What We're Saying

In my last post, I quoted Bishop Scott who referred to the Convocation proceedings as “the first fruits of a great and growing harvest…” 

Image: Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What a wonderful way to describe archives.  It grows as its creating body grows and it tells the story of that growth. It is in that story – or history – that its permanent value and interest resides.  

And it is that history – at least some of it – as it pertains to the Diocese of Olympia Archives that I’d like to share with you now.

While the Diocese of Olympia Archives was officially established on April 15, 1976 by Bishop Robert Hume Cochrane, it had its beginning 122 years earlier when Bishop Scott recognized the permanent value of those early convocation proceedings.

Proceedings of the Convocation of the Clergy and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Oregon and Washington Territories, 1854.

Growth, however, is not without its fits and starts and just as the Diocese of Olympia sprang from a lean, frontier beginning experiencing varying degrees of expansion and development – so did the Archives.

The first Registrar was appointed in 1860 and clergy and members of the Church were requested to "furnish him with any information within their possession." We don’t know what the response was to his request but judging from my own experience, I would guess that he wasn’t inundated with material!

In 1867 a "diocesan" library was begun with Bishop Scott donating materials which he had collected and a resolution appointing a Conservator of Public Documents was passed at Convocation.  Our first Archivist!!  Yeah!!  

Now, western bishops and clergy were well aware of the importance of maintaining church records but given the rustic frontier conditions under which they labored, conducting such practice in any continuous or systematic way proved next to impossible.  Lack of personnel, lack of facilities and lack of money all contributed to the very sketchy way in which early records were kept.  

To you archivists out there, does any of this sound familiar - lack of personnel, lack of facilities and lack of money? Some things never seem to change!

In addition, the early registrars were first and foremost missionaries who moved frequently. Consequently, the records in their keeping moved as well – often with loss along the way.  

The Rev. Dr. Reuben Nevius

When the Rev. Dr. Reuben Nevius, elected Registrar in 1881, moved from Spokane Falls to Olympia, he reported on materials he had "in hand," and it can be assumed he brought the files with him.  This assumption is reinforced when Nevius's successor, the Rev. M.D. Wilson of Vancouver, reported that money provided for his use, a $5 donation, had been used for "payment of charges on packages of papers and books from Olympia (to Vancouver.)"  

Then, in 1892 it was determined that the papers  be kept at St. Luke's Parish House in Tacoma under the care of the new Registrar who was also the rector of St. Luke's.   Though this meant the records were moved once again, it also established the idea of a permanent location for the "Archives" and brought them into the Bishop's purview as Tacoma was his city of residence and St. Luke's his pro-Cathedral. 

Tacoma, St. Luke's Memorial Church

Photo by Richards Studio, Tacoma, WA

I think it’s safe to leave the Archives securely ensconced in Tacoma for the moment (1892), but assuming that you find this brief history as interesting as I do, I will continue it in my next week’s post.  If you don’t find it that interesting, I hope you will stick with me – at least until we get to the virtual tour – a couple of posts down the road!!  

Diocese of Olympia Archives

Diane Wells, CA

Archivist and Records Manager