Archival Facts

The Moravian Archives:

• Is an agency of the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province, a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation;
  
  
• Dates from 1753, making it one of the oldest archives in North America, older than any state archives as well as the United States Archives;
  
  
• Houses more than a million pages of handwritten documents representing the total community, not simply church or religious records (collections include the records of industrial, commercial, civic, ecclesiastical, educational, medical, and musical institutions as well as personal diaries and correspondence, ethnographic materials, prints, broadsides, photographs, and maps);
  
  
• Maintains a Research Library of 1,600 titles, many from the 18th century;
  
  
• Serves more than 470 users per year;
  
  
• Answers approximately 110 genealogical inquiries annually, more than half requiring substantial research;
  
  
• Provides ongoing research guidance of various graduate degree studies, having fostered numerous doctoral dissertations and masters theses over the years;
  
  
• Publishes books, monographs, and periodicals;
  
  
• Operates on a budget supported 100% by the Moravian Church, Southern Province, Salem Congregation, our Friends of the Archives (see our Friends page), and grants.