Episcopal Church Archives Seeking New Home
Episcopal News Service. December 16, 2005 [121605-2]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The search is on for a new home for the Archives of the Episcopal Church.
The Archives -- the official repository of the records of General Convention and the Executive Council as well as important records and memorabilia -- is located on the campus of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (ETSS) in Austin, Texas.
But the seminary has requested a new rental agreement for the space the Archives occupies in the ETSS library building, and the arrangement would quadruple the amount the Archives now reimburses the seminary.
The current site at ETSS needs major renovation, which the Archives would have to finance in addition to paying the quadrupled rent, to ensure the preservation of the Archives' collections, Archives director Mark Duffy said.
Efforts to buy or lease land on or near the ETSS campus on which to build a new structure have also proved unsuccessful, Duffy said.
Therefore, the Archives and its board have decided that it would make better financial sense to relocate to a building that the Episcopal Church would own. Ownership would mean the Archives board and staff would be "more in control of the Archives' destiny," said Duffy.
Duffy and the board see that future as more than simply a bigger building to house historic artifacts.
"As Episcopalians, we are compelled to remember, to bring the examined past into our future, to authenticate our stories, and refresh our memories in creative and challenging ways," says the vision statement of the committee organized to guide the relocation effort. "The Church Archives is a cornerstone of that unfolding historical project."
Duffy said the Episcopal Church needs to be able to show the Anglican Communion in particular and the public in general how it lives as the church in the midst of its particular culture, just as every incarnation of the church has happened in the midst of a particular cultural context.
"The Archives is very important in keeping that conversation alive and vital," he said.
Duffy and his colleagues envision both a public presence and a place where groups of Episcopalians and Anglicans can meet and be able to view exhibits and thus "dwell with each other in recognition and celebration of the historic values and heritage" of the Episcopal Church.
The Archives holds the records of General Convention, its committees, boards and agencies, and the corporate body of the church known as the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society as well as the official papers of the Presiding Bishop. A number of Episcopal organizations, both existing and historical, place their records in the Archives. Personal papers of significant Episcopalians also reside in the Archives. A number of special collections round out the holdings.
The Archives Strategy Committee is publicizing the Archives' needs as it begins its search.
"We welcome serious inquiries," said N. Kurt Barnes, the Episcopal Church's treasurer and chief financial officer.
"Or people who have knowledge of a suitable facility that they want to bring to the attention of the church," Duffy added. "There might be possibilities we're just not looking at because they haven't been brought forward yet."
The strategy committee will consider both buying and building a new home for the Archives; however, it has said that the cost of any renovations should not be more than two-thirds the cost of building a new structure.
The committee members (listed at the end of this article) have developed site, services and program priorities as well as building and ground requirements. They envision a building of up to 38,000 square feet. The Archives now has 8,400 square feet in Austin, with another 8,000 square feet at the Church Center in New York City and about 3,000 cubic feet of materials stored in two off-site locations in Austin.
Some of the other priorities are:
-- Location in a major urban setting, easily accessible by public transportation, close to a major library, attractive to potential staff members and allowing for efficient travel to the Church Center
-- Stable geology, climate and ambient environment
-- Adjacent land use not in conflict with the image or function of the Episcopal Church or the security of the operation
-- Potential partner organizations that complement the mission of the Archives
-- Visitor accommodations on site or available at attractive rates
-- Outfitting to handle all major functions of a modern archival operation
-- Promoting a historical message and identification by hosting small- and medium-size groups of the Episcopal Church and include small office spaces for historical agencies and guest accommodations for sponsored research
-- Projecting a symbolic message of the Episcopal Church's national identity as a forward-looking and historical community of faith
-- Containing the core program and the holdings of the Archives without using multiple or remote sites
The committee is charged with communicating the need for the relocation to the next General Convention and to other groups and audiences connected to the church. It will also develop a fund-raising plan.
The committee plans to be in a new location by December 2009. Duffy called it an "extremely ambitious" goal.
This marks the second time in about seven years that the Archives has faced the prospect of needing to find a new home. The first search began after the seminary proposed in 1998 that the Archives renovate the space it was in and then increase the amount of money it paid to the seminary each year. Negotiations ensued, and the seminary told the Archives in February 2000 that it needed to find a new location within five years.
However, in 2004 the seminary invited the Archives to stay and so the Archives stopped looking. Then in May 2005 the seminary told the Archives it wanted to double its rent within the month and quadruple it six months later.
Barnes said that the church's budget cannot accommodate such a significant increase in the third year of the triennium. The archives' budget is approved by General Convention as part of the church's triennial budget.
The seminary needs the Archives' space for itself, according to the seminary's interim dean and president.
"After enjoying a cooperative relationship with the Archives of the Episcopal Church for many decades, the critical need for more space for both the archives collection and the seminary's Booher Library necessitates the church finding another location for the Archives," said the Very Rev. Philip Turner. "The seminary has been pleased to provide space for the archives of our church at below-market rates over the years but both collections have now outgrown their current space."
The seminary library and the Archives have shared a three level, 21,300-square-foot building on the ETSS campus for about 50 years. The seminary's library occupies two stories and the Archives take up the top floor.
Given the projected date for relocating the Archives, discussions with the seminary are continuing, according to Barnes.
"They're not pushing us out," he said.
In addition to Barnes and Duffy, the strategy committee includes Judy Dailey, National Archives and Records Administration and Episcopal Church Archives board member; Tom Gossen, Executive Council member and architect; the Rt. Rev. Larry E. Maze, Archives board chair and Bishop of Arkansas; the Rev. Canon Edward W. Rodman, two-term member of Archives board; Robert Royce, chancellor to the president of the House of Deputies; Newland F. Smith, associate dean and librarian of Seabury Western and Archives board member; the Rev. Dr. Gregory Straub, secretary of General Convention; and the Very Rev. George Werner, president of the House of Deputies.