Managing Mennonite Memory: Congregational Archival Records

by Dennis Stoesz

In the last column, I wrote about the management of current, inactive and archival records (April 1998). Now I would like to be more specific and explore the what, the when, the where, the who and the how of working with congregational records. Here is one church's experience.

In progress: East Goshen Mennonite Church

At East Goshen Mennonite Church, where I attend, a few interested persons met recently to discuss this task. The church had celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1992 by having a reunion of former pastors and members. But little work had been done with the older records. Now was an appropriate time also to do something because there was a change of pastors and a church secretary.

The interested persons included the current and former congregational historian and myself. We also quickly solicited the help of the chair of the Property Commission, the Administrative Assistant and the new Pastor, in making some decisions.

Church Secretary's Office

One of the first things was to take a tour of the church to see where the current and older records were located. The first stop was the church secretary's office. Marcella showed the committee three four- drawer filing cabinets that contained current and older records. She said she was in the process of cleaning them up. She was putting older materials, which dated from about 1986 to 1997, into the beige filing cabinet (4 drawers) and keeping more current records in the two black cabinets (8 drawers).

She also indicated that a part-time secretary had gone through these files earlier and pulled out the much older files, which dated from 1946-1986. These filled up seven Archival Banker Boxes. The year 1986 was a natural cut-off point, since it marked the change of pastors from Cliff Miller (1973-1986) to a team ministry of Dave Miller and Bob Keener, plus several shorter term ministers (1986-1997).

Historical Records Filing Cabinet

After hearing about this work, the committee felt it would be important to have some historical records remain in the main church office. It was a central and natural place of activity for the church, where persons like the pastor, the secretary, church officers, and members could have quick access to the "heritage and history" of the church.

They thought the beige four-drawer filing cabinet would be ideal for this, and that it could then be marked "Historical Files." The top drawer, for example, would include such things as a sample of old church bulletins, an old church directory, the constitution, newsletters, etc. The other three drawers could be a place where the inactive records from 1986-1996 could be stored. Although these records were not needed on a day-to-day basis, they provided an important "memory" for the church.

The committee tested this idea with the church secretary and the pastor, Steve, and received their green light. They also seemed grateful that someone was figuring out how to work with the older records of the church.

The next step would be to go through these four drawers and make a list of file titles found in this cabinet. This list would be the base from which one could discern what files were of long-term historical value.

An Archives Room

The next stop in the tour of the church was a storage room in the basement, which was located off the side of one of the Sunday school rooms. It was filled with the old church pulpit, Sunday School curriculum, trophies from several sports events, several unidentified boxes and some photograph albums. The congregational historian indicated that the photograph albums were valuable and should be kept. These albums were the result of the work of designated church photographers, paid by the church to take pictures at special events.

John, the chair of the Property Commission, then showed the committee another smaller room in the basement across from the elevator. It was 3' x 5' by 9' tall. It also had some shelves in it, and had a door with a lock on it. The committee agreed that this would be an ideal place for the beginning of an East Goshen "Archives Room." Here is where the older and bulkier church records could be stored. A key could be provided to each committee member for access to this room.

The committee then decided to transfer the seven Archival Banker boxes of records into this room. These were the boxes that were being stored in the church office. The photograph albums would also be transferred here, plus any other older church records.

Dan, the congregational historian, reported that he had done a cursory inventory of these boxes. They contained: 1) Church Bulletins, 1946-1996, but with a gap for the years 1960-1984, 2) the newsletter called Church Visitor, 1960-1996, but with a gap from 1960-1978, 3) several Church Directories, 4) Official Church Records, 1946-1986, filed alphabetically from A-Z, and found in four boxes, 5) MYF Photograph Album, 1979-1990, and 6) Special Events Photograph Album, 1987-1989.

The committee thought the next step would be to complete the set of church bulletins and newsletters, and to make a file folder listing of official church records, 1946-1986. This listing would be filed in the top drawer of the "Historical Records" filing cabinet in the church office, so the pastor, secretary and church officers would know what was in the "Archives Room".

Tape Recordings of Special Events and Worship Services

I reported that I had recently received a whole bunch of older cassette tapes from the librarian, when she had cleaned out the library. These tapes were of worship services. They had been cataloged into the library and used by church members. But now most of the older ones that were over a year old were no longer needed, and the librarian wanted to know what to do with them. I reported that he thought this would be a good opportunity for him to go through these tapes and see if there were any that should be kept.

The librarian found a total of 342 tapes dating from 1975-1997. There were however only 91 tapes from the period, 1975-1993, and most of these tapes were of special church events. The committee decided to keep half of these older tapes, plus the tapes that focussed specifically on East Goshen church events. We discarded tapes of conferences and special speakers that took place outside of the church.

Which of the 250 tapes from 1994-1997, when the church regularly recorded and kept tapes of all worship services, should be kept? In going through this list of tapes, the committee decided to keep only representative tapes of various speakers and services. This amounted to 25% of the tapes.

Photographs, History, Old Record Books, Video Tapes

Other older materials began surfacing. Melvin indicated that he still had some old photographs that he had collected during the 50th anniversary of the church. He also had done some research and had written a chronology that listed pastors, changes in the church building and membership. John noted that he had found an old Mennonite Youth Fellowship minute book when they had repainted the MYF room. Dan said that he knew that some videotapes had been made of several special events of the church. He noted further that I had collected those 120 cassette tapes.

The committee felt good that they could now say they had two places to put these materials. They could go either into the "Historical Files" in the main church office, or if the materials were bulky, they could be placed in the "Archives Room" downstairs.

