LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 43

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SYNODICAL REPORTS 43

“Hill of Peace,” the property of Peace Lutheran Church, a dis-
banded congregation that serves as a reminder of the rural
church, which served as a solid base for the Synod’s life in earlier
times).

We have continued to provide reference and research services
using the resources of the Institute's collections to fulfill as effi-
ciently as possible inquiries and requests in accordance with the
policies of CHI. Our collection provides answers to hundreds of
questions received each year from all over the world and contin-
ues to offer an amazing testimony to inquiries as varied as:

* a grade-school student competing in a history project, wanting
resources telling about the Saxon immigration to Perry County;

a professional researcher writing a history of Lutherans in Klein.
Tex.;

+ a Costa Rican pastor using the archives to trace the beginnings of
Lutheranism in his homeland:

request for assistance in an LWML book project telling the story
of women missionaries in turbulent 20th century China;

° research and resources for the Synod’s 150th anniversary video
and Lutheran Witness special anniversary editions.

Such requests are part of the daily routine for our reference and re-
search staff.

We publish the results of historical research in the Concordia
Historical Institute Quarterly. This popularly written journal is now
in its 71st year, making it the oldest such Lutheran publication in
America and an outstanding resource for Lutheran historical infor-
mation. Members of the institute also receive “Historical Foot-
notes,” a newsletter with news and notes about the institute and
Lutheran history and archives in general. The papers presented at
our biennial conferences on archives and history are published in
volumes entitled Archives and History.

V. Challenges and Concerns

There are two major challenges that Concordia Historical Insti-
tute faces at this time. The first involves the ever-decreasing space,
due to continuous accessions of new materials. A Long Range
Planning Committee has been established to consider the issue of
decreasing space and to develop short-term as well as long-term
solutions. Eventually this matter will appear before the Board of
Directors for consideration, whether the long-term solution in-
volves the renting of an alternate site or the construction of an ad-
dition at the present site.

The second challenge deals with the incomplete organization,
description, finding aids, and cataloguing that are characteristic of
a high percentage of the collection. From its very founding the Mis-
souri Synod recognized the need to establish and maintain an
archives. However, the information contained in an archives is only
as valuable as it is accessible, and it is the lack of or difficulty of
accessibility which represents the major challenge confronting
Concordia Historical Institute today. This challenge can only be
addressed by increasing professional staff, that is by increasing the
funds needed for the task of arrangement, description, cataloguing,
etc. In connection with this need for increased staffing it is essential
that the institute not only increase its visibility in the eyes of
Synod’s congregations in order to give information regarding the
services which we provide, but also encourage increased financial
support. If the institute is to fulfill its mission of providing support
services for the overall work of the Synod at all levels, we need
greatly increased support from congregations and individuals. This
is an area with which we have especially struggled over the past
triennium. Our ability to provide the services that congregations,
individuals, and synodical offices need in order to perform their
various responsibilities is greatly restricted by budget limitations.
We need additional professional staff and volunteers to provide the
locating, receiving, processing, preserving, and retrieving of re-
sources in our collections that will help people make their decisions
and carry on their activities with a full knowledge of our history
and heritage as a basis. We need the financial resources to take ad-
vantage of the marvels of new technology in the cataloging, index-
ing, and retrieval of information from our collections and in making
it available through the new avenues of information sharing that
are rapidly developing in today’s world.

Another significant challenge facing CHI regards its museum
collection. This collection is in need of restoration in order that it
might remain for future generations. The museum itself needs the
equipment to present its collection in an informative and appealing
manner. CHI has a great wealth of items waiting to be made avail-
able to visitors but lacks the funds necessary for the purpose.

The institute has a significant role to play in helping all the peo-
ple of the Synod grow in appreciating the marvelous blessings of
God from the past that will instruct them as they to out To the Ends
of the Earth with the saving truths of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
have much to learn from what God has done for us in the past. Our
precious heritage needs to be passed on to new generations who
are often overwhelmed by the contradictory and dangerous mes-
sages of the world.

VI. Board and Staff

Policy for the institute is established by a Board of Governors,
consisting of five members appointed by the President of the
Synod, five members elected by the institute membership, and the
Secretary of the Synod.

In addition to the director, the institute also employs the ser-
vices of an associate director for archives and library, an assistant
director for reference and museum, and an office manager as well
as other full-time and part-time workers who provide clerical and
technical services. We are also grateful for several volunteers who
assist in our work with transcription of German Gothic script, ref-
erence and research, cataloging, indexing, filing, museum, recep-
tion, and many other services.

VII. Goals

The major goals for Concordia Historical Institute during the
next triennium will be to come to grips in a meaningful way with
the challenges. We hope to develop a long-range plan which pro-
poses solutions to the ever-decreasing space in our building for our
various collections and to generate the funds necessary to provide
for the arrangement and description work needed to make our
archival collections easily accessible to the members of our church.
In the area of museum we intend to develop areas that permanently
tell the story of American Lutheransim and hope to provide space
that allows for the exhibiting of rare artifacts and documents.

In order to accomplish more of the tasks that need to be done,
we will be working to develop a larger corps of volunteers to sup-
port our work in all areas. We will continue the computerized cat-
aloging of our collections that will enable more effective and thor-
ough retrieval of information to assist researchers.

In these ways we hope to become ever more effective in assist-
ing the members of our Synod to delve the depths of God’s mercy
upon His children in the LCMS as recorded in the thousands of un-
published records of pastors, teachers, and laypeople documenting
events in the life of the LCMS over the past 150 years.

VIII. Recommendations

The Institute’s Board of Governors has submitted a memorial
to the 1998 synodical convention under the heading “To Increase
Support of Concordia Historical Institute.” The memorial calls at-
tention to the pressing need for the arrangement and description of
the vast majority of the collections of the synodical archives and
asks for increased support from the Synod as a whole and from in-
dividual congregations and members to enable CHI to engage the
staff necessary for accomplishment of its main purpose—that of
providing ready access to the information contained in its vast col-
lections in order that the rich record of God’s gracious works
among us may be known and understood.

We have traditionally called attention in our convention reports
to anniversaries that will occur in the coming years and to make
available materials that will enable the Synod and our people to ob-
serve these anniversaries in ways that recall God’s blessings. An-
niversaries in the coming triennium include the following:

+ 1998 250th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Ministerium;
* 1998 475th anniversary of first Lutheran martyrs in Antwerp;
¢ 1999 200th birth of S. S. Schmucker;