Lancaster Seminary Statement About ERHS Planned Relocation
September 21, 2022
Lancaster Theological Seminary and the Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society announce that an agreement has been reached after long and careful consideration that allows the historical society to continue to house its offices and archives on the seminary campus pending its planned relocation to St. Louis, Missouri.
The historical society has announced plans to move its Lancaster collection of church and denominational records and artifacts to be in proximity to the collection of records and artifacts housed on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. The plan to co-locate and potentially combine the Lancaster and St. Louis collections allows for expanded and improved space necessary for the preservation of these important records and artifacts and maintain their availability for research.
The relocation process is likely to occur over several years during which ERHS will be able to maintain its offices and archives on the Lancaster campus at no charge.
Lancaster Theological Seminary, an ecumenical graduate school of theology affiliated with the United Church of Christ, is one of the original U.S. seminaries founded in the 1800s by the German Reformed Church which combined with the Evangelical Synod of North America ultimately to form the United Church of Christ in 1957.
In recognition and appreciation of its shared history with the Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society, Lancaster Theological Seminary has been honored to donate the use of its facilities to house the ERHS collection and offices in Lancaster since the 1860s. For the last 55 years, ERHS has been based on the second floor of Lancaster Seminary’s library since the building was constructed in 1967.