Directory of Archives

Besides finding a place to put the records, an end result of this work would be to make an inventory of the church's Historical Records. A good example of such a listing is the one given me by Roscoe Miller, historian at Walnut Creek Mennonite Church, Ohio. In the preface, Miller writes:

"The first effort at documenting records of the church does not claim perfection. Materials have been found at unlikely places, others have been donated during the recent past. We hope this initial effort will help anyone doing research. We are grateful for a separate and rather adequate room. Members should feel free to use the archives."

The Table of Contents lists the various categories of materials that have been collected. The next 15 pages lists the individual items.

I found materials in the directory dating as far back as the 1850s, and as recent as the 1980s. There were also some historical articles that reached back to 1703. This directory provided me with a quick glimpse into the rich documents from the faith and heritage of the Walnut Creek Mennonite congregation from its beginnings in 1862 to the present.

Regional Archives

What then is the relationship between the congregation and the regional archives? What is the purpose of the regional archives? I would emphasize that a congregation should be in touch with their regional archives. For many years, it has been the Historical Committee of the Mennonite Church and the Conference Historians of the various conferences that have actively collected, organized and housed the archival records of their areas. This has included collecting congregational records.

For example, the Archives here at Goshen has been the repository for the congregations of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference, including East Goshen Mennonite Church. In checking East Goshen's congregational box, one finds a complete set of church bulletins from 1946-1997. One also finds several old photographs and a few tape recordings. This is the result of the regional archives actively collecting these records.

It would be advantageous for each congregational historian to go to the regional archives to make a list of what is found in their congregational box. Some things in that box may duplicate what is found at the church, but that means that the church has a second insurance set available to them.

In the end, it is an encouragement to the persons at the regional archives to see historians from the local congregations actively collecting records. The regional archivist would be able to provide further guidance on what is of long-term value, how best to store the records, and how to organize and make a list of them.

With the great amount of paper generated by congregations since the 1950s, I think it will also prove helpful for both congregational historian and archivist to put their heads together to decide what materials are of ultimate historic and archival value. This value is not uniform for every congregation, since each has its own history and way of collecting their records.

Space can also be a premium at a regional archives, which is not equipped to handle the large amounts of paper generated by a congregation. So it is advantageous for the church to take responsibility in collecting its own records, and together with the regional archives, to decide what records are of most value.

At some point a congregation may decide to transfer certain older historical records to the regional archives. For example, the Holdeman Mennonite Church, Wakarusa, Indiana, has deposited its old Membership Record Book in their congregational box at the Archives. In the end, a regional archives may become the main repository for the most valuable older church records.

Another reason to visit the regional archives is to see the broader history and life of an individual congregation. For example, at the Archives of the Mennonite Church in Goshen, one can page through the record books of the Young People's Christian Association of Goshen College to find that these young people held Sunday Schools in East Goshen from the 1920s-1940s. This is the background to the official founding of the church in 1942.

The Task of the Congregational Historian

I can not begin to cover all the aspects of this work in this one article, but hopefully the examples above will offer some encouragement and guidelines. I would also like to point you to the 20-page booklet The Task of the Congregational Historian (1994), available for $2.00. It includes sections on a) collecting, 2) preservation, 3) interpreting your church's history, 4) directory of regional archives, 5) suggestions on writing a congregational history, and 6) conservation supplies.

Another good resource put out by the General Conference and Mennonite Brethren Churches is the 30-page Heritage Preservation, by David A. Haury (1993), available for $5.00. It covers almost all aspects of this work. Both these books can be ordered from the Archives of the Mennonite Church, here in Goshen.

The Story of Your Congregational Records

In my work, I keep hearing stories of how various churches have worked with their records. Yesterday I heard that Salem Mennonite Church, near Goshen, Indiana, had built cabinets upstairs in the men's coatroom, which was no longer being used. This is a natural place to start housing some of the older records. This spring I received a telephone call from Southside Fellowship, Elkhart, Indiana, asking how one decides how long to keep sermon tapes. I did not hear the final results.

This spring I also saw the display case that Forks Mennonite Church, Middlebury, Indiana, had built. Here the story was told of all the missionaries that have been sent out from this congregation. Several years ago Roscoe Miller had shown me the Archives Room at Walnut Creek (Ohio) Mennonite Church.

Last year I talked with Joel Troyer over the telephone, and discussed his efforts at the Parkview Mennonite Church, Kokomo, Indiana, And I heard that North Main Street Mennonite Church, Nappanee, Indiana, has a "Homer North Historical Library," named after a former minister.

When I visited with Illinois congregational historians at a workshop in Metamora two years ago, my impression was that it is easier to have anniversary celebrations than find a handle to work with older church records. But I also sensed an eagerness among the 24 workshop participants to start working with their church records.

I would invite you to send in a report of the work that has been done with your church's records. I would then incorporate it into this column. This can be one way we can encourage and help each other preserve and tell our story of faith and heritage.

I will end with a story. When I was in my teen years and showed some interest in our church's history, my father took me to church and showed me a room that had been specially built to house the church's records. He opened the door, and when I walked in all I saw was an empty room. My father explained that it was going to become a place to house older records. That was thirty years ago. I wonder what that room now contains.

In the next article for this column (April 1999), I plan to write about the current, inactive and archival records of the boards and agencies of the Mennonite Church.

Dennis Stoesz has been an Archivist at the Archives of the Mennonite Church since 1989

Mennonite Historical Bulletin, October 1998