Archives and the Legacy Process:
A Church Stewardship Initiative Workshop

Christian churches have been going through cycles of planting, growth, realignment or merger, and completing ministries for the past two thousand years. When a church makes the difficult decision to close, the records of that church are a vital resource for completing its ministry and an important way in which its mission and memory can live on after the church has closed. The legacy process involves many moving parts, and too often archiving the church’s records is de-prioritized or seen as an overwhelming task that gets put off to the end.

This virtual workshop with the CLA’s archivists, Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy will explain the importance of a church’s records to the legacy process, how to use the church’s records to create a legacy workbook, and finally, how to go about finding and working with an archive to maintain your church’s records going forward.

Although any church seeking to steward their records will find value in this program, the workshop has been specifically designed as a resource for pastors guiding their congregations in implementing a legacy process, administrative staff who have been tasked with facilitating the work of bringing an institution to completion, members of the congregation’s legacy committee, and church historians and other interested members of the community concerned about safeguarding the memory and mission of the church.

This program is part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage.

This event is free and open to all, but registration is required via this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3017460021220/WN_8g2ZDnAfTf6QxRikKzsM6Q.

After registering, you will receive an email with information about attending the webinar.

Email any questions to programs@14beacon.org.

SPEAKER BIOS

Zachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University, with a concentration in archives management, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive, the Vassar College Special Collections, the Harvard Law School Library, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management, digital archiving, audio/visual preservation, and archives management.

Billy McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access, collection management, processing of complex materials, and facilitating research.