News & EventsACDA election results are in!
Posted: 20 May 2009
Preservation of Sacred Artifacts: Care and Handling of Cultural Materials in Religious and Spiritual Institutions
The Msgr. Joseph Jessing ConferenceCenter, Columbus, OH
June 4, 2009, 10:00AM-4:00PM
This program, presented by the conservation staff of the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), helps religious and spiritual institutions understand the basic care of the cultural materials of which they are stewards. Each talk will address the principles of caring for, displaying, and storing materials found in religious collections and buildings. Preventative conservation and information on practical ways to ensure the long-term stability of artifacts and documents will also be discussed. The program is tailored for staff and volunteers responsible for collections in churches, synagogues, mosques, or other spiritual or religious centers, but is open to all interested parties. Click here for the registration form.
23rd Western Archives Institute
Posted: 16 Januaury 2009
Ellen Jarosz with the Western Archives Institue asked me to pass along the following information to our members:
The 23rd annual Western Archives Institute will be held at U.C. Berkeley in Berkeley, California, June 14 - June 26, 2009. The Western Archives Institute is an intensive, two-week program that provides integrated instruction in basic archival practices to individuals with a variety of backgrounds, including those whose jobs require a fundamental understanding of archival skills, but who have little or no previous archives education; those who have expanding responsibility for archival materials; those who are practicing archivists but have not received formal instruction; and those who demonstrate a commitment to an archival career.
The Institute also features site visits to historical records repositories and a diverse curriculum that includes history and development of the profession, theory and terminology, records management, appraisal, arrangement, description, manuscripts acquisition, archives and the law, photographs, preservation administration, reference and access, outreach programs, and managing archival programs and institutions.
Terry Eastwood has graciously agreed to serve as the 2009 Principal Faculty Member. Eastwood is Professor Emeritus of the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia. He was the founding professor of the Master of Archival Studies program in his school, and chair of the program from 1981-2000. He has taught courses on all the fundamental subjects of archival education, and written over 50 articles and chapters of books on such subjects as the arrangement and description of archives, appraisal, archival education, the history of archival institutions, the role of archives in democratic accountability, and on the archival treatment of electronic records. He is a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists and an honorary member of the Association of Canadian Archivists and of the Archival Association of British Columbia. This will be the fifth time Eastwood has served as Principal Faculty Member of the Western Archives Institute.
Tuition for the Institute is $700 and includes a selection of archival publications. Additional fees are charged for program transportation, facility fees, opening dinner, and luncheon at the closing program. Housing and meal plans are available at additional cost.
The application deadline for the 2009 Western Archives Institute is March 13, 2009. For additional program information, contact:
The Western Archives Institute is co-sponsored by the Society of California Archivists and the California State Archives.
The application package is available on the California State Archives web site at http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/level3_wai.html, and on the Society of California Archivists web site at http://www.calarchivists.org under Western Archives Institute.
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Call for Dorthy Day Letters
Posted: 01 December 2008
For a forthcoming edition of Dorothy Day's selected letters, to be published by the Marquette University Press, we are seeking copies of letters in other repositories. Please contact Phil Runkel at (414) 288-5903 or email Phil.Runkel@marquette.edu.Phil RunkelArchivist Department of Special Collections and University Archives Raynor Memorial LibrariesMarquette University1355 W. Wisconsin Ave, PO Box 3141Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
By Brittany B. Parris, Archdiocese of Atlanta
Archivists bring the past forward through time by acting as dedicated protectors and promoters of history; however, sometimes this past has a way of coming to us, taking us backward into history-in a good way, of course.
The Office of Archives and Records of the Archdiocese of Atlanta has a mission of stewardship with regards to records and historical materials of significant and enduring value as pertains to the Archdiocese of Atlanta itself and the Catholic Church in North Georgia. Given the geographic focus of our department, I was surprised to receive a handwritten letter from Ireland in early June of this year. The sender of said letter was Mr. Anthony Costelloe of Limerick, Ireland. In his letter, he enthusiastically recounted the details of a recent experience that had led him to contacting us.
