Introduction & History of PAHRC
by Joseph Casino, Director
The Wilcox Chalice, 1698
On August 18, 1883, Pope Leo XlII issued Saepenumero considerantes which encouraged Catholic historical studies and opened the Vatican Archives to historians. Not long after that, in 1884, the bishops at the Third Council of Baltimore appealed for the cultivation of the history of the progress of the Catholic faith in the United States. Thus began a long string of events which would in 1993 finally result in the creation of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center (PAHRC).
One thread in that creation was the American Catholic Historical Society. July of 1884 saw a congregation of priests and laymen convening in the hall of the Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Philadelphia for the purpose of forming an organization to pursue the exhortation of the Pope's encyclical and the bishops' appeal. Membership in what would become the oldest existing Catholic historical society in the United States was open to all, non-Catholics as well as Catholics, from the very first. Taking the name of the American Catholic Historical Society, the organization identified three principal objectives for its foundation: 1) to aid Catholic writers and speakers and in time to publish "such works as may be of special value to the Catholic public"; 2) to make the truth known about Catholic history; and 3) to establish "a library and a cabinet."
It was the third of these objectives which would become the most enduring of the Society's direct legacies to the PAHRC, although the first two must not be discounted. The broad scope of the Society's collection policy is evident from the list of items to be collected. For the library, Society members were to collect 1) narratives relating to Catholics and Catholic missions; 2) biographical notices of eminent and remarkable persons; 3) sketches and catalogues of schools, academies, and colleges; 4) copies of records of proceedings of religious, scientific or social bodies; 5) journals and newspapers; 6) manuscripts on any subject or of any date; 7) magazines and pamphlets; and 8) church almanacs, directories, diaries, etc. For the cabinet, the Society wanted: 1) prints, especially of persons, church buildings, etc., 2) pictures; 3) medals; 4) utensils; 5) relics; and 6) any article of historical or biographical value.
Many of the Society's early efforts ended in failure. Many papers of early missionaries and pioneer bishops found at the pastoral residence of St. John Church in Philadelphia were deemed by the pastor there to be diocesan archives and so could not be given to the Society. The library of John Gilmary Shea, considered in 1891 to be the largest and fullest collection of American Catholic historical items ever collected, went to Georgetown University and not to the Society. And a suggestion by a member of the Society in 1890 that "a phonograph or graphophone could be used to get reminiscences" from knowledgeable clerics and laity came to naught because "after frequent experiments," the conclusion was reached that it was "of no practical use for this purpose." But despite these failures, the Society was still over the years to collect a prodigious amount of historical material relating to Catholicism in America.
In the meantime, another institution, the Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo was already more than a half century old. Founded in 1832 to train Roman Catholic priests for service in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Seminary moved from Philadelphia to Overbrook in the western suburbs in 1871. A great builder of Catholic institutions, Dennis Cardinal Dougherty, later saw to the erection of an enormous college building at the Overbrook Seminary. Part of this 1929 addition consisted of a beautiful courtyard off of which were to be found a number of commodious rooms and halls with a second-floor gallery surrounding the entire open courtyard. These spaces would eventually become the location for the PAHRC.
The Seminary itself had, over the years, accumulated a body of Catholic Americana. The old records, books, and pictures of the institution had been, and were being, preserved in various places by interested faculty members. Many of these teachers were renowned scholars and world travellers, and consequently Seminary collections were constantly being augmented by new accumulations. There was no central repository for these materials, however, so what happened next proved to be fortunate not only for the books, papers, and pictures, but also for posterity.
In 1932, the history of the American Catholic Historical Society and the history of the Seminary converged. In that year of general economic malaise, the Society faced a number of troubling issues. The Society was experiencing financial difficulties, their headquarters in the old Nicholas Biddle mansion at 715 Spruce Street in Philadelphia was proving to be inadequate in terms of space and fire protection for its expanding collections, and many of the members felt that a better location, in terms of access to the materials, would be had at Saint Charles Seminary. Their overtures on this score to Cardinal Dougherty were met with an enthusiastic response since he already had been considering the establishment of "a diocesan museum in the Seminary, which would include books, documents, pictures, sacred articles, and articles of historical interest in the Diocese, as well as histories of the different parishes." On December 20, 1932, the Society granted "perpetual custody and control" of their past and future collections to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The transfer of the collections to Overbrook was well under way by the summer of 1933. The task of transporting and cataloguing the material fell to Seminary students under the direction of Rev. John F. Rowan until 1940 and then after 1940 under Rev. Joseph A. Ward. Steel cases and shelving were purchased by the Archdiocese in order to preserve the historical materials in their new accommodations in the gallery surrounding Saint Theresa's courtyard.
