The National Episcopal Historians and Archivists met in conference at the DeKoven Center June 23-26. Some 35 participants from 20 dioceses, from Florida and
Vermont to West Texas and Spokane, came to the historic site of James DeKoven's
Racine College on the shores of Lake Michigan. They were treated to temperatures
and humidities in the 90s, in the near-center of the country.
Wednesday morning was devoted to workshops -- on "Allies in Archive Adventures"
from Susan Witt, archivist of the Diocese of Western New York, and on the creation
of a parish history by
G. Michael Strock, the Diocese of Florida's historian. These were practical,
how-to-do and where-to-find sessions with information on archival websites, libraries,
and geographic sites and various types, styles, and emphasis appropriate to the
Sunrise thru Cloister
parish history. Each presenter stressed the importande of saving paper documents
and backing up electronic records. "When it's gone, it's gone," Mr. Strock
said. "History is irreplacable."
The afternoon's presentation carried the ominous title, "Diaster at Foud
du Lac." And disaster it had
been when about a year ago
flood waters met diocesan archives and the water
won. Diocesan administrator Matthew Payne had slides of photos and maps proving
that six inches off the floor is insufficient when the river rises to knee level.
He described how documents were rescued and dried, not by employing the hair dryer
or the microwave, but by professional freeze-drying. "What I learned from
the flood," he said, "was know what you have. Inventory, photograph, document
everything!" Some Sunday, he suggested, send the older kids around with digital
cameras and show them what to photograph -- books, vestments, furniture, everything.
Representatives of Church Insurance Company seconded all these recommendations and
laid out the necessity of developing a comprehensive disaster plan, identifying
hazards, locating resources and controls, and concentrating on the three essentials:
People, property, processes. "What can you do before the insurance adjuster
arrives, " David Mistick said, "to prevent further damage? And especially,
how to keep the congregation together and functioning during difficult times."
Thursday morning the group boarded a bus for a tour of historically-significant
sites in the Dioceses of Milwaukee. They visited Nashotah House seminary and its archives, Bishop Jackson Kemper's house, the Carpenter Gothic church of St. John Chrysostom and St. John's Military Academy in nearby Delafield. In Milwaukee,
they saw the beautiful Tiffany windows of St. Paul's Church, then walked the block
to All Saints' Cathedral for Choral Evensong, planned by Canon Precentor Joseph
Kucharski to include the works of American musical icons Winfried Douglas, Leo Sowerby,
and Richard Purvis. The service concluded with a ring of the Cathedral's Bells
of Remembrance and Hope.
The conference finished on Friday with the reading of papers by historians and archivists
from Milwaukee and Minnesota, New York and Maryland, and with NEHA's annual meeting
with president Christopher Agnew presiding.
Worship was an inportant part of the conference with services not only in DeKoven's
St. Mary's Chapel, but
also at All Saints' Chathedral and at St. Luke's Church in
Racine.
Patricia Colby Nakamura