. The exhibit replicates the
study in which Dr. Walter A. Maier, the long-time popular
Lutheran Hour speaker, did his work in his home on the

campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. The replica of the,

study and work center was reconstructed in the exact dimen-
sions of the original and will become, when completed, one of
the greatest educational exhibits of the Institute. We are also
extremely grateful to the Maier family for having preserved the
furnishings of the original study, including the desk, chairs,
mementos, and books. We are planning to dedicate the exhibit
May 17, 1981.

Collections

Although the Institute’s primary function is to serve as the
Department of Archives and History of The Lutheran
Church— Missouri Synod, its collections encompass the whole

of Lutheranism in North America. Probably in no other place
in the world is so much material belonging to the broad
spectrum of Lutheran activity on this continent gathered in
one place. For many years the Institute has served as the
largest single center for research on Lutheranism in America.
An ever-increasing number of church-related agencies have
deposited their records in the Institute.

The ever-growing collections of documents and manuscripts
number more than 2!4 million pieces and fill 8,300 feet of linear
shelf space. The microfilm resources have grown to 156,092 feet
on nearly 1,500 separate reels. The audiovisual materials
contain a virtually complete set of Lutheran Hour recordings
since 1938, close to 2 million feet of other tape recordings, more
than 200 movie reels, and 340 sets of slides and filmstrips. The
historical library has grown to 57,800 books, periodicals, and
pamphlets. Thousands of photographs, paintings, and litho-
graphs document a host of Lutheran activities, people, and
places. Partly because of the rapidly inflating and fluctuating
prices of precious metals, it is almost impossible to set a
monetary value on the Institute’s extensive collection of coins
and medallions struck to commemorate various facets of the
worldwide Lutheran heritage. Some even date back to the time
of Christ!

In the past biennium 1,071 donors contributed 110,035 items
to these collections. The extent and significance of the collec-
tions is mainly attributable to the thousands of donors who
have entrusted their valuable records, papers, books, diaries,
photographs, and artifacts representative of some phase of
Lutheran life. Without the generosity and confidence of our
donors, both the extent and significance of the Institute’s
collection would only be a fraction of what it is today.

Services

The Institute is determined to serve the needs of The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, its congregations, pro-
fessors, students, pastors, teachers, and members, also the
general scholar and researcher of Lutheran history as well as
amateur family historians. In the past biennium the Institute
provided services to 58,757 requests for a broad range of
services. These services include the following:

—Provision of information requested by various officers,
boards, commissions, committees, agencies, and Districts
of the Synod.

—Assistance to students and staff of our synodical schools,
as well as other educational agencies and libraries, with
their research projects and inquiries.

—Assistance to congregations planning anniversary
observances, preparing congregational histories, and
requesting information and photographs of former
pastors and teachers.

—Assistance to congregations and other institutions and
agencies in better organizing and preserving their records
and other archival materials, including the microfilming
of their official records.

—Making available resources and providing information
and counsel to family historians and individuals seeking
verification of vital statistics in church records.

—Assistance to owners of rare books with bibliographic
information, appraisal, and contacts for possible sale.

—Providing kits of historical material commemorating the
anniversaries of the Sunday school, the Augsburg Confes-
sion, and the Book of Concord, as well as kits of mission
artifacts for mission education at festivals, rallies, con-
ventions, and conferences through the Museum Exten-
sion Services program.

—Creating museum displays interpreting the various
mission activities of the Synod, the heritage of Luther’s
catechisms, the Augsburg Confession and the Book of
Concord, and the contributions of historians and promi-
nent leaders of the Lutheran Church.

—Serving as a clearinghouse for the resale of used books
and theological literature not needed for the Institute’s
collection.

—Planning and hosting conferences to train and better
equip District, auxiliary, and congregational historians
and archivists to more effectively carry out their func-
tions. The last major conference/workshop was held in