Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia is the Northeast Regional Archives (Region 7) for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It is a part of a network of nine regional archives programs and a national level (churchwide) archives in the ELCA. Our service area is limited to Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upstate New York (excluding the Metropolitan New York City area) and New England. We carry on the work of our predecessors in the first Lutheran Church organization in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States, founded on August 15, 1748 by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. The archives was recognized as a part of the church organization in 1792.
The Archives have been housed on the campus of the Philadelphia Seminary since 1889, and are located in the undercroft of The Brossman Learning Center. The Archives collections are now completely contained in a large vault area with compact shelving, now better organized. A reference library room provides books frequently used, as well as space for researchers to work in comfortable surroundings. The Archives office is across the hall.
The Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia is a separately incorporated entity managed by its own board of directors. It is managed separately from the United Lutheran Seminary Library and its archival collections in Gettysburg.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET
Available by Appointment Only
215.248.6383
info@lacphila.org
Sheila Joy, Archivist
archivist@lacphila.org