The Roman Propaganda Fide Archives: An Overflow and Assessment

Abstract

In 1908–09 Professor Carl Russell Fish of the University of Wisconsin was commisioned as a Research Associate by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and sent abroad to visit and assess the materials for American history to be found in the various archives of Italy. Out of his labors, done with the precision of a trained historian, came a volume which has long been a standard tool for students and researchers in this field: Fish's Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and Other Italian Archives, published in 1911 by the Carnegie Institution. Pages 119–95 are devoted to an analysis of those archives of the Catholic Church which are commonly called the Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome. Fish's analysis is preceded by a brief historical account of this important arm in the ordinary government of the Catholic Church from 1622 (the date of its establishment) until 1911.