Digital Collections

• 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. 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. 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: 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.

• Lifelong Learning Videos
  Videos produced by ULS and hosted on YouTube. This is a hierarchical way to view videos, based on topic and year of the event.
• Lutheran Popular Press Periodicals
  ULS's online home of historic Lutheran popular press periodicals. These periodicals are being provided to the public freely for the use of students and scholars investigating the history of Lutherans in the United States. Navigate the "Browse All" Menu to access each periodical or skim through the full collection.
• Annual Proceedings of Historic National Lutheran Bodies
  • Proceedings of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in North America 
    Funded by 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 
    Funded by a grant from the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • Proceedings of the United Synod of the South 
    Funded by a grant from the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Publications from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
  • LTSP Indicator (1881-1891)
  • The Philadelphia Seminary Bulletin (1916-1984)
  • PS : the Philadelphia Seminary Bulletin (1985-2017)
  • The Seminarian (1937-2011) (student publication -- coming soon!)
  • Publications from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
    • Table Talk (1964-1999) (student publication)
  • Graduating Student Photographs from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg

FINDING AID

Click here to view the finding aid.

MANUSCRIPTS

• Common Service Book and Hymnal, 1918
• Seminary Hymn, 1926
• The Ladies of Hanover, play about Women's Missionary Society, by Elsie Singmaster, 1888
• In Tent and Bungalow by Amy Sadtler Albrecht (Lutheran missionary in Hindu Girls School, Guntur, India), edited by Elsie Singmaster Lewars
• The Unconquerable Hope, undated

PHOTOGRAPHS

• Portrait, 1893
• Portrait, 1895
• Portrait, 1928
• In front of old public library in Gettysburg, PA, 1948
• On park bench, 1948

LETTERS

• From Elsie Singmaster Lewars to "Luellla and George," June 5, 1945
• Ben Peery to Harold Philip Bell mentioning Elsie Singmaster , January 9, 1924
• Charles Livingston to Elsie Singmaster
  • October 28, 1924
  • January 17, 1925
  • June 29, 1935 (handwritten)
  • June 29, 1935 (typed)
• Series of replies to Elsie Singmaster regarding Robert Moffat Livingston's service in the Union Army under the name "Rupert Vincent," 1935

ARTICLES

• Short biography, The Lyons-Bernville Lutheran Parish Dear Book, 1932
• Honorary Recogition, Gettysburg College Bulletin, January, 1959
• "Lewars passed on her beliefs through books," The Morning Call, June 4, 2000
• "Susan Hill to talk about Elsie Singmaster Nov. 29," Gettysburg Times, November 16, 2000
• "Program to focus on area author," Gettysburg Times, November 25, 2000
• "Out of the Past," Gettysburg Times, June 10, 2009
• "New Elsie Singmaster Society to meet locally," September 5, 2013
• "The positive impact of Elsie Singmaster," October 19, 2013
• "Christ Lutheran hosts dramatized story of Gettysburg this Friday," Gettysburg Times, November 14, 2013
• "1895: Gettysburg's first attempt at a public library," Gettysburg Times, February 19, 2014
• "'Elsie Singmaster: Stories of Gettysburg' to be presented at Seminary Ridge Museum," March 25, 2014
• "Singmaster to be topic of ACHS meeting," March 31, 2014
• "Elsie Singmaster wrote of life in Gettysburg," Gettysburg Times, June 25, 2014
• "Singmaster to be featured at ACAC Brown Bag Lunch," December 20, 2015
• "Early 20th-century novelist with Valley Ties fought for women's education," The Morning Call, undated

FINDING AID

REPORTS, 1883-1889

• March 18-April 18, 1883
• June 27-July 8, 1883
• July 23, 1883
• July 26-August 31, 1883
• September 13, 1883
• October, 1883
• Special Report: Chicago Cornerstone Laying, October, 1883
• January 14, 1884
• February 11, 1884
• March 10, 1884
• April 14, 1884
• May 8, 1884
• July, 1884
• August 14, 1884
• November 13, 1884
• December 11, 1884
• January 3, 1885
• February 12, 1885
• May 14, 1885
• January 14, 1886
• February 11, 1886
• April 18, 1886
• May 13, 1886
• June 17, 1886
• November 11, 1886
• December 9, 1886
• April 14, 1887
• May 14, 1887
• July 24, 1887
• August 8, 1887
• September 10, 1887
• October 20, 1887
• November 17, 1887
• December 8, 1887
• January 12, 1888
• February 14, 1888
• March 13, 1888
• April 10, 1888
• June 4, 1888
• July 10, 1888
• August 14, 1888
• September 11, 1888
• October 9, 1888
• November 13, 1888
• December 11, 1888
• April 11, 1888
• May 9, 1888
• July 16, 1889
• 10th Biennial Report Part 1, 1889
• 10th Biennial Report Part 2, 1889

