Awash in a Sea of Paper: Plying the Waters of the Maryknoll Mission Archives

As of this writing, I am completing a history of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America; i.e., the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.  I have tentatively titled the work, “A Sentiment and a Society”: The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America and the Intersection with World Christianity. As my deadline approaches for the completion of the manuscript, I dreamt one night that I was awash in a sea of paper.  When I awoke, I thought to myself, “At least I wasn’t drowning!”  One of the reasons my subconscious probably raised that particular image is that Maryknoll, I discovered, has a tradition of publishing an article in one venue, such as the Maryknoll magazine, and then republishing it with a different title in another venue or even another country.  I noticed that phenomenon when I worked on the “geography section” of the manuscript, wherein I devote a chapter each to Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the current Maryknoll Regions overseas.  I began to read and take notes on an article published in Japan, for example, and then said to myself, “This sounds familiar.”  I went back to my notes from items read a year or two ago, and, lo and behold, there was the same thing with a different title published in the USA.  I discovered that Maryknoll gets a lot of mileage from one written item!

Managing the thousands of individual sheets of paper I have collected from numerous trips to the Maryknoll archives since 1988, as well as papers from at least twenty-five other archives, has been no mean feat.  To have at the ready the apt and succinct quotation when needed, required much thinking and planning before I even set foot in any archives.  Anyone who has gone beyond writing an undergraduate twenty-page paper with a requisite use of at least one or two primary sources is well aware of how critical organization is to the success of one’s project.

My own collection of archival sources amassed over twenty-five years and how I manage them for efficient use somewhat parallels the growth of the Maryknoll archives and it is the latter to which I now turn.  Perhaps we can return to the topic of a writer’s management of archival sources for another time.  The archives are located at Maryknoll, New York, which is just on the edge of Ossining, on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River, about an hour’s train ride north of New York City.  The first dip of my oar into their treasures took place in 1988.  If I wanted to view the Maryknoll Sisters’ material, I did that on one side of Pines Bridge Road.  If I wanted to peruse the Fathers or Brothers’ items, I did that on the other side of Pines Bridge Road, which in front of their headquarters is called Ryder Road.  The men’s archives were in an attached garage on the south side of the massive Maryknoll Society headquarters.  No temperature control and no acid-free boxes.  I recall the garage being a rather dismal-appearing place.  After a conversation about the persons and subjects I wanted to investigate (no finding aids), a Maryknoll priest who worked there – his name has slipped from my memory – would bring out some folders for me to peruse.  The Sisters had a more pleasant space in which to work and some of their archival items were located in the large, airy Rogers Library.  However, if I came across a reference to a Maryknoll priest while at the Sisters’ archives, I would need to traipse across the street to get the information there and vice versa.

An important step forward was the coordination of all the Maryknoll archives – Fathers, Brothers and Sisters – under one roof and the hiring of a professional archivist, Beth Yakel.  Father Charlie Huegelmeyer, MM was Curator of the Society Collections.  Not only was the boat getting two working oars, but better still, it was acquiring a strong engine!  The coordination took place during the administration of Sister Luise Ahrens, MM and Father William Boteler, MM in 1990 and it got off the ground with the administrations of Sister Claudette LaVerdiere, MM and Father Kenneth Thesing, MM, who implemented the decision that was made just prior to taking office.  Since that time, I have worked with Sister Mary Grace Krieger, MM  and Ellen Pierce, who, when I first met her, was Director in training.  For the last thirteen years Ellen has been the Director of the Maryknoll Mission Archives.  Most recently, Father Mike Walsh, MM pays particular attention to the Fathers and Brothers’ items, Sister Alice Wengrzynek, MM to the Sisters and Lisa Jacobson, the materials related to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners.  Lisa is now working at an archives in Pennsylvania.  Bette Vetere has been the Maryknoll Mission Archives assistant for many years.

The strength of the archives, in addition to having everything in one place and   knowledgeable, helpful archivists, is that the Finding Aids are abundant and clearly written.  That is especially helpful if one has a limited time in an archives.  By reading the Finding Aid, one can eliminate hours spent on a collection only to find out it was not helpful toward one’s project.  Two-page obituaries provide basic biographical information of the men and women.  A particularly interesting collection is the Maryknoll diaries.  When the men and women began missions around the world, they kept monthly diaries, which were sent back to New York, where they were edited and read to the people in formation during their meal times.  Some of the diary entries appeared in The Field Afar/Maryknoll.  The diaries continued into the mid-1960s and provide information and new missioners’ first perspectives about the countries, customs, and values of the people they came to serve.  The archives contain collections of Maryknoll produced mass media of various kinds, all well catalogued.  A small archival library holds books written by or about Maryknoll men and women.  The working space is technology friendly and well-lighted.  It is also a place to connect with scholars working on similar or related projects to one’s own.  While vastly reduced in volume a number of years ago with the close of the Maryknoll Seminary on the campus, the Maryknoll Library on the second floor of the Society’s building has been renovated, providing a beautiful environment in which to read books and periodicals related to mission and theology.  A more recent phenomenon has been the posting of photographs from early Maryknoll mission sites at the University of Southern California, International Mission Photography website: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/impa/controller/index.htm.  Take a look!

When I consider my many visits to the Maryknoll Mission Archives, I cannot fail to mention Father William D. McCarthy, MM (1930-2009).  While not an archivist, he, along with Sister Camilla Kennedy, MM, taught Maryknoll history to the people in their initial formation program.  Always gracious and unassuming, Bill, a member of the American Catholic Historical Association, befriended the many researchers who worked in the archives and was a treasure trove of information about Maryknoll and Maryknoll missions in Latin America.  He was working on a history of the Maryknoll Society in Peru at the time of his death.  He had his own story of how the Maryknoll, Peru materials were finally safely deposited in the Maryknoll, New York archives!

The fruit of several decades of investment in the Maryknoll Mission Archives has paid off for many researchers from different disciplines who have found a wealth of material.  Every week more papers are added to the collections.  On one of my last visits there, Kathryn Pierce, IHM, had just handed in her history of the Cross Cultural Services program, which I was able to read and copy before it was even catalogued.  More papers into my research sea!  Thanks to the work of professional personnel, periodic Maryknoll volunteers and Maryknoll investment in the archives, the waters are far easier to ply than when I first visited in 1988 and researchers today have clear sailing!

Angelyn Dries, OSF, Danforth Chair in the Humanities, Saint Louis University

Should you wish to contact the archives:

Ellen Pierce, Director
Maryknoll Mission Archives
P.O. Box 305
Maryknoll NY 10545

Telephone: 914-941 7636 ext. 2675
E-mail: [email protected]