From their beginnings, Christian churches have considered record keeping and history writing an imperative duty.

Today, church historians and archivists are "underappreciated," according to Sybil Grandeck, archivist for the St. Mary's Catholic Faith Community at Hales Corners, Wis.

Grandeck, along with many other church historians and archivists, will attend the congregational history workshop that Associate Professor John Krugler and Professor Steve Avella, both of Marquette's history department, are offering on Saturday.

Grandeck felt it was time for her to get an update on archiving techniques. As the church archivist for her congregation, she intends to "get some pointers" in order to address problems like missing files and challenges like computerizing all of the church's records.

"I want to hear from other folks and network with other people and see how they are doing with archiving their church's history," said workshop participant Valerie Davis from St. Jerome Parish in Oconomowoc.

Davis is a historian for the Oconomowoc and Lake County Museum and said she is more interested in the issues on how to take care of the archives.

"We're kind of in a learning process," Davis said. "The church is moving to a bigger place and we need to develop a plan to organize the paperwork so that nothing gets lost."

Davis was approached by her pastor, the Rev. John Yockey, to participate in the workshop. She said she hasn't started archiving yet, and that the daylong experience will hopefully help her in the process of preserving her church's history.

"It's important that all history is kept, not only government and politics, but also religious and spiritual history, to preserve the particular identity of a community," Davis said. "Our church is very involved in the community and our story needs to be told."

Avella said that he and Krugler both have an interest in local church history. Avella, coming from a Catholic point of view and Krugler, coming from a Presbyterian perspective, are trying to provide the necessary tools and techniques so participants are able to go back to their congregations and ably write their history.

Some of the tasks that may trouble church historians and archivists include the celebration of their church's anniversary. If they compile their church's history in a booklet, for example, this workshop will provide them with tips on how to gather, add up, illustrate and preserve their church's history.

"A lot of people don't know how to do this," Avella said.

Many people underestimate the value of a church historian or archivist. The United States has a national archive and Marquette also has an archive. This is how the history of an institution is preserved, according to Avella.

"It's not very glamorous, let's put it that way," Avella said. "It's a lot of hard work, like a librarian; it's very tedious, but very important as well."