CORRESPONDENCE

Introduction to the Collection by the Rev. Dr. Maria E. Erling

Student writing on mission began in the mid-1820s at the Reverend Samuel Simon Schmucker’s parsonage in New Market, Virginia.

The Gettysburg Seminary Archives includes handwritten reports given by students beginning in 1824 and continuing through the 1890s. Some are written in German, while the large majority are in English.

The Society of Inquiry on Missions solicited funds and corresponded with other mission societies--Hartwick Seminary in Oneonta, New York; Andover Seminary in Massachusetts; Princeton Seminary in New Jersey; and Pittsburg Seminary in Pennsylvania--with the goal of expanding missionary interest among students of theology. Correspondence between Gettysburg’s society and other societies at Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Congregational Seminaries, indicates the Evangelical rather than sectarian ethos of missionary interest in the antebellum era.

The papers in this collection were written by students and presented by them to the society during a recitation day once every month over the course of several years and provide a record of the type of work done by students.

Throughout the 19th century the society remained central to the seminary experience. The focus of the student interest in mission changed during this time; the early reports on foreign mission work, for instance, gave way after 1865 to a more frequent focus on the needs of home mission. During the 1890s recitations at meetings no longer focused on foreign missionaries but instead were largely tributes to deceased graduates of the seminary, irrespective of whether they had undertaken mission work. By the end of the century mission enthusiasm seemed to have waned. Instead of lists of individual contributors, the treasurer had begun to assess individuals to pay off the society’s debts. The records continue until the 1919 audit.

To view, click on the title of the paper.
 

