Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Northampton County

A special shout-out hello to Karen Galle, the director of the PHMC’s historical marker program, who recently emailed to say how much she's enjoying MarkerQuest! She suggested that I start including the county in the name of each blog post as well as the community, which makes sense to me, so thank you for the idea.

Words might be my bread and butter, but in today's post, I rely more heavily on photographs than I normally do. That's because it's sort of hard for me to adequately describe the treasures of the Moravian Archives.

The marker is on West Locust Street,
just outside of the Archives

The Archives are found on Locust Street in Bethlehem, and the marker for the building sits in front of it. It's across the street from the campus of Moravian College, though not part of the college itself. Visits can be scheduled all year long, but every few months they host an "Open Saturday," during which anyone can wander inside and find out just what goes on in there. That's precisely what I did this past December. You might recall from my post about Pilger Ruh, in Berks County, that the Archives was the source for the portrait I shared of Count von Zinzendorf; this was the occasion on which I was able to see it.

Directly inside the Archives is the gift shop, where you can find all manner of historical materials, handmade gifts, and a whole lot of other goodies. From there, you can tour the current exhibit; right now that happens to be "Sing, O Ye Heavens!" which is all about the musical traditions of the Moravians. It's a very musical religion.

Just past the gift shop is the entrance to the main reading room, where Count von Zinzendorf's portrait was being displayed when I visited. Researchers who come to the Archives to do work are usually stationed here; indeed, there were a few people taking notes on various books when I entered the room. The paintings on the walls are a mere fraction of the Archives collection, so they get rotated out on a regular basis in order to let people see more of the pieces available. They also displayed a variety of maps and documents, such as this beautiful map of early Bethlehem. I tried to get a nice clear shot, so hopefully you can read the words; it shows where several significant Moravian buildings, many of which are still standing, were or are located on the map. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

While I was wandering around the room and doing my best to look like I knew what I was doing, a very friendly gentleman walked over and asked if I had any questions. This turned out to be Tom McCullough, the assistant archivist, and when I explained my purpose he offered to give me a tour of the actual archives. Joined by a couple other history enthusiasts, he led the way to where thousands of books, relics, documents, paintings, and other treasures waited to be seen.

They have everything from handwritten letters to portraits of famous early Bethlehem residents. They have diaries, they have pieces of furniture, they have hymnals, they even have shoes. The shelves are massive and controlled by dials which allow them to maximize space while still enabling access to the contents. The collection is housed in two specially constructed, climate-controlled vaults, each equipped with a fire suppression system, and together the two vaults contain approximately 8,000 linear feet of material, including some 4,000 linear feet just of written pages.

The Archives maintains contact with other Moravian archives around the world. They form a large network, each representing a specific region of the Moravian Church; the Bethlehem Archives is "the official repository for the records of the Moravian Church in America, northern province." This 'northern province' includes the Moravian churches in the entire United States, with the exceptions of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as Canada. They also hold records for Moravian churches in Labrador, Nicaragua, and the eastern West Indies; the Moravians traveled extensively in their zeal to spread the religion. The Bethlehem Archives is a "major special collection" of the northern province, and its holdings include records going back as far as the year 1740.

I honestly regret not having recorded the tour, because there was so much to see and learn that it was almost overwhelming. I might need to return during the next Open Saturday for a refresher. But one exciting piece of news is that they were in the process of digitizing their painting collection, and this is now complete. So you can now use the searchable database to look at the artwork as well as find research sources. Meanwhile, the Archives continues to provide a variety of programs throughout the year.

Interested historians can plan a research visit to the Archives, as well as make use of the online search tools they offer. Use of the reading room is free, although there is a charge for extra services like reproductions or having someone do the work for you. Or, if you'd like to wander in and see what makes the place run, check out the next Open Saturday on March 30, 2019, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The "Sing, O Ye Heavens!" exhibit will remain until May 30th, so don't miss it.

Special thanks to the Archives staff and to Tom McCullough in particular for welcoming MarkerQuest!

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Sources and Further Reading:

Official website of the Moravian Church Archives

The Moravian History Store

The Moravian Archives on Facebook

The Moravian Archives Network

Dwyer, Kayla. "Newsmaker: Paul Puecker, Moravian Archivist." The Morning Call, November 24, 2017.

Moravian Archives at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.