Collections
Concordia Historical Institute is one of the world's largest repositories of information on Lutheranism in North America. With over 1,400 individual collections and more than 2.6 million documents, the archives and manuscript holdings document American Lutheran history from the 19th century "Old Lutheran" immigration movements to the present.
As the Department of Archives and History of The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Institute preserves the records of boards, commissions, committees, task forces, officers and other official entities of the Synod. The holdings also include personal papers of theologians, professors, pastors, teachers and lay leaders of the church, as well as records of synodical districts, congregations, educational institutions and other Lutheran organizations.
For information on our policies regarding access to our collections, please see our Reference & Research page.
The library catalog of Concordia Historical Institute is accessible through the search page of MOBIUS, the Missouri State library catalog. CHI's library books are non-circulating, as is the case with many archival libraries. The intent of CHI's library is to inform and assist patrons concerning what has been produced in print about Lutheranism in America.
The archives catalog of Concordia Historical Institute will search the archival collections using ArchivesSpace. The data contained in the records is a work-in-progress, as we converted our old in-house archival database into ArchivesSpace. As we are able we will add more content to the records.
The photo gallery of Concordia Historical Institute contains photos from the various collections within the archives. Photos of people, places, events, clergy, teachers, churches, missionaries, chaplains, and class composites comprise some of the content of this gallery.
The first photos that have been entered are from the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod mission to India, the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission. More photos from the various collections are being added in an ongoing effort to provide patrons with the touchstones of Lutheran history.
If you find that the description of the photo is incorrect, or if you can supply information about the photograph, please let us know. We welcome your suggestions!