AUTHOR	TITLE/SUBJECT	DATE PRESENTED	SOCIETY NUMBER
Altman, Daniel Smith	The Present Religous Condition of Turkey	c. 1843-1845
Anspack, John	German Language	c. 1827
Anspack, John George	What Method Instruction Is Best Calculated to Recommend the Religion of Jesus to the Heathen	c. 1830
Anstadt, Peter	South America	1845	17
Arey, Benjamin	What God Has Seen Fit...	1834
[Artz, William]	Superstition...as it prevails in the modern times as in the Island of Ceylon	1828	9
Artz, William	A Dissertation on the Wants of the Lutheran Church in the Country	c. 1829
Bishop, Henry	[Subject: Green and Latin churches]	c. 1838
Capito, George	Following is an account of a Mission to Caffraria, of the Settlement at Algoa Bay, and of a Missionary Establishment at Bethelsdorf	1827
Cline, Jno [John] P.	A short history of the Missionary labors of that truly eminent servant of the Lord Mr. Grube	1824
Cline, John Philip	Danish Mission to Tranquebar	1824
Cline, John Philip	Life and adventures of Mrs. Harriet Newell, Missionary to India	1825	8
Crist, George W.	Our African Mission	1876
Croll, Philip Columbus	Our Home Missions	1878
Deitz, Archibald Edwin	Missions, Theoretically Considered	1891
Diehl, Michael	Missionary Operations of the United States Brethren in South Africa	1844
Diehl, Samuel S.	Gettysburg Seminary in Foreign Missions	1891
Duey, Jacob C.	Gutzlaff	1835
Duey, Jacob C.	An abstract of the life of Felix Neff	1836	93
Egede, Hans	[Danish and Moravian Mission Work in Greenland]	1827
Eggers, Louis Gustavus	[Johann Frederick Oberlin]	1832	101
Eggers, Louis Gustavus	[On the life of Joseph Barr; Missionary to Africa]	1834	80
Ehrenfeld, George Frederick	Sketch of the life of [August Hermann] Franke	1840	115
Eichelberger, Lewis	By What Arguments Can We Best Convince the Mohammedan of the Falsity of His Religion	1827
Ellinger, Johann G.	[In German]	1837
Ellinger, Johann G.	[In German]	c. 1836-1837
Eyster, Michael	[Essay of John F. Oberlin in France]	[1836-1838]	46
Fasold, Peter Born	The First Missionary	1892
Finckel, Samuel DeVin	[In German]	1828
Flick, Henry Herman	The Missionary Outlook	1893
Gerhardt, Leonard	Inducements to zeal and activity in the propagation of the Gospel	1837	97
Guenther, Charles C.	Missionary Address	1834
Harris, J. G.	China	1840
Hauer, Washington C.	Africa	1845	107
Hay, Charles A.	The Armenian Church	1840
Heck, John	Madagascar	1840
Hiester, John P.	An enquiry into the advantages of the present over the apolstolic age for evangelizing the world	1840	121
Hoover, Jesse	Missionary Essay read before the First September of 183?	183?
Hope, John C.	Does the home Missionary field afford an equal or greater opportunity for usefulness than that among the infidel or heathen nations?	1830	11
Hope, John C.	When has a Christian discharged his duty to the Heathen?	1830	38
Hoshour, Samuel K.	A Missionary Account of a mission sent from Denmark to Tranquebar in the beginning of the 18th century	c. 1885
Keller, Ezra	[Use of Biography in Education]	c. 1836
Kempfer, Abraham	Should a missionary persue [sic] a complete course of theological education previous to his departure to heathen lands?	1828	15
Kohler, D.	[Whence came all these? And how where the[y] all wisely arranged?]	1836	90
Laitzle, William Gottlieb	The Character and Missionary Labours of [David] Brainerd	1839
Lehman, John C.	What is the Present Condition and Prospect of Missionary Success Among the Jews?	1839
Lehman, John	Polynesia	1840
McDowell, Samuel James	History of the Guntoor Mission	1891
Morris, Joannis G.	Mission to Tranquebar and Madras	1824
Morris, John Gottlieb	A short history of the missionary labors of that truly eminent servant of the Lord David Zeisberger of the?	1824
Morris, John Gottlieb	Subjects: Ziegenbalg, Swartz, Schultz, Jaenicke, and Gericke	1825
[Moser, Daniel]	On the Question: What are the advantages or benefits, which accrue to a people engaged in the missionary cause?	1828	18
Oehrle, Benjamin	Missionary Address	1826/1827
Reck, Henry	A Short Sketch of the Life of Matthew Stack	c. 1850-1852
Reck, John	Christian researchers into Asia by the Rev'd Claudius Buchanan, L.L.D.	1825
Reynolds, William Morton	Missionary Address: History of Missions, Continuations of the History of the Labours of the United Brethren in South America	1828
Reynods, William Morton	Facilities of the Present over the Apostolic age for evangelizing the World	Undated	30?
Rossenmiller, David P.	On the Crosses of Missionary Life and The manner in which they are to be borne	1828	19
Rossenmiller, David P.	On the importance of Missions	1827	3
S	Essay on the Importance of Home Missions	Undated
Samuel	Subject: Africa	Undated
Scherer, Simeon	The Relation Which the Lutheran Church in the United States Sustains to Foreign Missions. Should She at Present Do More Comparatively Than She Has Done?	1847
Scull, William	The pleasures of the missionary, which he will enjoy through the performance of his work.	1828	20?
Sentman, Solomon	[To review the past history of missionary effort in the Christian world]	1839	104
Sharretts, Nicholas G.	Is learned education as necessary for the missionary among the Heathen, as for the minister of the gospel in a christian country?	1827	15?
Shull, William	The Design of God	Undated
Snyder, Jeremiah Milton	A Sketch of the Missionary  Life and Labors of Rev. John Scudder, M.D. for Thirty-Six Years Missionary in India	1877
Steck, David H.	NY Baptist Advocate 1840	1840
Stech, David H.	[The Nestorians]	1840
[Ulrich, John]	The Life of (Rev John) Eliod [sic, i.e. Eliot]	c. 1832
Volger, Jesse	A Concise Narrative of the Life and Travels of Reginald Heber	1830
Wadsworth, William A.	Nestorians	1839
Wagner, Samuel	Why Is It That Such a Comparatively Small Number of the Human Family Have the Gospel?	1838
Weiser, Reuben B.	On the Question: Should the Civil Government Take Any Part in the Extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom?	1838
Weiser, Reuben B.	Missionary Essay or Sketch of Rev. Edward Payson	1831
Welker, Joseph	Motives to Missionary Efforts	1847
Weyl, Joseph	History of the American Colonists of Liberia	1828
Williams, John T.	[When we meditate on the fact...]	1838
Williard, Philip	What Is the Present Moral Condition of the World?	1840
Ziegler, Jacob	The Duty of Spreading the Gospel	1837

To view, click on the title of the paper.
 

