Preserving our history as witnesses of HIS story

Vision:
Treasuring our past, insuring our future.

Mission:
To preserve, expand and promote the historical resources of the Apostolic Assembly.

On the 18th of June 2013, the Historical Archives of the Apostolic Assembly were inaugurated at our Headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Bishop President John Fortino cut the crimson bow, symbolically inaugurating the new Archives. General Board members, their wives and the staff at Headquarters joined them on this historic occasion. Bishop Ismael Martín del Campo, director of the Archives, explained in detail this new project. He also expressed how worried he was by the great amount of unpreserved documents of our history in disarray and the challenge of preserving and expanding our Apostolic history.

Two families donated their archives:

Manuel Vizcarra Special Collection:
On June 18th, Sister Martha Vizcarra, wife of former Bishop President Manuel J. Vizcarra, donated her husband’s most-delicate documents to the archives. She shared her great joy and emotion over this project.

Abel Jiménez Archive:
On August 22th, we received the donation of a complete and unique collection of 40 boxes of documents from Bishop Abel Jimenez. He served as District Supervisor for over a decade in the Interior District of California and Nevada. In a brief but formal ceremony with the General Board, he addressed those gathered in the room with a touch of humor and historical importance.

The Historical Archives have two more collections :

The Early Apostolic Assembly Archive:
includes documents from 1920 through 1950.

The Foreign Missions Archive:
A collection of all historical records from our missionaries.

Forthcoming Collections:

Antonio C. Nava Collection:
The family of Patriarch Antonio C. Nava is preparing his documents and his memorabilia (his desk, last Bible, typewriter, guitar and accordion) to create the Antonio C. Nava Archive.

Bishop Gilbert Díaz Collection:
The family of Bishop Gilbert Díaz is almost ready with documents to create his historical archive. Sons and daughters of pioneer Pastor Pedro Nava are preparing his meticulous records to create his archive.

We Preserve our Archives:

• Protecting documents in disaster resilient file cabinets.

• Safeguarding them in a temperature and humidity controlled room.

• Utilizing state of the art acid-free folders and clips.

• Restoring and digitalizing sensitive material.

One of the main goals for our Archives is to help bishops and pastors in their research for their Master and Doctoral theses. We are also creating the system to offer digital access to our Archives via online.

We invite all families, pastors and churches interested in this project to contribute and donate old hymn books, photographs, film, funeral programs, church documents and articles. Documents donated will be archived under the name of the primary donor or family. Many of these precious documents and artifacts already have signs of irreparable damage due to unfavorable conditions. At the Archives we have state of the art preservation tools, used in universities and museums worldwide.

From “The Apostolic Herald,” Winter 2013, page 19.