One of the highlights of working at the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, is always seeing how material in our holdings shed light on not only the history of the Moravian Church and its activities but also the daily lives of its members and the communities they live in. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor we were recently able to digitize and add to our online finding aid an excellent example of this, a series of fifteen scrapbooks chronicling the history and activities of Great Kills Moravian Church.

This congregation, which is still active today, started in 1886 and the scrapbooks were assembled by a member and later donated to the archives. The first twelve scrapbooks are arranged chronologically from 1886 through 2015, with one volume for each pastor who served the congregation during that period. The remaining three scrapbooks are organized by topic rather than timeframe and deal with a nursery school the church operated and with the congregation’s 75th and 100th anniversary celebrations.

Each scrapbook contains a variety of material such as newsletters, the minutes of church council meetings, photographs, and newspaper clippings. These extensively cover the affairs of the congregation, including events held there, the installation of new pastors, volunteer and fundraising programs, and mission trips. As such they are a fascinating window into the church community and show how it responded to various events and how the community and surrounding culture changed over time.

Further Reading: 

Great Kills Moravian Church in our online finding aid: https://www.moravianchurcharchives.findbuch.net/php/main.php#4d4320474b

Great Kills Moravian Church. Accessed 6/23/2025 https://www.greatkillsmoravian.org/

Top image: Dedication Order of Service, MC GK.38.044.043. Moravian Archives, Bethlehem