Historical Research Guide: Seminary Collections

• Proceedings of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in North America 
  Find here the published proceedings (minutes and accompanying material) of the conventions of the General Synod. Funding to digitize this material was provided by a grant from the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
• Proceedings of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America 
  Find here the published proceedings (minutes and accompanying material) of the conventions of the General Council. Funding to digitize this material was provided by a grant from the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
• Proceedings of the United Synod of the South 
  Find here the published proceedings (minutes and accompanying material) of the conventions of the United Synod of the South. Funding to digitize this material was provided by a grant from the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Materials from the Seminary's collections digitized by the Internet Archive.

• In Her Own Right: The Lutheran Deaconess Movement 
  Books and serial publications published by the various Lutheran Deaconess Communities in the United States, focused on those with Motherhouses in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Materials taken from the United Lutheran Seminary Library & Archives' and the Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia's collections. The “In Her Own Right” project has been made possible in part by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence.
• In Her Own Right: Women's Missionary Societies of the Lutheran Church 
  Books and manuscripts published or created by the various Lutheran Women's Missionary Societies of the General Synod, General Council, and United Synod of the South. Included here are both published materials from all three communities and manuscript minutes for the General Council's Women's Missionary Society. Taken from the collections at United Lutheran Seminary Library and Archives. The “In Her Own Right” project has been made possible in part by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence.
• In Her Own Right: The Annie E. Sanford Missionary Collection 
  Annie Evaline Sanford was born on February 4, 1873 in Springfield, Illinois and graduated from Carthage College in 1894. Annie Sanford completed five missionary terms in India from 1895-1902, 1904-1911, 1913-1920, 1922-1929, and 1931-1938. Primarily stationed at the Guntur Girls' School in Guntur, India, Miss Sanford assisted in hospital duties, taught Sunday school, and completed local missionary work during her service. During travel and work, Miss Sanford kept a journal that she would write for several months, then would send back to her family as a letter. For consistency purposes, this finding aid refers to the documents as letter journals to express their dual function in Miss Sanford’s life. In her letters, she chronicles her experiences spreading education and Christianity with communities in India. She also highlights local customs, the rigid Indian caste system, the weather, traveling throughout India, and current events in India and in the U.S. Each time Miss Sanford would travel between the U.S. and India, she would take a different route to tour parts of North Africa, Asia, and Europe, and this is reflected in her letters. Taken from the collections of United Lutheran Seminary Library & Archives. The “In Her Own Right” project has been made possible in part by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence.

Through the assistance of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, ULS Library & Archives has been able to digitize some of its holdings on women & the church in the 19th and early 20th century. We hope these materials will help shed light on the contributions women have made to the life of the church and society over the past 200 years.