Preserving Black Catholic Archives: Creation and Use

Abstract

This article was born out of the collaboration of Cecilia Moore, Nancy Hampton, and Kathleen Dorsey Bellow as they prepared to host a tour group at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association in New Orleans. Understanding that Association members would be visiting Xavier University of Louisiana to learn about the Institute for Black Catholic Studies, they prepared a panel to highlight the Archives and Special Collections at Xavier and its role in preserving Black Catholic history. In part one, Nancy Hampton introduces the history of the creation of the Xavier Archives and its holdings. In part two, Kathleen Dorsey Bellow discusses the importance of preserving Black Catholic archives by focusing on the work done to prepare the donation of the papers of Father Cyprian Davis, OSB to the Catholic University of America Archives in 2015. In part three, Cecilia Moore reveals the role the Xavier Archives play in both teaching Black Catholic history and initiating students into the research and writing of Black Catholic history at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies.