Spreading Awareness About Archives

October is American Archives Month! Since 2006, this month is dedicated to promoting the work of archivists, individuals who collect and preserve items of enduring value, and the institutions in which they work. Archivists play a vital role in making these materials accessible to the public. Without archivists and Archives to preserve the unique records of institutions and individuals, the past would be forgotten. The Seminary Archives in the A.R. Wentz Library collects materials of importance relating to the history and day-to-day operations of the Seminary. Many people have heard of Archives, but are not quite sure what they are. Since we are celebrating American Archives this month, there will be a series of blog posts guided toward spreading awareness about the Seminary Archives, what we house, and how can we benefit you as a patron. This first post will be a general introductory post answering basic questions about what an archive is and what archivists do.

Karen's Fall Reading Recommendations

I hope everyone on campus is now settled for Fall Semester 2016!

I wanted to celebrate the Fall season, not just for cooler temperatures, but for its traditions, celebrations and beautiful changes to Mother Nature. With that in mind, in our Library’s collection I have found a couple of inspirational books and a well-known essay by Henry David Thoreau. I searched some fun facts about Fall, and interesting information about the Autumn Equinox. There is even a playlist of great worship songs for autumn--I got you covered!

Come in and take a look in our display cases – you might read or see something you never knew or saw before!

New Archives Exhibit: Signed Mother Teresa Biography

The Seminary Archives has a new exhibit up featuring our newest acquisition! On September 9th, 2016 Rev. Richard Englund donated a biography signed by Mother Teresa during a special Morning Prayer service in commemoration of her canonization. Mother Teresa was canonized, "St. Teresa of Calcutta" on September 5, 2016 by the Roman Catholic Church. Rev. Englund also donated a photograph of St. Teresa with Alice DeGama Brown, whom is the connection between Rev. Englund and the biography written by Navin Chawla.

An important figure to all Christians around the world, the Seminary Archives is delighted to have this signed biography and photograph. We welcome anyone who would like to view them in the A.R. Wentz Library lobby.

Want to learn more about Seminary Archives holdings or Gettysburg Seminary History? Contact Assistant Archivist Sheila Joy by email at sjoy@ltsg.edu or by phone at 717- 339-1317.

Library Resources

Library staff member, Sue Currens, is always happy to help!

Welcome all returning and new students here at the Seminary! The library would like to remind you of the many resources available to help make this fall semester a great one as you work hard towards your educational goals.

If you are a returning student, we would like to highlight some new and updated resources available to you, such as the new A.R. Wentz Library Digital Journal Archives and updated Free Online Websites and Resources Directory. The Seminary Archives is also continually updating its Digital Collections, enabling archival resources to be more accessible. Click read more below to view more of our resources.

A.R. Wentz Digital Journal Archive Now Live

The library is proud to announce that the Digital Journal Archive is now live and accessible to the public. Months of digitization work have gone into creating this new resource that currently provides free access to 100 issues from sixteen journals dating back to the nineteenth century.

The journal archive includes titles like The Christian Disciple, The Home-Maker Monthly, The North American Review, and The Presbyterian Quarterly Review. Collectively the titles in the archive cover a range of topics and all eras of the 1800’s.

All of the issues that are in the archive are delivered as full text searchable PDF files. You can access the Digital Journal Archive from here or use the link available under the Quick Links heading on the library homepage.

This is only the first set of journals that will be added. There are many new titles and hundreds more issues to come, so stay tuned for future announcements of new content.   

New Archives Exhibit: Impact of the Civil War on the Seminary Archives

There is a new exhibit on display in the Library Lobby! Continuing with the theme of the Civil War in honor of the 153rd anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the new exhibit is entitled, "The Impact of the Civil War on the Seminary Archives." This exhibit complements the previous post on the A.R. Wentz Library Blog, The Civil War's Impact on the Seminary Archives. On display you will find materials from the Samuel Simon Schmucker Collection that predate the Civil War, withstanding the Confederate attack on July 1, 1863.

Want to learn more about Samuel Simon Schmucker and Gettysburg Seminary History? Contact Assistant Archivist Sheila Joy by email at sjoy@ltsg.edu or by phone at 717- 339-1317.

The Civil War's Impact on the Seminary Archives

153 years ago the grounds of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG) were quite different than today. On the morning of July 1, 1863 the campus was filled with union troops. Soon thereafter, three buildings (pictured above) were occupied by confederate soldiers and became sites of refuge for the wounded and dying: Schmucker Hall or "Old Dorm" (center), the Schmucker House (right), and the Krauth House (left). The Battle of Gettysburg was underway.

The devastation of war is highly examined in academia, literature, and entertainment, yet the effect that war has on archival repositories is not widely discussed. Although the act of keeping items of value has been around since the beginning of humankind, the concept of security measures or a disaster plan did not exist until the second half of the twentieth century. LTSG had been collecting seminary-related documents of importance since its founding in 1826. Housed in founder Dr. Samuel Simon Schmucker's own home which stood on seminary grounds, the morning of July 1, 1863 had a devastating impact on what is available for research today. Keep on reading to learn more.