PRESERVING OUR STORY

Lutheran Archives gathers your records - your stories - and we preserve and share those stories.
Come and enjoy the harvest!
Become our friend!

Interested in history? Enjoy a good story? Want to learn more? Join our enthusiastic group of supporters by becoming a Friend of Lutheran Archives (FoLA). We encourage the collection and preservation of archival material and to promote the work of the Lutheran Archives.
LCA Ministry Support
Lutheran Archives is a department of the Executive Office of the Church, also known as Ministry Support. It is one of five departments exercising the 'enabling' functions outlined in our Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) Strategic Direction 2015–2018. Working with us are:
Together we provide the support services for LCA and Lutheran Church of New Zealand (LCNZ) agencies and congregations that enable them to focus on their mission and ministry activities (the 'go' and 'grow' priorities in our LCA Strategic Direction).
Lutheran Archives
Lutheran Archives acknowledges and pays our respects to the Kaurna people, the traditional custodians whose ancestral lands we gather on. We acknowledge the ongoing deep relationship of the Kaurna people to country and we respect and value their past, present and ongoing connection to the land and cultural beliefs.
Lutheran Archives opening hours
As of July 2023 our NEW public opening hours are Tuesdays - Thursdays from 9.30am - 3.30pm. We are closed on Mondays and Fridays.
We have recently made it FREE to access the collection onsite. This is part of our commitment to make the records of the LCANZ as accessible as possible (whilst of course respecting privacy principles, sensitive - including secret and sacred First Nations records - and current business records)
Charges apply for providing copies of records, detailed scoping of our holdings, and services such as transcription and translation.
Please note that bookings are essential if planning to visit for research or to deposit records.
Please ring us on (08) 8340 4009 or email us before a visit to Lutheran Archives to make an appointment.
See our protocols and advice for:
Please do not drop off or send us deposits without speaking to us first, as there are a few processes to undertake before we can receive records.
About us
Lutheran Archives holds a harvest of stories that show God’s love coming to life – the stories of the congregations, departments and the people of the church. Lutheran Archives gathers and preserves these stories from all over Australia and the Pacific – wherever the church is involved. We share the stories of the LCA/NZ across the church and in the wider public. We enable others to encounter these stories through research, so they can share their stories and experiences of love coming to life.
A wide variety of people access these records: congregations, family historians, academic researchers, creative artists and filmmakers. These records help people to write congregation histories, fill gaps in family trees, understand our cultural diversity, further Aboriginal language research, and restore identity. The power of these records cannot be overestimated.
By depositing records at Lutheran Archives, the stories of your ministries can be encountered by members of the church and public, told and disseminated to a myriad of audiences. We are able to turn your records deposited at Lutheran Archives into new ministries by providing and enabling access to them.
How we serve
As a ministry support department, Lutheran Archives is here to support you in your ministries. We can assist you with:
- advice on managing your records
- caring for your permanent records that you no longer regularly access.
Managing your records appropriately enables you to focus on carrying out your current ministries – beginning with records in your possession and continuing into the future when they are deposited at Lutheran Archives.
Lutheran Archives identifies records to be deposited. We make those records accessible through arrangement and description, indexing, translation and digitisation, and we provide contextual understanding for researchers to interpret those records.
Through presentations, exhibitions, publications, seminars and events, we disseminate the harvest of stories throughout the Lutheran community and beyond. Join Friends of Lutheran Archives to feast on these stories.
Partner with us
You and your ministries are the foundation of our ministry.
- Ensure you create records within your congregation, mission, auxiliary or department, and of your personal experiences in the church.
- Manage those records appropriately while you are using them.
- Deposit those records (minutes, correspondence, artefacts, films, photographs) when they are no longer being regularly used.
The fact that people in the past took the trouble to preserve their story means that we are blessed today with their harvest. Take the time today to preserve this generation’s fruit, so that there will be a harvest of stories for our children and grandchildren.
Events
Congregation records – guidelines
This document provides information on what records congregations should keep and how to protect them. Click here to download.
'Stepping Stones'
Read the stories from one of The Lutheran's most popular columns.
Services
Scope of collection
Where to find us
Lutheran Archives
27 Fourth Street, Bowden SA 5007
Usual hours of business
Bookings are essential if planning to visit for research or to deposit records.
As of July 2023, our NEW opening hours for Lutheran Archives are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (closed Mondays and Fridays) from 9.30am to 3.30pm.
Please contact us to arrange your visit.
Lutheran Archives
Rachel Kuchel – Director & Archivist (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday)
Bethany Pietsch - Reference Archivist (Tuesday-Thursday)
Benjamin Hollister - Reference Archivist (Monday, Tuesday, Friday)
Angela Schilling - Collections Archivist (Monday-Thursday)
lutheran.archives@lca.org.au
08 8340 4009