Costelloe and his wife were in the midst of a train journey to the city of Galway when he overheard a priest mentioning that he was from Georgia, USA. As Costelloe wrote in our first piece of correspondence, "a light of awareness flashed in my brain-coincidence-or was it destiny?" Perhaps it was indeed destiny. Costelloe, with a passion for American Civil War history and the movie, Gone with the Wind, was excited to listen to the priest narrate a Civil War tale of Father Thomas O'Reilly of Atlanta, Georgia.
Father O'Reilly was known for his famous stand against General Sherman during the burning of Atlanta that took place as part of Sherman's March to the Sea. Upon news of the order to burn Atlanta, Father O'Reilly informed General Slocum of Sherman's men that Sherman would encounter widespread mutiny amongst the ranks, many of whom were Catholic. Father O'Reilly's stand helped to protect the Immaculate Conception Church, as well as several other buildings, including City Hall, the Court House, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Second Baptist, Central Presbyterian, and Trinity Methodist.
In addition to learning of Father O'Reilly while on this train ride, Costelloe was also made aware of the Archdiocese of Atlanta's archives, which led him to contacting the Office of Archives and Records to inquire about any historical information that we might happen to have on the Civil War, as well as two of his new interests: Father O'Reilly, and Atlanta's Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Church. I was able to provide our researcher from overseas with plenty of information. In turn, Costelloe had hoped to generate an article based on Father O'Reilly's place in history. Although it was generated later in the sequence of events, an article has indeed been created by Costelloe and has been submitted to one of Ireland's popular national magazines, Ireland's Own.
In one of our many exchanges of correspondence, Costelloe acknowledged that it was challenging "...to coordinate the biographical and historical data and create a cohesive entity" in the shape of an article. (This is a statement to which many of us certainly can relate, I am sure.) He then posed the question: "Why not attempt to commemorate Father O'Reilly in verse?" Indeed, why not? This is exactly what has been done and, with permission having been granted graciously by the creator, what I would like to share with fellow diocesan archivists. As Costelloe wrote in a letter on July 23, 2008: "It would be a social tragedy to neglect our ancestors and their contribution to our present."
The Ballad of Father Tom O'Reilly
by Anthony Costelloe of Limerick, Ireland - July 2008
I
‘Twas in the year eighteen and thirty-one he saw the light of day,
In a place called Drumcoura, from Atlanta three thousand miles away.
This Cavan lad's life, though short, was fruitful; some events I'll now relate
Of this pastor named Tom O'Reilly, an Irish soul both good and great.
II
At "All Hallows," Dublin he was ordained for the missions out west - across the Atlantic sea;
His companion, Father Hook, and Christ within, ready they both would be.
For Savannah, Georgia they set sail, Tom at the age of six and t wenty,
To greet them there, a horrid spectre, yellow-fever, bringing death aplenty.
III
Little time had they to sleep, as Savannah's needs they nobly met,
The reaper claimed poor Father Hook who joined the swelling ranks of death,
Though shaken by this loss so sore, to the sick and dying Tom still gave his all,
Selfless in his taxing ministry, ever mindful of his Maker's call.
IV
Sadly, the yellow evil, O'Reilly's blood it found,
Yet its sharp scythe did not fell him to Savannah ground;
To cleaner Macon air he was sent, not far from Atlanta city, once a town.
Though weak of limb, yet strong of spirit, for tireless work he won renown.
V
In Albany a church he built; in Marietta known to many as a com forter to folk in woe.
The railroad it did serve him well, to remote regions he could go.
Next to Atlanta he was sent, a city teeming with pioneer stock,
At Mary Immaculate Conception Church to tend his Catholic f lock.
VI
A sinister wind it was blowing across this pioneer-enriched fair land,
And soon America's sons the plough they'd leave, the gun they'd take to hand.
Conflicting minds were active, sowing thoughts that bore unrest.
Once again young Tom's faith and courage would truly be put to the test.