As the collections grew due to continued collecting activity by the Society, the space in the gallery soon became inadequate. By that time also, care of the collections had come under the jurisdiction of the Librarian of the Seminary. In 1952 that position was held by Rev. Bartholomew Fair who also became President of the American Catholic Historical Society in 1960. With the assistance of Bishop Joseph McShea of Philadelphia, who also served as President of the Society, Father Fair supervised the transferal of the collections from the courtyard gallery to the much larger spaces beneath Saint Martin Chapel. John Cardinal O'Hara, who was keenly interested in American Catholic history, saw to it that large sums of money were made available for the purchase of steel shelves and cases and that microfilm equipment was purchased for the better preservation of the most fragile documents and newspapers.
The combined collections of the American Catholic Historical Society and those which were subsequently obtained from St. Charles Seminary have now accumulated to about 400,000 manuscripts, 39,000 books, 8,000 newspapers, 6,000 photographs and prints, 6,000 pamphlets, 1,000 reels of microfilm, and hundreds of artifacts. The range of materials preserved is impressive. In the Archives can be found charters of incorporation, lists of subscribers to building funds, deeds, legal and financial papers, and correspondence dealing with the foundation of Catholic institutions throughout the United States. The early days of dioceses, parishes, orphanages, hospitals, schools, seminaries, religious orders, civic and social groups, as well as their subsequent growth and transformation are here recorded. Parish histories and calendars, Catholic newspapers, publications and annual reports of Catholic institutions and religious orders, and the correspondence of Catholic clergy and laity are among the major categories of records.
Among the larger archival collections, several are unique in their scope and/or completeness. The records of the Theological Seminary of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary contain the original charter and list of donors from 1835, rule books, lists of students including reasons for dismissal, and sacristan's record books which detail the daily, and frequently hourly, activities of the seminarians and faculty over a one hundred and fifty year period. Course descriptions, administrator's and faculty's correspondence and daybooks, student and faculty notebooks, student publications and yearbooks, financial reports, interior and exterior photographs of the buildings and student activities, pictures of ordination classes, and detailed masters of ceremonies' logs are also contained therein. Through these archives an intimate understanding of the life and work of one of American's foremost Catholic theological seminaries is made possible.
The Archives of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia includes the papers of its founders, presidents, and several of its more prominent members. Through these and detailed records of membership, inventories of manuscript and museum object collecting activities, legal and financial papers, and monthly reports to the Board of Governors, a complete historical record of the organization is available.
The interests of institutional and social historians are well-documented in a collection of approximately 1,300 parish histories, one half of which focuses on Philadelphia parishes, but which also includes histories from all parts of the United States. These records consist of published parish histories and commemorative jubilee volumes as well as records of fund-raising campaigns, bazaars, and spiritual and beneficial parish organizations. Here one can find information on the establishment of parishes, Catholic relations with their non-Catholic neighbors, ethnic peculiarities, the architecture of the parish buildings, and the role of the laity in fostering parish life. Most histories and memoirs also almost always contain humorous and interesting anecdotes about prominent "characters" in each parish. The parish history archives is complemented by 600 reels of microfilmed parish sacramental registers and cemetery records, and by about 2,000 volumes of bound parish calendars, many of which contain illuminating information on the composition, growth, and activities of the parish community.
The Reference Library also contains one of the finest collections of Catholic directories and almanacs found in the United States, reaching all the way back to 1822 and containing at least one volume for each year up to the present. These are among the most frequently consulted sources in the Archives. Also within the category of much-used material is the large newspaper collection. Concentrated in the nineteenth-century, the Archives newspaper collection is very strong in, and contains the only extant copies of, many ethnic Catholic newspapers including several early black Catholic periodicals such as the American Catholic Tribune, 1887-1894, and the Journal, 1892, labor-oriented publications, and papers devoted to the concerns of women and youth.
