Archives and Archivists.
What's that?
Why, we all have a bit of it in us. Check your attic, basement, or wherever you keep things from by-gone days. No doubt, you are hanging on to things that served a useful purpose in the past and you're not ready to throw them away. Why, it might even be useful again sometime. It has memories for you. Hopefully, your kids or grandkids will cherish it also because it will remind them of what things were like before they were around.
IDE is one of 35 districts in the LCMS and has used its archives to gather things of historical value about the church in Iowa. IDE has an "attic" [literally] in the headquarters in Cedar Rapids where things of the past are kept. Things which have to do with the life and activity of its congregations down through the years. Things like pictures of IDE churches, congregation histories, and church bulletins of special occasions. Things like IDE Board of Directors minutes, official church seals, Walther League documents, microfilmed church records, and more. Each LCMS district has an appointed archivist to work their archives. IDE is the only district that has an Archives Committee.
I was appointed to the committee three years ago after returning from missionary work in Africa. The IDE Archivist is a volunteer position. IDE pays for supplies, mileage and attending some conferences. In my work, I try to spend every Wednesday at the office in Cedar Rapids sorting through piles of old documents, newly submitted material, and to be around if anyone in IDE wants to make personal contact with the archives. My goal is to make the archives a place where people want to come and do research on things of the past.
The IDE Archives has been around for a very long time. To add to what already exists, I have worked on creating a folder for each of the LCMS congregations that have ever existed in IDE. I am in the process of creating a list of all clergy that have served these congregations. A future project could be to do the same with IDE teachers. I am also working on indexing the obituaries of all the pastors that have served in IDE since day one.
To do that kind of work, it helps to have access to the old records of the LCMS. So I gave myself the task of collecting all of the issues of LCMS periodicals where this information has been recorded. This means that the IDE Archives needs certain back issues of Der Lutheraner, The Lutheran Witness, and The Reporter to complete its collection. If your "attic" has some of resources, would you be willing to donate it to our "attic"? If so, give me a call at (319) 938-2946, or send an e-mail [onamission@lbt.org] to find out just what your IDE Archives needs.
Allen E. Konrad, IDE Archivist
