The persistence of institutional memory

Maintaining institutional memory and ideals starts with collecting, recording and preserving the individual stories that make up that memory. As Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) prepares to move from Columbia, South Carolina to Hickory, North Carolina, students in the Explore Course “LTSS Alumni Unplugged” have collected those stories with direction from Susan McArver, Ph.D., H. George Anderson Professor of Church History.

“There’s so much history tied up in this place, and so many people associate the physical space of the Columbia campus with their coming to ministry, their call and building lifelong friendships and community,” McArver shared. “I designed the course so we could collect and share those stories in an intentional way.”

The interview pool represents the diversity of students' experiences at LTSS. The oldest alumnus interviewed graduated in 1962, and the youngest in 2005. 

“We wanted to represent a full range of ages and experiences, so as a class we identified the types of experiences we wanted to be sure were included,” McArver explained. “We had a list of alumni who had indicated at some point that they might be open to being interviewed and had stories to share. Then we identified the alumni who fit the representation we wanted.”

The interviews were conducted and recorded via Zoom, using standard guidelines for interviewing and collecting oral histories – techniques McArver passed along from her years of scholarship in American religious history. Students then shared their stories with the seminary community in a celebration of the seminary’s history and heritage.

The recordings and their transcripts will be deposited and stored with the James R. Crumley Jr. Archives in Columbia as a reference for future scholars. The Crumley Archives serves as a repository for texts, documents and artifacts significant to Lutheran history throughout the Southeast and Caribbean, serving synods, congregations, agencies and institutions throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Region 9.

“It’s always personal affirming to have someone share your story,” said McArver. “It’s also affirming for the seminary’s community these connections between the things that were important to past seminary students and what is important to present seminary students. These are our hopes for the future.”

One hope McArver has for the future is that course may continue after she retires at the end of the fall 2024 semester. 

“I put a sort of joke in the course description that this course is offered once every 195 years,” she said. “Gathering these stories is part of our identity as LTSS, so even though I won’t be doing this, I’d like to see someone pick it up and carry it forward.”

Help Preserve Our Legacy
LTSS invites you to share your stories as part of the LTSS community, to teach and inspire future generations.