About ARCS

Welcome to the web site of the Archivists of Religious Collections Section (ARCS) of the Society of American Archivists. ARCS is a network of professional archivists who work for national, international, and local Church organizations, religious societies and orders, and theological schools. ARCS members are engaged in documenting the many sides of the private and public experience of faith as it is lived out through the institutional church, religious movements, and individual experience.

The Section sponsors annual meetings, workshops, and collaborative resources. It also publishes a newsletter, The Archival Spirit.

ARCS publishes a directory of its members and their affiliated repositories. The directory is now entering its fourth edition online. It is an reliable source of information for locating and contactin individual members of the section.

ARCS' members are developing strategies to reach out more effectively to section members and the whole of SAA. While we seek to develop our professional identities, we also want to bring other archivists of religious collections into the larger netwrok of the SAA. We advocate for the section's representation in the leadership and our interests in the program of the Society.

ARCS membership ranges from large, well-staffed institutions to small part-time repositories. ARCS has a great cross section of members and a variety of needs to meet. The membership includes denominational archivists, special collections librarians, and records managers. Membership in ARCS is open to any member of the Society with an interest in helping to preserve and make accessible the documents of churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions and agencies. The Section meets annually at the time and place of the Society of American Archivists annual meeting.