Featured image is of the construction of the Seminary Chapel in 1930s
The Ongoing Recovery Story of Concordia Theological Seminary Archives
by Rev. Dr. Sam Thompson
The historical documents in the Archives serve as our compass in understanding who we have been called to be and what we have been called to do—as they point to what Christ has graciously done in our midst.
These are the words of Rev. Dr. Daniel Harmelink (Director of Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis, MO), who recently visited the seminary to help re-build its Archives. The Archives located at the Seminary Campus are home to some 14,000 distinct documents. They capture well the life, breath, and sweat of the ministry of the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission (MELIM) and the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC), spanning a period of one hundred and twenty four years. These distinct archival materials give us much hope by providing us with an opportunity to move into the future, in service of the Lord, making us aware of our roots and trails in the past.
Past Struggles
Not all was going on well with the CTSN archives for the past two decade or so. The Archival room and the documents had been neglected. The physical condition of the room and the documents had been gradually deteriorating. The vast majority of the documents received irreparable harm caused by ant infestation and many were damaged by mildew, making the survival of the documents difficult. Then recently cyclone OCKHI hit the Seminary campus in December 2017, putting the physical condition of the Archival room in further danger. Thus the very survival of the archives began to become a grave concern.
The Beginnings of Recovery
The recovery story of the CTSN Archives began, when the desperate plight of the Archives caught the attention of Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson (Director, LCMS Disaster Response Department) in February 2018. He was visiting the Seminary campus to evaluate the progress of Phase I of Disaster Relief work funded by the LCMS Disaster Response to the OCHKI-devastated seminary. Dr. Johnson soon listed Archive renovation as one of the top priority for the Phase II Disaster relief work. He also made arrangements for Rev. Dr. Daniel Harmelink to visit the CTSN Archives to provide all the technical assistance towards its recovery work.
The CTSN community’s longtime yearning for its archive renovation struck a perfect chord with Dr. Harmelink’s untiring passion and professional expertise during his ten-day visit in July/August 2018. The first official rite Dr. Harmelink performed was to cut the ribbon to open the new Archival Room renovated with the help of LCMS disaster response. Soon the herculean task to retrieve, preserve, catalogue, digitize and upload online the available resource received a perspective and a three year timetable. Dr. Harmelink personally worked long hours each day to clean up and retrieve the documents. He also found time to handpick and train four student workers to make sure that this project continue even after his departure from the campus.
Our Sincerest Thanks
The Concordia Theological Seminary records its sincere gratitude towards Dr. Harmelink for his leadership, innovate planning, and concentrate steps to move this important work forward. We also wish to thank Rev. Dr. Ross Johnson and the LCMS disaster Response team for helping us to revive the CTSN Archives. The seminary faculty in charge of the CTSN Archives, Rev. Dr. Sam Thompson and Rev. P. R. Selvaraj continue to work along with the seminary student workers under the guidance of Dr. Harmelink to make sure that the rare documents receive the ability to speak to us and to our future generation.
