*NEW* Digital Platforms and Collections (under construction)
The ULS Library and its Archives have begun an exciting new era of digitizing materials using professional standards. Currently, the library has digitized the following new materials.
  • Collections Hosted at PA Photos & Docs
    • 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.
  • Hosted in the ULS Digital Library (under construction)
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Elsie Singmaster Lewars

FINDING AID

Click here to view the finding aid.

MANUSCRIPTS

PHOTOGRAPHS

LETTERS

ARTICLES

Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Society of Inquiry on Missions
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.

Student Papers: Altman-Ziegler, 1820s to 1840s
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  
Student Papers: Unknown Authors, 1820s to 1840s
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, Minutes, Financial Reports, Student Memoirs
  • 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
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Henry Clay Shindle (Seminarian, 1862-1864)
  • 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
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Sermons
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
David Day
David Day Letters
Rev. Silas Daugherty Diaries
April-May 1908
June-July 1908
August-September 1908
October 1908
September and December 1912
January-March 1913
January-February 1916
Panama Congress, February 10-20, 1916
 
Rev. Morris Officer Diaries
1848-1852 Part 1
1848-1852 Part 2
1848-1852 Part 3

March-June 1854
Wesley L. Sadler Missionary Collection
Click here to view the finding aid to the collection.
 

Journals

Cuba, 1935
Anthropology Observations Vol. 1 c. 1950
Anthropology Observations Vol. 2 c. 1950
Anthropology Observations Vol. 3 c. 1950
Anthropology Observations Vol. 4 c.1950
Liberia Journal, 1957-1958
Papua New Guinea, 1974
 

Audio Recordings


 
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Audio Recordings

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
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu
Gettysburg Seminary Constitutions
Click the years below to view the constitutions.
Index of Seminary Archives
INFO AND CONTACTS
We are currently closed to the public. 

Victoria Jesswein, Assistant Archivist
vjesswein@uls.edu

Evan Boyd, Library Director and Archivist
eboyd@uls.edu