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Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, NC

since 1753, documenting
our churches, our families, our communities

  • About
    • Our Mission, Our Witness
    • Our History, Governing Commission, and Staff
    • The Archie K. Davis Center
    • Brochures, Forms, Flyers
    • Work Study and Internships with Us
  • Our Churches
    • The Moravian Church, Then and Now
    • Southern Province and Salem Congregation
    • The Wachovia Moravian
    • Our Local Churches and Fellowships
    • For Churches and Church Agencies Adding Records
    • Moravian Archives Sunday
  • Family History
    • Our Memoir Collection
    • Reading Room Computer Resources
    • The Genealogy Bookshelves
    • Remote Ordering of Memoirs
    • Family History Docent Program
  • Research
    • Searching our Collections
    • Selected Moravian Bibliography
    • Research Studies Sampler
    • Research Policies and Appplcation Form
    • Helpful Links
    • Moravian Studies Collaborative
    • “Becoming American” Mellon Conference
  • Services
    • Free Services For All Guests
    • Image Reproduction Services
    • Permissions For Use
    • Staff Research on Your Topic
    • Translation Services
  • Products
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians in North Carolina
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees
    • Bookstore & More: Items For Sale
    • Exhibits
      • The Languages of Flowers in Moravian Wachovia
      • The Botanizers of Salem, 1785-1835
      • Nurturing the Gardeners of Wachovia
    • Lunchtime Lectures
    • Presentations for Your Group
    • Archives and Moravian Studies Collaborative Monthly Newsletter
  • Supporters
    • Ways to Donate and Support
    • Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund – Annual Budget
    • Technology Fund – Computers and Software
    • Book Fund – Collection Maintenance
    • Endowment Fund – Long-Term Reserves
    • Sustainers – Planned Giving
    • Collectors – Gifts in Kind
    • Volunteers – Working Alongside Us
    • Annotations, Our Supporters Newsletter
  • Find Us
    • Contact and Visit Information
    • Site Map

Our Mission, Our Witness

Watch our 2020 year-in-review video. Learn about the online “Becoming American” Conference, held September 23-26, 2020, and view conference video presentations. Watch a Lunchtime Lecture recording by one of our staff or guests. Read one of our online Garden Club-sponsored traveling exhibits on Moravians’ love of plants. Order a Moravian star or our latest Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees book. Request a memoir copy. Discover our churches. Support our work. Read how COVID-19 is changing our services.

The Moravian Archives is the official repository for records of the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province. The Province includes Moravian churches and fellowships in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. Our records begin with the establishment of the first southern Moravian settlement in 1753 at Bethabara, NC (now part of Winston-Salem), and continue until the present day. While our main function is to serve the Church in the collecting, cataloging, and safekeeping of those materials, we also make many of our holdings available for research by genealogists, academics, cultural institutions, and the general public.

Arriving as German-speaking immigrants, building a faith-centered community at the mid-eighteenth-century American frontier, Moravians kept detailed records in order to maintain ties with Church leadership in both Bethlehem, PA, and Herrnhut, Germany. But in diaries of church and daily life, reports from missionary work with the Cherokees, and life stories of a community of church members, Moravians recorded their living witness to the surrounding world.

Since 2001, the Archives has been housed at the Archie K. Davis Center, a state-of-the-art facility located between the main offices of the Southern Province and God’s Acre graveyard at the northern edge of Old Salem. We invite you to browse this online guide to resources for different studies at our Archives, and to discover here a number of materials created by our staff about our church history. We also welcome the assistance of volunteer workers and financial supporters as we preserve and document a shared story with and for the greater community.

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Support our Annual Giving – Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund

Give to our Technology Fund – a Special Project for 2019-2020

Monies will purchase new computers and software allowing the Archives to better access and share its holdings. Goal was $20,000 by June 30, 2020. More info here.




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Visiting Us

Parking is in the northwest corner of the lot at the western end of SR 4326 (Rams Drive) off Salem Avenue. The same street serves as entry to the Elbertson Fine Arts Center at Salem College.  We are currently closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Once we re-open our hours will be Mondays-Thursdays (excepting holidays), 9:30am – noon, 1;30-4:30pm (appointments required). We will be closed to the public on Fridays for records accession work.  We invite you to contact us to plan your visit.

Contact Us

Moravian Archives
457 S. Church Street
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101

Phone: (336) 722-1742
Email: moravianarchives@mcsp.org

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