The Disciples of Christ Historical Society is pleased to announce its new archival collections catalog. The catalog will provide researchers with information about the contents of the nearly 15,000 linear feet of personal and family papers, congregational records, regional ministry records, and general ministry records in the DCHS archival collections. The catalog is named Spencer, in honor of Claude E. Spencer (1898-1979), the librarian and curator who envisioned and helped establish the Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

Spencer is built on the ArchivesSpace platform, an archival information management system used by more than 500 repositories worldwide. Like a library catalog, Spencer is a searchable database that offers researchers information about the contents of the collection. Although Spencer does not contain digitized or digital records at this time, it will contain links to digital content in the coming years. 

“Spencer provides the descriptive framework upon which we will build our digital collections,” explains Senior Archivist Colleen McFarland Rademaker. “Spencer contains information about individual archival collections. This information is contained in finding aids and includes who created the collection, the dates of the material in the collection, the size of the collection, and, in some cases, an inventory of the collection. To this descriptive structure, we will link digital records so that they can be discovered and accessed in their historical context.”  

Joel Brown, President and Historian at the Society reflects “A new online catalog for our archival collections has been a dream of mine since I came to the Historical Society. It is a huge step forward for us as a research institution, and it will transform how we engage with researchers. I am so proud of the work of our archival team to bring it to life.”

Spencer is a work in progress. Although there is already a wealth of content in the catalog, It currently contains descriptions of less than 5% of the Society’s archival collections. We invite you to watch it grow as the archives staff adds finding aids to the catalog.