VII
Those ghostly horsemen four, that wind they rode over the fractured land,
And for four blood-spattered years, South against North made defiant stand;
Brother faced brother on crimson fields, many friendships they were shattered;
As blue bled grey and homesteads wept, the cause was all that mattered.
VIII
Many a mother's brave son at Marietta and Peachtree Creek he fell,
At Jonesboro too in total thousands bled and died, a tearful tale to tell;
Where once oak grew tall and pine-scent filled the calm pure Georgia air,
Now decay and blood-stench all around close to many-spired Atlanta fair.
IX
Father Tom, through shot and shell to the broken and weary he willingly did tend,
A friend to blue and grey alike, his caring hands he did extend;
Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Baptist, they are God's children all,
To ease the ache in every soul, that was his special call.
X
In the third year of the fiendish era, it was September's second day,
Sherman and his Yankee troops down Atlanta's stark street made their grim way;
The Baptist church, its bell a warning tolled as the spent boys in blue filled the city;
Slocum and Sherman, riding ahead, their tired eyes held little pity.
XI
Sabres jingling, hoof-thumps, shufflings; boots-scraping along grimy ground,
Those Yankee boys, their uniforms, dust-dyed almost a Rebel grey, their presence an unholy sound.
Many grimy, bruised and bandaged, others worn, thin and gaunt;
Soon, by Father Tom's defiance, faith and courage, their conscience he would haunt.
XII
Early in November ‘64, Sherman to his general a dark command he gave;
Words that, to Southern ears, were as chilling as a cold and lonely grave.
Atlanta, their source of hope and pride, splendid against the Georgia sky,
To ashes it must be reduced, ten days to leave, then let it die.
XIII
The November day it dawned when Atlanta, its hellish fate did meet;
As frantic troopers, blazing torches raised, converged on every street.
Structures splendid by the hundreds were daubed by Yankee fires,
A savior now God needed to spare His dwellings and their spires.
XIV
Father Tom, God's soldier, from him decisive action it was needed now,
Slocum's boys, firebrands in blue, would not make him bow;
O'Reilly bravely stood that day, in his delivery not a stutter,
His Southern flock their breath they held as to Slocum a warning he did utter.
XV
"If this Immaculate Church you burn, all Catholics in your ranks will mutiny."
These weighty words a shadow cast across Slocum and his wrathful company,
Other fires in Union hearts were kindling as conflagration raged all around.
As flaming joists and floor-boards charred went crashing to the ground.
XVI
A Federal lad, torch blazing, rushed at Mayor Calhoun's house nearby,
Another Federal trooper; his rifle spat lead, the lad for this must die.
Slocum's eyes were misted, this deed it moved him greatly too;
How a boy in blue reacted, when to his Maker he was true.
XVII
Yes, Slocum, the priest's warning he heeded and spared the church built by pioneer hand robust,
Admiration for the pastor won from the Union boys, he merited their trust.
Father Tom, God's deliverer, places of worship saved he five from the Yankee hell.
Immaculate Conception, Methodist, add Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Baptist with its bell.
XVIII
The inferno's fiery tongue, many walls it licked to ash that night.
The Atlanta sky, its blue was shattered by a million sparks, star-bright,
Roofs imploded as oak and pine-beams they down-crashed; a fire nobody could tame,
Yet four-hundred structures remained untouched by that raging beast of flame.
XIX
City Hall these included and the Hall of Justice, symbols of the South's democracy,
Meanwhile,Sherman and his Yankee troopers began their triumphant march to the sea,
Finally in ‘65 the ashes of four gory years were with the April wind blown away
When Lee, at Appomattox did gallantly surrender and peace it dawned that day.
XX
In Virginia, on the sixth day of September, eighteen and seventy two;
A young hero's brave heart it stopped - a grievous loss to grey and blue.
Father Tom O'Reilly, a moral giant, small of stature indeed was he,
Back home to his Maker he was going to enjoy the bliss of eternity. ♦
