Launched in 2018, the Catholic Religious Archives Repository at Boston College works to collect, process, and make accessible records, photographs, artifacts, and ephemera from congregations of men and women Catholic Religious in the United States and Canada. Our goal is to preserve for generations to come, these congregations’ unique histories, important stories, and irreplaceable contributions to Catholic Religious and secular life and institutions throughout North America and beyond. Although the Archives are currently closed to allow for processing, we welcome you to learn more about us, our history, and our collections as we busily prepare to welcome research requests as early as January 2024.
Mission Effectiveness Through Archives
The value of religious community archives is much more than preservation of the history of a particular religious community. They are also an important resource for mission and heritage formation in health care, education and social-service ministries that are, in large part, led today by laity. Such is the case with the Sisters of Providence […]
Benedictine Crafts: Needlework in Minnesota
The Art/Needlework Department of Saint Benedict’s Monastery had its roots in St. Walburg Convent, Eichstatt, Bavaria, its motherhouse. Sister Willibalda Scherbauer, one of the first Benedictine sisters from Eichstatt to arrive in Minnesota in 1857, was trained in needlework as a young girl. She taught the first class in art needlework, specializing in fine embroidery, […]
The Role of Leadership in a Congregations Archives
Leaders of religious congregations play a pivotal role in preserving a congregation’s archives. When I began my role as the congregational leadership liaison to our archives, I knew very little about the subject. However, as my understanding of archives grew, it is clear to me now that leadership has a proactive responsibility for maintaining and […]
Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, BVM: A Pioneer in Computer Science
Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dubuque, Iowa, USA) was among the first women to receive a PhD in Computer Science. She received her degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1964 and was the first person, woman or man, to receive such a degree from that educational […]
The Sisters’ Legacy is Deeply Embedded into the Fabric of American Life
As a historian, I think it is important to remember and emphasize that the lived experience of American sisters is embedded within broader social and cultural struggles that rocked the nation in the last half century. By the mid-1960s, over 200,000 Catholic women were living and working in over 400 religious orders in the United […]
