LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 75

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PARISH, YOUTH, AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES 75

Staff Changes

In January of 1982 the Rev. Paul Devantier, KFUO’s
general manager for 10 years, resigned to accept a call to
become Synod’s director of communication services. During
1982 board member Maurice Anderson served as general
manager. In January of 1983 the Rev. Rodger P. Abatie was
employed as acting general manager.

The Board for Radio Station KFUO

The following individuals served on the Board for Radio
Station KFUO during the past biennium: Maurice Anderson,
Prof. Larry Bielenberg, Rev. Lawrence A. Burgdorf, Roland
Eggerding, Elmer W. Kuhlmann (chairman), C. Lee Stewart.
The board was saddened by the death of board member and
former general manager Oscar Spath in October 1982. Mrs.
Dorothy Mansholt was appointed to serve the unexpired term
of Mr. Spath.

The board joins in commending this report and the radio
ministry of KFUO “Lutheran Radio to your serious and prayer-
ful consideration.

Elmer W. Kuhlmann, Chairman
Rodger P. Abatie, Acting General Manager

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Report of Department of Archives
and History
Concordia Historical Institute

“KEEPER OF THE LUTHERAN HERITAGE
IN AMERICA”

The Institute’s primary functions are to preserve and to
serve. The preservation consists in recording our church’s
heritage and its far-flung efforts to spread the Gospel through-
out the world. The service aspects consist in making both the
heritage and the historical records available to all so that they
may see the innumerable blessings which the Lord of the
church has showered upon the work of our hands.

Dr. Robert N. Bellah, professor at the University of
California, effectively stated the significant reason for the
Institute’s existence. After identifying some of the radical
political, social, and economic changes which have occurred in
our society as a part of an unfolding of American secular and
religious history. he emphasized more specifically that The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod needed patently to con-
tinue its “community of memory.” The church, the body of
Christ, does indeed need its corporate memory and must
transmit this again and again to all its members in each new
generation. Dr. Bellah pointed out that this provides coherence,
stability, and even a high degree of freedom amidst constant
and radical changes. (‘‘Sociologist Describes ‘Me’ Society:
Church Can Foster Change,” Reporter. 8, 38 (Sept. 27, 1982), p.
4).

It is the Institute’s task to provide a special kind of stability
to our Synod in the midst of an extremely mobile and shifting
society often uprooted and failing to recognize what it is. The
“community of memory” is the best antidote against rootless-
ness, insecurity, and aimlessness. In the “community of
memory” Christ is central, while the historical background
and heritage of the church is alive, thus enabling the church to
be creative and innovative.

The Institute strives to perform this kind of service to the
Svnod and its people through the preservation of the vast
church archives and manuscripts and through its educational,
museum, and exhibit programs.

Collections

The Institute continues to constitute the largest collection of
Americana Lutherana in the world. The collections focus on
the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, but in a
wider context it encompasses the whole of Lutheranism in
America. The collections are also very significantly augmented
by the fact that many church-related agencies have deposited
their records in the Institute.

The manuscript and archival holdings exceed 2'2 million
pieces; the microfilm collection, supported by the International
Lutheran Laymen’s League since 1954, has grown to a total of
163,329 feet of film. If this were placed end to end, it would be
thirty miles long! This microfilm and -fiche is available on
more than 1,500 separate reels. Audiovisual resources include a
virtually complete set of Lutheran Hour disk recordings since
1935, almost two million feet of tape recordings, 200 movie
reels, and 347 sets of slides and filmstrips. The historical
library now consists of 58,000 books, periodicals, serials, and
pamphlets. In addition, there are also thousands of paintings,
photographs, and lithographs, as well as additional thousands
of unique museum items and artifacts, all of which visually
depict the fascinating history of Lutheranism on our own and
other continents.

During the past two years 1,520 individuals have contri-
buted almost 50,000 items of various aged and contemporary
resources. We are most grateful to all these donors who
continue to place their valuable records, papers, diaries, photo-
graphs, serials, and artifacts in our care. As a result, our
acquisitions budget remains exceedingly small.

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Services

The Institute is constantly being called upon to render
services to the Synod’s offices, staff, congregations, pastors,
professors, students, and a large number of general scholars,
graduate students, family historians. and genealogists from
all over the country. Such services exceeded 60,000 in number
during the past biennium and extended over an extremely
broad range of questions. Here are a few illustrations:

—helping the Synod itself by researching questions posed
by it and its District officers, boards, commissions,
committees, and agencies;

—aiding the academic community of the Synod (its semi-
nary and college faculties, staff, and student body) by
guiding research projects, finding source materials, and
actual research ourselves resulting in lectures, papers,
histories, etc.;

—assisting congregations and other local agencies of the
church (such as hospitals, high school associations,
nursing homes, LWML groups, etc.) by working with
them in planning anniversary celebrations, protecting
vital records, and providing biographical information on
church workers;

—cooperating with the Library of Congress in compiling its
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections for a
worldwide audience;

—helping and guiding hundreds of family historians,
genealogists, and local history buffs through our records
and genealogical family historical resources;

~—researching and compiling bibliographical data and
appraisals on rare and out-of-print books:

—loaning copies of resources when available or, when
duplicate copies are not available for loan, making photo-
copies available of printed items and photographs in our
collections;

—enriching congregational mission fairs, District conven-
tions, synodical youth gatherings, and other conventions
with traveling displays and museum extension kits so
that individuals unable to visit our museum personally
can share some of the treasures:

—planning, hosting, and publishing the results of confer-
ences aimed at building the expertise in caring for the
archives of the Synod’s Districts, colleges, seminaries,
high schools, congregations, and auxiliary agencies;

—transcribing into typescript the always almost illegible
handwritten documents produced by the fathers of our
Synod so that future generations will be able to read them;

—providing visitors to our museum with displays that edify
and inspire;

—assisting vacationers to find points of special interest to
Lutherans in the U.S. and Canada by offering travel
helps: and

—collecting copies of all materials produced in observance
of Martin Luther’s 500th birthday.

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