The direct precursor of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia (EKvW) is the Church Province of Westphalia, founded in 1815. Documents of sovereign church authorities from the time before 1815 can be found in the State Archives Münster (e.g. Konsistorium Minden-Ravensberg), as well as the documents and files of the monasteries and monasteries abolished in the course of the Reichdeputationshauptschluss. The tradition of provincial and regional church archives did not begin until 1815; the archives of the parishes, on the other hand, also preserve older concerns of parish self-government from the 17th and 18th centuries, sporadically since the Reformation and from the pre-Reformation period.1893 The Westphalian Provincial Synod decided to establish a provincial church archive and appointed a part-time archival director. His collecting activity slowed down in the First World War and was not resumed. Since 1931, Dr. Ludwig Koechling has taken care of the Provincial Church Archive, the old registry of the Protestant Consistory in Münster and the maintenance of the archives of the individual parishes on a fee basis and with interruptions. It was not until the state synod in 1961 that the position of a state church archivist was created; Dr. Hans Steinberg began his work in 1963. He created the Landeskirchliche Archiv (LkA EKvW) and continued to maintain the archives in the church districts and congregations. Since 1985, the Landeskirchliche Archiv has been gradually expanded in terms of space and personnel to the present facilities. The Westphalian Church Archives Act of 1989 defined the Landeskirchliche Archiv as an institute for the preservation of church archives, an archive of the Landeskirche and an agency for Westphalian church history research and the preservation of church monuments. The Landeskirchliche Archiv has around 10,000 linear metres of archival records, including 847 documents from the period since 1235. These are mainly documents from the provincial and regional church administration since 1815 and deposited archives of parishes and church districts. In addition, there are about 170 estates of ecclesiastically important personalities, including Hans Ehrenberg, President Karl Koch, Johannes Kuhlo and President Ernst Wilm. The Wilhelm Niemöller Collection on the Church Struggle and the Kurt Gerstein Collection are of supra-regional importance. Due to legal regulations, the Landeskirchliche Archiv is defined as an institute for the preservation of church archives, an archive of the Landeskirche and an agency for Westphalian church history research and the preservation of church monuments. Against this background, the Landeskirchliche Archiv also acts as editor of the Archive Communications of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia (annual) and of the writings of the Landeskirchliches Archivs (since 1995). Furthermore, the Landeskirchliche Archiv acts as the office of the Commission for Church Contemporary History for Westphalia and cooperates with the Association for Westphalian Church History.