“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” – Romans 15:4 (NKJV)
Bethany Lutheran College and Bethany Ladies College have now been a part of Lutheran higher education for over 100 years. It wasn’t until recently, though, that the College began a process to preserve the history of the Institution. Professor Erling Teigen was recently appointed college archivist and is a member of the College Archives Committee together with Professor Mark Harstad, Professor Emeritus Ron Younge, and Professor Ryan MacPherson.
For years, the history of the College had been housed and stored in the archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in their headquarters building, but as the Synod’s archives grew and expanded the College saw the need to preserve historically significant items and papers in its own archives.
The Bethany Lutheran College Archives are now housed in the lower level of the Memorial Library. Teigen spends parts of a few days each week cataloguing and preserving important items. He remarked about the collection, “We have items dating back to 1909 including the minutes of the organization of Bethany Ladies Seminary.”
The Archives were started without an official budget and continue to look to financial contributors to support an endowment fund for the operation of the Archives. Teigen also welcomes your inquiries about items that you may wish to donate. The College cannot accept all items, so Teigen asks that you please call him about potential donations.
Teigen is also in the midst of writing a book about the history of Bethany Lutheran College with a target date of 2015 for completion. The history of the
College has never been chronicled in its own publication and it will be special to see and read about the century of history at Bethany.
If you are interested in contributing to the endowment support fund for the Archives, donations can be sent to:
Bethany Lutheran College
Archive Endowment Fund
C/O Institutional Advancement
700 Luther Drive
Mankato, MN 56001