|
What and where are the Society Archives? |
|
|
01 Mar 04 |
In September 2003, I replaced Anne Leonard, rscj (CAN) as General Archivist of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Rome. It was only a few months later that this International webpage was launched and with it, the possibility for a much broader form of communication among RSCJ and others. I see great potential for communication of information about the Society, its current works and areas of service, as well as its rich history. One of my responsibilities as Archivist of the Society is to make available for research the documents that have come to us from our early years, with the deposit of history, spirituality and philosophy of education that they contain.
The Society is blessed with archives that were established very early in our history, and maintained in each house by assiduously following the directives established in our first Constitutions in 1826 for the collections of records and their preservation. Since that time the Secretaries and Treasurers General have seen to the preservation of the official letters, deeds, contracts and all manner of records that tell the story of the Society as an Institute, in relation with the hierarchical church, in its internal history and external works. In recent decades, the General Archivist has had the responsibility of collecting, preserving and making available for research this documentary heritage. She is assisted in her service by the Provincial Archivists, one in each province in the Society, who is responsible for the collection and preservation of the documents pertaining to the history of the Society in the province. Much of the material is in the form of documents; other is in the library, as published material; still other is found under other formats, everything from old glass slides, photographs, films, audio and video tapes to CDs and DVDs; the Heritage Room offers the possibility of viewing some of the artifacts that visually show us how our Sisters lived. These materials are available for use by researchers in the General Archives of the Society of the Sacred Heart housed at the Villa Lante in Rome.
It is my hope that through this web-page, we will be able to engage in a growing exchange of information about the history of the Society. For the past 14 years, the archivists of the Society have regularly exchanged information by means of the tri-lingual “Archives Newsletter”, usually published twice yearly and received by the archivists who were encouraged to share it with their provincials. In this Newsletter we shared information and brief research conducted on various aspects of archives and archival materials. We are now at a point where we would like to make our simple work available to all through this new medium. Rather than a lengthy, semi-annual publication, we will share an article every month or so, inviting others to join us in a conversation about our heritage.
Margaret Phelan rscj
General Archivist of the Society of the Sacred Heart |
|
Last Updated ( 01 Nov 05 )
|
