Bethany Lutheran Church Archives

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Bethany Lutheran Church has a large collection of membership records, papers, documents, minutes of the congregation and its organizations, books, periodicals, photographs, and other memorabilia of historical interest. In 1986 the congregation authorized the formation of an archives committee to organize and preserve this material. These items were previously stored in the office storeroom, the sacristy and any other available space.

The original committee, consisting of Chester Peterson, Eunice Anderson, Leon Lungstrom and Charlotte Ternstrom, began the tremendous task of gathering, organizing and preserving this material. They soon discovered the need to make copies of fragile material onto acid-free paper, to translate the congregation minutes from Swedish into English (66 years, from 1869to 1934), and find a suitable space for this accumulation. The translation was accomplished by dedicated volunteers – Alvida Larson, Eddra Palmquist, Ingeborg Hopkins, Eunice Anderson, Leon Lungstrom, Ruby Nelson, Inga-Lill Eliason, Lola Swenson and typists – Dorothy Lindahl, Emma Sundberg, Mary Anne Almquist, Barbara Wickberg and Ruby Nelson.

Others who have served on the Committee are Jim Berg and Kenneth Bengtson. The Archives project became a labor of love, especially for Eunice Anderson who devoted the rest of her life to the upkeep and preservation of the Archives. She, together with her siblings, donated the movable shelving in the special archives room that was included in the 1995 addition to the church and Christian Life Center.

The Committee is willing to help with research, such as baptisms, confirmation, marriages and membership information including birth dates and places from 1869 to the present, and funerals from 1880 to the present. This information has been entered in a computer. In addition, there are a large number of individual or family “Flyttning” certificates from Sweden. A nearly complete set of confirmation pictures are on display. The Committee also welcomes the addition of papers, photographs or memorabilia of interest to our history.

We have two volunteer archivists, Chalotte Tarnstrom and Chester Peterson, who are available to help anyone interested in finding information about their early family members or other adtivities of the church. They can be reached at the church office at 785-227-2167 so that they can arrange a time to assist you on the computer or in the archives files. Charlotte and Chester are available to give programs on the archives for church and community organizations.

Present committee; Duane Fredrickson, Marvin Johnson, Ron and Jan Michael, Chester Peterson, and Charlotte Ternstrom.