The Historical Pamphlet collection consists of about 6,000 items beginning in 1707 and, like the newspapers, is richest in nineteenth-century material. These pamphlets deal with practically any subject of the day which would have been of concern to Catholics or of concern to non-Catholics because of the Catholics in their midst. The most common subjects dealt with are doctrinal disputes with non-Catholics, immigration and assimilation of foreign Catholics, fear of "Popery," Bible-reading in the schools, lay trusteeism, disease and medical breakthroughs, pioneer America, war and peace issues, slavery and abolition, and Catholic patriotism.
Of major importance in light of recently voiced fears that certain types of pre-Vatican II Catholic materials are not being collected and preserved, are the collections of catechisms, prayerbooks, missals, and devotional works. The catechism collection, for example, contains over five hundred works dating from 1633 to the present. They are found in nearly every language, including Arabic, Gaelic, Tagalog, Hawaiian, and a number of American Indian tongues; and many are bi-lingual.
The Historical Collections contain the correspondence, diaries, business and legal papers, memoirs, memorabilia, and pictorial records of Catholics in America. Largest of these collections is the 90,000 item Papers of Martin I.J. Griffin (1842-1911). Griffin was a journalist, historian, and promoter of Catholic organizations in Philadelphia who, as one of the principal founders of the American Catholic Historical Society and editor of its journal, was instrumental in encouraging Catholic historical studies in the United States. His collection consists of his personal correspondence and also a number of historical documents going back to colonial days which Griffin collected in the course of his life.
The Papers of William Franklin Sands (1875-1945) illuminate the career of another prominent Catholic layperson. Nearly 4,000 items of Sands' correspondence reflect his life as a career diplomat in Japan, Korea, and Central America, 1896-1910, as a businessman with international connections, 1911-1922, as a teacher of history and diplomacy at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, 1925-1937, and as the author of two books, Undiplomatic Memories (1930) and Our Jungle Diplomacy (1944) and many articles on both secular and religious subjects. His correspondents included several presidents of the United States and foreign dignitaries since Sands was in the Orient when the U.S., Russia, and Japan were angling for power there, in Central America at the time of the building of the Panama Canal, and in Europe during World War I.
The Rodrigue Family Papers (1743-1975) trace the history of a French Catholic aristocratic family who lost their sugar plantation and fled to Philadelphia as a result of the slave uprisings in the 1790's on St. Dominique in the Caribbean. Over 5,000 letters, notebooks, and household accounts shed light on the lives of masters and slaves in the late eighteenth century as well as on the operation of trade between the United States and France in the early nineteenth century.
Other manuscript collections dealing with Catholic laypersons include those of Thomas Lloyd (1756-1827), veteran of the American Revolution and stenographer to the first U.S. House of Representatives; Mark Anthony Frenaye (1808-1868), Philadelphia merchant and generous contributor to Catholic churches; Walter George Smith (1862-1924), lawyer, judge, President of the American Bar Association (1917), member of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (1919), member of the U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners (1923), and prominent anti-divorce advocate; Doctors Joseph Walsh and Lawrence F. Flick, pioneers in tuberculosis research at the turn of the century and also promoters of Catholic historical research; and Elizabeth S. Kite (1865-1941), convert from the Society of Friends, author of six books on French participation in the War for Independence, and conductor of research on mental deficiency.
Catholic clergymen, of course, are also well represented in the manuscript collections. Occasional papers of every bishop of Philadelphia are found here as are the papers of bishops from many other dioceses in the East, South, and Midwest. Francis X. Reuss (1847-1913), author of the Biographical Cyclopedia of the Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, spent over thirty years collecting the correspondence of bishops, abbots, priests, and nuns from all over the United States, and these papers now can be found in the Historical Collections. Here also will be found the papers of pioneer missionary Rev. Demetrius A. Gallitzin (1770-1840), and the letters of Mother Katherine Drexel (1907-1913) whose case for canonization is now pending. As in the case of laypersons, several converts to Catholicism are included among the clergymen represented, such as Rev. Edward Hawks (1878-1955), former Episcopalian, chaplain with the Canadian army in World War I, and correspondent in Spain for the Catholic Standard and Times during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1938, and Rev. Thomas C. Middleton, O.S.A., (1883-1917), former Quaker, professor and President of Villanova College, and one of the founders of the American Catholic Historical Society.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia records include the official correspondence of all of the bishops and archbishops of Philadelphia up to the present, including any books or articles written by any of them. Of special interest are Bishop Francis Patrick Kenrick's Diary and Visitation Record covering the years 1830-1851, his Theologia Dogmatica (1839-1849) and Theologia Moralis (1841-1843); and Saint John Nepomucene Neumann's handwritten "Exegesis of the Old and New Testament" composed in the 1830's when he was still a student in Bohemia. The bishops' collections are rather small up to the episcopacy of Dennis Cardinal Dougherty (1918-1951), when the volume of his and subsequent collections becomes enormous.
