Church Stewardship Initiative
Summer Camp

The Congregational Library & Archives was excited to host our first annual CSI Summer Camp in 2025.

Archivists Zachary Bodnar and Billy McCarthy led attendees through the steps needed to successfully begin archiving their church’s important records and valuable memories. This multi-session online program, hosted on Zoom, provided guidance and instruction on the archival process, keeping in mind attendees' specific collections and locations.

Over the course of five sessions, Zachary and Billy provided hands-on and in-depth instruction about how to begin tackling the seemingly mountainous task of properly archiving a church’s collection. Between sessions, there were exercises to complete at attendees' own pace that reinforced lessons and set them up for the next session. Sessions included time for instructions, group discussions, and Q&A. Sessions were focused on the following four topics: gathering your collection, identifying materials, organizing records, and crafting finding aids.

This program was part of our Church Stewardship Initiative (CSI). Find the videos of past workshops and free resources on our CSI webpage.

SPEAKER BIOS

Zachary Bodnar graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science from Simmons University, with a concentration in archives management, in 2018. Prior to his work at the CLA, Zachary worked at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden archive, the Vassar College Special Collections, the Harvard Law School Library, and the Harvard Botany Libraries. Zachary joined the CLA as an Archives Assistant in 2017, helping to prepare materials for digitization through the New England’s Hidden Histories program. In 2018, he took on the title of Archivist. His professional interests include metadata collection and management, digital archiving, audio/visual preservation, and archives management.

Billy McCarthy graduated with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) at Simmons University with a concentration in Archival Management. He started working at the CLA through a graduate internship and was hired full-time as an Archivist in 2018. Billy is the Head of Reader Services, helping the CLA’s visitors with reference requests and facilitating in-person research. Billy also serves as the collection manager for the archives, working with CLA’s offsite vendor to protect and maintain the organization’s archival records. Some of his professional interests include increasing access, collection management, processing of complex materials, and facilitating research.