Hidden Catholic Collections

Founded in 1837 in St. Louis, Missouri, St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf has a long history of providing educational services for children with hearing loss. The institute’s archives include photographs, incorporation documents, sister service agreements, annual reports, event programs, publications, and news clippings.

Jesuit scientist Ernesto Gherzi, S.J. was a pioneering meteorologist whose work at the Zikawei Observatory in China from 1920-49 advanced typhoon forecasting and radiometeorology. His decades of research bridged continents and contributed to the global scientific reputation of Jesuit institutions.

The Spiritan congregation, founded in France in 1703 before merging with François Libermann’s congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary in 1848, now recruits many of its number from Africa and the Global South. Its story parallels that of global Catholicism, where clergy from Africa and Asia now flow to Europe to fill empty pulpits.

In 2023, the Sisters of the Visitation of the Holy Mary left their Philadelphia monastery, but ensured their history would be preserved by sending their archives to Georgetown Visitation Monastery. Among the collection is a scrapbook chronicling their dramatic journey from Mexico to the U.S., offering rare insight into a cloistered community shaped by exile, hardship, and enduring faith.

The Heart comes from the Plantagenet burial ground located in the old Abbey of Fontevrault, near Saumur. The cemetery was disturbed during the 1793 French Revolution when the tombs were destroyed and the graves dug up in search of treasure.

The Archdiocese of Saint Louis’s mission to Bolivia, which lasted from 1956 until 2021, was the first international mission untertaken by an American diocese. The Archdiocese’s Mission Office Records illustrate the cross-cultural experiences of its many White American diocesan priests through correspondence and photographs.

This week, we explore two noteworthy collections from the Archdiocese of New Orleans: The Archbishop Joseph Rummel Collection and the sacramental registers Collection.

The Joseph H. Fichter, S.J. Papers document the life and work of the prominent priest, scholar, and social reformer. Born in 1908 in New Jersey, Joseph Fichter entered the New Orleans province of the Society of Jesus in 1930 and was ordained in 1942. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard in 1947 and …

Joseph H. Fichter, S.J. Papers: Special Collections and Archives, Monroe Library at Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA Read More »

This week we explore the letters of Srs. Madeleine Sophie and Mary Frances, who each served as dean of Xavier University of Louisiana as many of their students went off to fight in World War II.

Our #HiddenCatholicCollection this week highlights a collection held in the Redemptorist Archives in Philadelphia about a devotional object which has managed to captivate pilgrims and skeptics alike: the Shroud of Turin. 

The Robert H. Lord papers held by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston span the years 1842 to 1988.  The collection consists of handwritten and typed correspondence, manuscripts and drafts, research materials, sermons, notes, and photographs.

This week’s #HiddenCatholicCollections features the Jesuit mission to Zambia, undertaken by the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), from 1946-1969. Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) was the third overseas mission for Irish Jesuits, after Australia (1865) and Hong Kong (1926), and was initially called the Chikuni Mission.

The David Goldstein and Martha Moore Avery papers relate mainly to their association with and disavowal of Socialism, their conversion to Catholicism, and their subsequent lecture tours.

Clericus is a digital humanities research project that aims to develop a database on the Irish clerical population for the early modern and modern periods.

The World War II collection at the Daughters of Charity Archives, Province of St. Louise documents the American community and its efforts to assist the refugees of the War alongside the Catholic War Relief Services on the European front and its sisters’ time as nurses in the interior of China on the Pacific front.

This week we feature the papers of Sister Marie Augusta Neal, SNDdeN (1921-2004), sociologist and Chair for the Sociology Department at Emmanuel College, Boston, MA.

In the 100-plus years since Sacred Heart Church was established, parish groups and organizations have served their community. As society and societal realities have changed over the years, Sacred Heart has responded, in part, through their parish organizations and service groups.

This week’s #HiddenCatholicCollection focuses on the North American Agency Papers preserved in the archives of the Venerable English College (VEC) in Rome, the oldest British institution outside the United Kingdom.

A special Holy Week edition of #HiddenCatholicCollection: a Stations of the Cross series created by Sr. Mary of the Compassion of the Society of the Perpetual Rosary of Union City, NJ, held at the Mary Nona McGreal, OP, Center for Dominican Historical Studies.

Dominican Brother Edward Doyle, O.P. served as a Chaplain with the U.S. Army’s 104th Infantry Division during World War II. His papers principally relate to the 40th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion and the 1st U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council International Liberators Conference.

This week we’ll take a look at a 417 piece pre-Vatican II music collection, dating from 1864 to 1964.

Discover the papers of Sr. Gretchen Bogan, CSJ (1915-1999), a talented playwright, poet, artist and teacher, in the collection of the Boston CSJ Archives.

The collection catalogues the order’s history from its founding in Le Puy, France in 1650 to its present-day home in London, Ontario.

The Archives of the Church of the Sacred Heart, South Plainfield, New Jersey is a professionally curated and processed collection documenting over 110 years of parish history and service to the community.

Conventual Franciscan Friars first arrived in the US in 1852 to serve German-speaking immigrants around Galveston, Texas. The Province of Our Lady of Consolation was founded in 1926 by Friars en route to Buffalo who were told to report to Carey, OH instead.

This week we explore the archives of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, commonly known as Victory Noll Sisters, an order of Catechists based in Indiana who provided religious education, social services and health care in the Southwest from the 1920s.

This week we highlights the papers of Society for the Divine Word missionary Harold Rigney, SVD (1900-1980) teacher of paleontology in Ghana, author of book recounting his imprisonment and torture in communist China, and beloved administrator. His experiences became the subject of the book Four Years in a Red Hell (1956).