Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 434
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 434

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

434 SPECIAL MINISTRIES AND SUNDRY MATTERS

found in most major libraries. Circulation continues to
hover around 1,500 annually.

In addition, our two mimeographed “Rundschreiben,”
Historical Footnotes and The Regional Archivist, sup-
ply interested groups with news of the historical field
and notes and comments on archival-historical tech-
niques and procedures. Our “How To” bulletins, con-
tinuing in popularity, now number 24. The last one
shares data and information on District convention Pro-
ceedings, a complex and confused problem. This bulle-
tin lists District convention reports issued, the form in
which they have been produced, their language and
size. A list of all bulletins currently available will be
supplied on request.

We are most grateful to the Aid Association for Lu-
therans, which has continued to support the tedious and
difficult work of transcribing the almost illegible Gothic
script used exclusively by the fathers of the Missouri
Synod. Many a “would-be historian” has unceremoni-
ously abandoned his research because he was incapable
of deciphering such manuscripts. Excellent progress
has been made, particularly in transcribing the letters
of Dr. C. F. W. Walther. We have confined the work
to transcribing because the number of individuals who
still can read the German typewritten text is vastly
larger than those who can decipher the script. Ulti-
mately, we hope, most of the Gothic manuscripts in our
collection will be transcribed and translated. Additional
demands are made on our staff when researchers re-
quire both transcription and translation services.

A debt of gratitude is due the Lutheran Laymen’s
League, which since 1954 has annually made significant
grants available so that our acquisitions could be un-
usually extended through microfilm and photoduplica-
tion. Our collections have been augmented by approxi-
mately one million pages through this support. The
very fact that so much material has now become avail-
able in one location for the benefit of researchers is
highly significant. The savings to the church at large,
therefore, in terms of time and money are unbelievably
large. We are deeply grateful to the Lutheran Laymen’s
League for this continuing support.

The production of catalogs, indexes, manuscript in-
ventories, and a host of other retrieval tools, all of which
make the collections more accessible, has been con-
tinued without interruption. Of course, such finding
aids become increasingly important and patently neces-
sary as the collections increase in number and volume.
The latest tool we have prepared is the 160-page cumu-
lative index to the 40 volumes of the Concordia Histori-
cal Institute Quarterly, produced in the spring of 1968
and containing some 13,000 entries.

The Saxon Lutheran Memorial at Frohna, Mo., con-
tinues to demonstrate progress in rehabilitation, restora-
tion, and visitor interest. Rev. and Mrs. Waldemar T.
Goehring have continued to serve as resident curators.
This entire project has been supported exclusively by
voluntary contributions from agencies, individuals, and
groups and represents an investment of some $15,000.

Still on the drawing board is the construction of a build-
ing to be used as a visitor center and outdoor farm
museum. Visitors have been heavy, especially during
the tourist season, and last year exceeded 4,000,

Our “clearinghouse for used books” continues to fill
a need in the Synod. When the old “auction” facilities
were discontinued on the campus of the St. Louis semi-
nary. we finally established a program by which Lu-
theran literature could be disposed of by the families
of deceased and retired workers and made available to
interested people at a nominal cost. We would request
anyone having “book wants” to register author, title, and
publisher with us so we might serve him.

Board of Governors and Staff

The members of the Board of Governors, five ap-
pointed by the synodical President, five elected by the
Institute membership, and one serving as a representa-
tive of the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, are
Dr. Arthur C. Repp, president, Mr. Gerhardt Kramer,
vice-president, Mr. Fred Nohl, secretary, and Mr. Harry
L. Smith, treasurer. Members at large are Dr. Otto A.
Dorn, Mr. Paul W. Kluge, Dr. John Kovac, Dr. Carl S.
Meyer, Mr. Lester P. Roth, and Mr. George Thomas.
The board sustained a severe loss in the death of one
of its members on Aug. 4, 1968, namely Dr. Franklin
W. Ritthamel.

Dr. August R. Suelflow has continued to serve as
director. The full-time staff in addition consists of two
office secretaries, a reference and research assistant, a
bookkeeper, a half-time graduate assistant, and several
part-time seminarians working in professional special-
ties. In spite of this “working force” the demands made
on the staff constantly continue to exceed the time avail-
able. Couple the large work load with the extremely
overcrowded conditions in the offices and working space
of the building, and it will be easy to detect feelings of
frustration. The long-sought-after relief in augmenting
the stack and working areas of the Institute in building
additions has become imperative.

Director Suelflow concluded his second 2-year term
as president of the Lutheran Historical Conference last
October. The conference, consisting of Lutheran archiv-
ists, librarians, and historians in North America, has
served as an excellent working arm in coordinating ar-
chival-historical work among America’s Lutherans. The
director continues to serve as a trustee of the American
Microform Academy, an organization concerned with
documentation and reporting of photoduplicated re-
sources throughout the country. He also has continued
to serve as chairman of the Church Archives Commit-
tee of the Society of American Archivists, the only pro-
fessional archival organization in our country. For the
past 2 years he has been conducting courses at Wash-
ington University, St. Louis, on Archives Administration,
one of 10 to 12 such courses offered in the entire coun-
try. In 1968 the board took cognizance of Director Suel-
flow’s 20th anniversary in the office.