Some manuscript collections include large amounts of printed records which have been retained in their original relationship with manuscript items. The Papers of Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Philadelphia, 1760-1850, contain the legal and financial records of the early years of the church, trustee's minutes, appeals and subscriptions, the correspondence of Bishops Michael Egan (1808-1814) and Henry Conwell (1819-1842), a large body of printed material on the Hogan-Conwell Schism, 1821-1827, and the papers of the St. Mary's Total Abstinence Beneficial Society, 1842-1850. The Papers of Catholic Missions to the Negro, 1892-1916, contain some correspondence, but is composed mainly of circulars, booklets, and financial statements. The Fenian Brotherhood Papers, 1857-1870, contain some invitations and other printed material, but the bulk is the correspondence of Frank B. Gallagher, lawyer and member of the Fenian Senate.
Of special interest in the Archdiocesan collections is the artifacts collection. The Cardinal Krol Memorabilia collection contains all of the awards and gifts received by that distinguished prelate during his entire ecclesiastical career, nearly a hundred photo and newsclipping albums documenting his extensive travels in the service of the Church, various items of his clerical attire, his personal library of theology and canon law books, and all of his notes, working papers, and documents from the sessions of the Second Vatican Council. The collections also contains a 1765 solid platinum chalice given to Cardinal Krol by the pope.
The Museum of Religious Americana contains about 400 items of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish origin, illustrating the great importance of religion in American culture in all regions of the country. The objects are all of American craftsmanship before 1900, and they emphasize in wood, metal, glass, paper and fabric the embellishment of even mundane utilitarian objects with religious symbolism. The Museum was a gift to the Archdiocese from the Domas Family of New Jersey who had maintained the museum up to 1980.
The Archdiocesan Museum contains mostly Catholic ceremonial artifacts illustrating the progress of the faith in the Philadelphia area. These artifacts include chalices of gold and glass, vestments, statuary, paintings and prints. Some of the chalices date back to the 17th century and were used by the early Catholic missionaries in America. Also to be found here are the various artworks commissioned during the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia.
Another large Archdiocesan collection is that dealing with the 41st International Eucharistic Congress held in Philadelphia in 1976. This collection can and has served as a guide for other congresses since it contains detailed records of the planning and operation of such an international gathering.
The largest and most recent additions to the PAHRC are those papers, books, files, and objects preserved by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's administration since the diocese's foundation in 1808. Over the years, a great mass of archival material had accumulated in the vault behind the old Chancery Building on 1712 Summer Street in Philadelphia. In October 1970, Bishop Martin N. Lohmuller, Vicar General in Curia, and Rev. John J. Shellem, Librarian of Saint Charles Seminary, decided to take the situation in hand. The following April, a committee was formed, consisting of reputable librarians and archivists from the Presbyterian Historical Society of Philadelphia, the American Catholic Historical Society, Chestnut Hill College Library, and Saint Charles Seminary, who examined the materials in the vault and made recommendations for their preservation.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia records also include the administrative records of every office and department in the diocese, the records of charitable and social welfare agencies affiliated with the diocese, the records of schools and parishes throughout the archdiocese, and various collections of papers of private individuals, both clerical and lay. Non-current financial records of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, spiritual and financial reports of parishes, parish sacramental registers dating back to the 1740's, parish histories, records of closed parishes, Superintendent of Schools files and correspondence, annual reports, and records of now-defunct Catholic orphanages and industrial schools are also among the major categories of records which now have tripled the size of the holdings at the PAHRC. Profiting most from the use of these collections would be genealogists, writers of parish histories, students of Catholic educational theory and practice, administrative historians, researchers in church-state relations, and those interested in ecumenism, medical ethics, ethnicity, censorship, lay involvement in church affairs, diplomacy and war.
