Tri-Synod Archives

Grace and peace,

I am delighted to report that the Tri Synod Archives is in the process of re-organizing. The Tri-Synod Archives Board of Directors convened in a re-organizational meeting by Zoom at 7:00 PM EDT, on Monday, 26 July 2021, Bishop Riegel served as chair pro tem, with Denise Hegemann, Brian Riddle, Curtis Thompson, Samantha Travis, and Nancy Knol, voting members present, Sally Roth (archivist), and Bishop Kusserow.

After a brief update of the current status of the archives, the new board elected officers. The Officers for the transition period until the Board’s first official meeting in September are as follows: Rev. Brian Riddle will serve as President, Samantha Travis will serve as Vice President, and Denise Hegemann will serve as Secretary.

A meeting date was set for the archive’s first organizational meeting on Saturday September 25th at 10:30am, on site at Thiel College. At that meeting, items to be discussed include: orientation to and status of the current archives, developing contact information to provide to people requesting assistance from the archives, choosing a Thiel liaison to the Board, issues around re-location, preservation and securing the Archive’s documents and artifacts, and dealing with the backlog of requests for information from the archives.

In August, Pr. Riddle met with Tressa Snyder, director of Thiel’s Langenheim Memorial Library, and John Hauser, Thiel’s Archivist, to discuss a possible move to a newly cleared portion of the Library basement where periodicals were once stored. As Thiel is re-structuring their library facilities in preparation for construction which will take place in the spring of 2022, the possibility of the archives moving to a new location in the former periodicals section was discussed and agreed upon. The space will need to be set up for the needs of the Tri-Synod archives, and a wall separating the Archives from the other materials in the library for order and security will need to be constructed. Although the final move will depend on available manpower and the timing of construction, boxes that were previously stored outside the door of the current space have already been moved to the new location. Further work is ongoing.

We hope to have the Archives re-organized and restored to capacity soon. In the meantime, the Board will continue to process the backlog of requests as expediently as possible. We thank the Northwest, Southwest, and West Virginia/West Maryland synods for their patience and continuing support as we move, update, and modernize our archives.

Respectfully Submitted,
Rev. Brian Riddle,
Campus Pastor, Thiel College
President, Tri-Synod Archive Board of Trustees