Long-time Concordia Nebraska archivist Dr. Jerry Pfabe retires, succeeded by alumna Dr. Hannah Kroonblawd ‘12

Dr. Jerry Pfabe came to Concordia University, Nebraska in 1967 to teach history courses and secondary social studies methods. In 1970, he began serving as the university’s archivist. Fifty-five years later, he has retired from the university, passing the archivist torch to Concordia Nebraska Assistant Professor of English Dr. Hannah Kroonblawd ‘12. 

“The archivist position always has been a part-time position, usually voluntary,” he explained. “The university’s archive holdings were quite limited when I started serving as archivist. There were several document cases which I was able to shelve in my small regular office, along with my personal library.” 

Over the years, additional materials came in which exceeded the storage capacity of Pfabe’s faculty office. The archives were moved to a former faculty office in Link Library, but before long, that room was also inadequate, so the collection was relocated to a larger room next to the university’s rock museum. After that area exceeded its capacity, the archives were again moved to their current location on the south end of the original Link Library building.  

“We transferred a large amount of historical materials from the vault in Weller Hall, substantially enhancing the archival collection,” said Pfabe. “In addition to organizing and cataloging materials, one of my favorite responsibilities as archivist was to respond to requests for information from campus offices and from graduates and descendants of Concordia students from years past. Usually, I was able to locate what the individuals sought.” 

One of Pfabe’s favorite resources for information were university annual reports and similar reports from the other synodical institutions. Those reports include names of board members, faculty, all students grouped according to the class they were in, a listing of courses offered and instructors and a daily schedule for all the instructors.  The synodical publications were discontinued around 1925.  

“Concordia has been a wonderful place to work. Despite challenging times, I’ve found my colleagues and students to be supportive, easy to work with and cooperative, and women and men of strong Christian faith and life.”

“Another fascinating resource was the grades of students - essentially what the registrar does now - all their courses were recorded in hand-written form by President J. George Weller in the early years of the school. There are so many interesting materials in our collection that it’s impossible to mention all of them,” he said. “Concordia has been a wonderful place to work. Despite challenging times, I’ve found my colleagues and students to be supportive, easy to work with and cooperative, and women and men of strong Christian faith and life.” 

Pfabe said that he is delighted that Kroonblawd is serving as the university’s next archivist. 

“I am elated that Dr. Hannah Kroonblawd, a former student of mine and now a professor of English, has assumed the role of Concordia archivist,” he said. “She will do an excellent job of preserving materials on Concordia’s past and responding to requests about Concordia’s history.” 

An alumna of the university, Kroonblawd has served at the university since 2024. She teaches writing and literature courses with a primary focus on creative writing. 

“I was a student in one of Jerry's last courses before his 2010 retirement from full-time teaching, and I've gotten to know him and his wife Esther even better since I returned to Seward,” she explained. “Jerry reached out to me in November to see if I'd be interested in learning more about the work that he's been doing for the last 55 years and potentially taking on the role of archivist.”  

Kroonblawd said she had done some archival studies during her doctoral program and worked at a library for two years as a graduate student.  

“The primary reason that I decided to take on Concordia's archives is because of my love for Concordia and its context: past, present and future! A wonderful thing about the archivist role is how it's a tangible way to help the Concordia community remember the reality of God's promises and provision over the past 130-plus years,” she said. “Working in Concordia's archives is not just filing documents and organizing ephemera. It's also storytelling, which sits alongside my work teaching creative writing. Jerry holds so many stories, and I've been trying to soak up as many of them as I can! Telling and retelling Concordia's stories is an absolute joy.” 

About Concordia University, Nebraska: Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university located in Seward, Nebraska, which currently serves more than 2,500 students. Concordia offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in an excellent academic and Christ-centered community that equips men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership in the church and world. For more information, visit cune.edu.