Speaking from the stacks

This past year in the Missionaries of the Precious Blood Archive has been one of learning and discovering.  

I have to confess, on a community scale, nothing that I found was earth shattering.  

Some unprocessed boxes had things that simply needed disposed of, others were meeting minutes or correspondence that could put coffee to sleep, and others had contents already found in our archive. But there were also boxes with photographs of missionaries in foreign fields, accounts of chaplains ministering to armed forces, examples of members’ art, and various thesis and dissertations attesting to the academic achievements of the community.  

There were other parts of the collection I needed to acquaint myself with, too. We have nearly 1,100 archival document boxes (from which I haven’t gleaned all the information just yet). Most requests that come in are people asking about deceased members who made a difference in their lives; great-uncles, former pastors, a well-loved professor, a life-changing mentor. So, the files pertaining to members have tended to be the focus. In the end, I see my work first and foremost as a service to Missionaries, living or deceased.  

As part of our collection, we have just about every style file cabinet ever made. It’s a bit embarrassing to say it took me a while to discover the keys when you think that we have nearly 25 on the ring. I spent a large portion of the spring indexing them, so we know what we have and where it is. Again, time was spent thinning out an overabundance of duplicate material and adding unprocessed things to empty drawers.  

One of the perks of being an archivist is there is always something to do. So, if indexing a file cabinet isn’t the vibe that day, I can turn my attention to something else. 

When I am not sorting through things, I am often digitalizing documents and photos.  

During the winter months, I worked on scanning all the C.PP.S. Newsletters (1970-2024) and The Gasparian (1938-1981). So much of the community’s history is contained in these publications. There are meeting minutes, notices, pictures, articles, and opinions that make up the story of the of the Missionaries in the United States. In my opinion, it’s the opinions that give the history the most color.  

I have also been working on digitalizing some of the pictures Frs. Milton Ballor and David Hoying complied and organized in binders over their years as archivists. These are the pivotal images of our history. They are also the ones with reliable captions, so we know exactly what we are scanning into the database. With the archive being at St. Charles, they are heavy on seminary history. I think this gives us lots of room to expand the processed photos to other ministry sites in the future.  

As the collection grows with the creation of the U.S. Province, this past year has been a time of planning to enhance the physical space of the archive. This will improve the air quality, allowing us to better control and stabilize the temperature and humidity of the stacks. Additionally, there will also be a waterless fire suppression system installed, as water and paper don’t tend to mix very well. The plan also includes adding new moveable shelving, adding more places to store more documents and ephemera. Finally, there will be an office separate from the repository to welcome researchers and give added privacy to the files.  

Another area we hope to develop with more variety is the Heritage Room at St. Charles. This room is an excellent resource for telling the story of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. My hope is to rotate different displays of people, places, and things that I uncover in the archives. This past spring, I displayed some of the personal effects of slain pastor Fr. Richard Schweiterman, whom Fr. David Hoying had expertly researched, and currently there is a display on illuminated manuscripts, featuring some of the late 13th-century books in the archive collection.  

Finally, as we rediscover things and make them more accessible, my hope is to be able to share them with Missionaries, Companions, and other researchers through the various publications and platforms of the Missionaries. Stay tuned!  

Matthew Hess 
Province Archivist