In May 1971, another committee made up of representatives from the American Philosophical Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, Haverford College Library, the University of Pennsylvania Archives, the Presbyterian Historical Society of Philadelphia, and the Rare Book Division of the Free Library of Philadelphia met at St. Charles Seminary. This committee encouraged the establishment of a unified Archdiocesan Archives and Historical Collections incorporating all of the previously existing collections under a single administration.
With the approval of John Cardinal Krol, Bishop Lohmuller and Father Shellem proceeded to select historian Rev. John B. DeMayo to supervise the transfer of archdiocesan materials from the old Chancery vault to the specially prepared Archives room of the newly constructed Archdiocesan Office Center Building at 222 North Seventeenth Street. Armed with his extensive historical background and fortified by archival training at the National Archives, Father DeMayo set to work effecting the transfer, and, with the assistance of seminarians from Saint Charles Seminary, began the task of cataloguing the diocesan records. On June 16, 1972, Father DeMayo became the first officially appointed Archdiocesan Archivist for Philadelphia. When he also became Librarian at Saint Charles Seminary, Father DeMayo found himself in the perfect position to carry out the unification of all the historic materials in various collections so avidly sought after since the days of Cardinal Dougherty.
In February 1981, Father DeMayo appointed historian Joseph J. Casino to administer all of the archival materials held at Saint Charles Seminary while he personally continued to administer those now housed in the Archdiocesan Office Building. It was perhaps inevitable, though, that given the emphasis of all the professional advice over the years, the two bodies of material would ultimately be united. That is what occurred on July 1, 1989, when Mr. Casino was appointed by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua to replace Father DeMayo as Archivist for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with the primary responsibility of bringing all Catholic historical materials under one roof and under one administration.
During the summer and autumn of 1989 all of the records held at the Archives in the Archdiocesan Office building were transferred to the Archives at Saint Charles Seminary. These records begin in the 1780's when Philadelphia was still part of the Diocese of Baltimore, and become more substantial after 1808 when the Philadelphia diocese was created encompassing Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Whereas the collections of the American Catholic Historical Society and Saint Charles Seminary remain fairly static, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia collections are augmented daily through a new records management program involving the entire archdiocese. Access to American Catholic Historical Society collections is practically unlimited and major portions of the Seminary and Archdiocesan materials are open to researchers. Access restrictions to Seminary and Archdiocesan materials apply to the usual run of confidential files and to bishops' correspondence after 1920; however, bishops' files after 1920 may be opened to researchers with special permission.
There are various finding aids to the collections including inventory books and card indexes, but because of the number of hands having been involved in the cataloguing over many years, the resultant products vary in quality and terminology. The PAHRC provides researchers with various services including genealogical research, historical research assistance, an excellent reference library, and photoduplication of approved research materials. Appointments are required for use of the Archives, and an application must be completed at the time of the preliminary research interview. Normal operating hours are 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
The PAHRC now exists within the Chancery of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Chancellor and the Director share the responsibility for the overall supervision of the collections. The PAHRC staff consists of three Assistant Archivists (one dedicated to genealogical and historical research, one to records management, and one to library), and an Administrative Assistant to the Director. In addition, for several years the PAHRC has benefited from the conscientious work of six unpaid volunteers and the paid services of seminarians from Saint Charles Seminary.
The PAHRC maintains close relations with all institutions of higher education in the area. This is necessary and proper since the PAHRC views its primary purpose as enlightening the public with regard to the history of Catholicism in this region of America. The PAHRC must constantly apprise itself of the research interests and needs of scholars, students, and other researchers; and it feels it has a positive contribution to make to the shaping of educational priorities. An Outreach Program brings elementary and secondary school classes to the PAHRC for tours and workshops, and on occasion it takes parts of the collections to the classrooms themselves for discussion and demonstration. Every PAHRC member, moreover, is involved in publicizing the richness of Catholic history and its archival treasures through original research and publication, addresses before scholarly associations, and membership in a variety of historical and archival organizations. Continuing education is also a necessary activity of every PAHRC member.
Every year the PAHRC answers approximately 6,000 requests for information and provides assistance to about 600 researchers.
The collections are presently housed in a number of commodious rooms and halls located beneath St. Martin's Chapel at the Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. The space is now filled to capacity and environmental conditions are harmful to the historic treasures contained therein.