About

The A.R. Wentz Library is located on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. Serving the oldest of the eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), it traces its beginnings to the commissioning of Benjamin Kurtz by the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod (of the United States of North America) to go to Europe to solicit contributions of money and books for its new seminary located in Gettysburg. Originally located in the seminary’s main classroom and office building, the Wentz Library was built in 1947 when modern facilities were paramount to the growing seminary.

The A.R. Wentz Library houses the Seminary Archives, home to materials relating to:

• day-to-day Seminary operations
• individuals such as Seminary's founder Rev. Samuel Simon Schmucker and other distinguished professors, presidents and alumni
• non-seminary documents on Lutheran history
• ULCA and LCA organizations
• church-related biographical data about ministers that have served in this region
• Congregational History File that contains information about churches in the area

The A.R. Wentz Library is also houses the Region 8 Archives, a separate collection that contains records created by ELCA synods and disbanded congregations within the eastern portion of ELCA Region 8: Central Pennsylvania (Allegheny Synod, Lower Susquehanna Synod, and Upper Susquehanna Synod), Delaware and most of Maryland (Delaware-Maryland Synod), and the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area (Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod). It also houses some records from ELCA Region 8 predecessors such as the Central Pennsylvania Synod and the Maryland Synod.