17
The War Cry | JULY 2015
Established in the 1970s, the name
Archives and Research Department
succinctly describes its function at
The Salvation Army.
"We are here to provide resources
to the Army's history," explains Su-
san Mitchem, national archivist. "And
while most of the people who come to
us are Salvationists, one little-known
fact is that we are actually open to the
general public."
Mitchem continues, "There are
people throughout the country who
know that in their genealogy some-
where there is a Salvation Army offi -
cer, or that their Salvationist ancestor
was once stationed in, say, Wichita,
Kansas, but they don't know much
else. That's when our resources prove
invaluable."
Tyler Boenecke has worked along-
side Mitchem for the past three years.
He is an archivist with impressive
qualifi cations in archives and research,
having worked at the Smithsonian In-
stitute before coming to work at NHQ.
"Our purpose is to coordinate Salva-
tion Army history for the four USA ter-
ritories," Boenecke says. "We do that
by creating a repository of documents
and photos, which includes a collec-
tion of well over 100,000 items."
A wealth of Army photos, publica-
tions, books, voice recordings and
lantern slides are among the some
60,000 catalogued items available.
An extensive collection of lantern
slides, dating from 1905 to 1930,
chronicles The Salvation Army in the
United States, until around the begin-
ning of the Great Depression, when
the industry moved to photographs.
Among the rarest items collected are
the Damon Diaries, a series of note-
books in which Commissioner Alex-
ander Damon kept astute records of
Army notations, particularly during his
tenure working alongside Commander
Evangeline Booth while she was the
USA National Commander in the early
20th century. Damon was the grand-
father of (retired) General Paul Rader.
While much of Archives deals with
the histories of every corps in the
United States, the department also
handles the service records for every
Salvation Army offi cer who served in
this country--provided to NHQ after
each individual's promotion to Glory.
What is the most unusual request
the department has received? Mitchem
says, "That would probably be the
W
hile it would be a stretch to call the National Ar-
chives the Army's best kept secret, it is safe to say
that the approximately 2,500 square feet at the
USA National Headquarters (NHQ) dedicated to all
things Army history is a gold mine of information and research.
menu for hot meals served by Salva-
tion Army soup kitchens during the
Depression."
At the moment, Boenecke is sift-
ing through 10 boxes of materials ob-
tained from the family of famed Salva-
tion Army publicist Clifford Brindley.
"What I'm fi nding in those 10 boxes
is unbelievable," he exclaims, "every-
thing from handwritten compositions
to photographs, notes, letters and
photos."
Whether you need to know about
a famous Army personality, such as
Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle,
or obscure information, like the back-
ground of the corps you attend every
Sunday--chances are the Archives
and Research Department has what
you need
.
by
MAJOR FRANK DURACHER
NATIONAL ARCHIVES:
A Gold Mine of
Information
Archivist Tyler Boenecke shows a
typical front page of the War Cry
from over a century ago.
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