TITLE/SUBJECT	DATE PRESENTED	SOCIETY NUMBER
The Reason Why Every Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Should Pocess [sic] a Missionary Spirit	1822
[The Memory of Swartz, Gernicke, Schultz, and ?]	1825
The Pleasures of the Missionary	1828
[On missionary work in Lahaina, Maui, Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii]	1828
Missionary Address On the Life and Exertions of Mr. David Brainerd Missionary to the Indians	1829
Memoir of the Life of Reverend Samuel Bacon	1830	41
An Essay Upon the Conversion, of Henry Martin...	1830
[By what means can the amilioration [sic] of the heathen by effected?]	1830
Life of Mrs. Ann H. Judson	1831
[Is it desireable [sic] that a man who intends to devote himself to Missionary labors should have acquired some trade of business by which he might maintain himself...	Undated
Missionary Labours in the Sandwich Islands	Undated
Professing to go to heathens and really doing it?	Undated
The Majority of This... (Subject: Dr. Payson and other American missionary society efforts; illness)	Undated
[Polycarp]	Undated
[In German]	Undated
[The Heathen and Popery]	Undated
[The Forming of Mission Societies]	Undated
[Reasons why the world should assist in spreading the Gospel	Undated
What Has Presented a More Beneficial Effect of the Gospel Among the Indians?	Undated
What is the best plan to be adapted for the conversion of the Jews	Undated
Biography of Joseph Alleine	Undated
The Life of John Arndt	Undated
Biography of Catharine Brown, A Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation	Undated	37
Claudius Buchanan	Undated	43
A Sketch of the Life and Martrydom of Ignatius	Undated
Memoirs of Joshua Marsden	Undated
Memoirs of Rev Samuel J Mills.	Undated
A Speech on the Principal Traits of the Character and Incidents of the Life of Mrs. Harriet Newell	Undated	[sic] 8
Clemeno Romanus	Undated
Life of the  Rev William Tennent	Undated
The Life and Missionary Labours of that Holy Man Francis Xavier	1829
[Augustus Hermann Franke Biography] (In German)	Undated
[In German]	Undated

• Constitution, By-Laws, and Proceedings, 1827-1856
• Minutes, Constitution, By-Laws, and Rules of Election, 1867-1886
• Proceedings, 1868-1873
• Treasurer's Record, 1886-1919
• Treasurer's Report, 1873
• Missionary Benevolence (from Seminary students), 1915-1922
• Reports: Wittenberg, 1833
• Reports: Executive Committee of Missionary Society, 1835
• Reports: English Report of Executive Committee (English and German), 1836
• Reports: Committee Report, 188?
• Reports: Report of the Committee of the Theological Missioary Society, undated

• Notebook recording the lectures in several courses he attended as a seminarian.

              01 - Apologetics, Nov-Dec 1862
              02 - Encyclopaedia & Methodology, Jan-Feb 1863 
              03 - Modern Atheism, March-April 1863
              04 - Homiletics, May-June 1863
              05 - Dogmatic History, Oct-Dec 1863
              06 - Homiletics, Feb-March 1864
              07 - Unidentified Class, Romish Errors, April-May 1864

• The Church that Makes God Sick, Rev. Robert W. Koons. April 7, 1968
• Isaiah 53, Rev. Herman G. Stuempfle, April 10, 1968

Links will open to external site where they may be streamed

• Martin Luther King Sr.'s Visit to LTSG, April 24, 1969

              01 - Address to Seniors at Lutheran Brotherhood Banquet
              02 - Informal Discussion with Seniors
              03 - Informal Discussion with Seminary Community

Click the years below to view the constitutions.

• 1826
• 1826 (German)
• 1840
• 1869
• 1905
• 1926
• 1951
• 1964
• 1978
• 1999
• 2001
• 2003