Announcements

Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR) is pleased to share the Religious Archives in Transition Toolkit, a free 150+ page guide to assist congregations of women religious in transitioning their archival collections to a successor repository.

 

 

The toolkit is divided into three sections, which address the process of transition from start to finish. Each section functions within a timeline-based framework called the Spectrum of Fulfillment.

 

Part 1 - Assessing Your Archive encourages you to explore your current archival reality and to begin critically thinking about who you are and what your collection represents.

 

Part 2 - Discerning Your Archival Future leads you through a practical workflow to explore and discern potential options for a successor repository. We ask you to define your own "good fit" repository.

 

Part 3 - Transitioning Your Archive involves everything from preparing your collections to move, navigating the physical move, and dealing with the extraneous "stuff." This information-dense section will surely provide some tips, tricks, and practical advice for your archival move.

 

Additional features of the toolkit include:

 

Although this guide relates primarily to archives of women religious, the tools and methodologies within this toolkit can be readily applied to other repositories facing transition to another entity. We hope our members, and others, will utilize this toolkit in a way that is most useful and meaningful to each congregation. The toolkit emphasizes the essential role of leadership in ensuring that the historical legacy of Catholic sisters and nuns is preserved in perpetuity.

 

Please be aware that the toolkit may be revised, edited, or updated in the future. New editions will be uploaded to the ACWR website.

 

We would like to thank the Society of American Archivists Foundation for a Strategic Growth Grant, which enhanced our capacity to complete the toolkit. We would also like to thank the National Archives Project for Women Religious (NAPWR) which, through the Sisters of Charity Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, provided funds to support attendees at the Religious Archives in Transition workshop.

 

ACWR welcomes feedback on the toolkit or the workshop experience. Please be in touch with the ACWR National Office at archivistsacwr@gmail.com.

 

Gratefully,

 

Casey Bowser, Archivist, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill & Seton Hill University

Sarah Cantor, Director of Archives & Heritage Center, Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary

Nadia Nasr, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Santa Clara University

Sister Mary Navarre, OP, Director of Archives, Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids

Lisa M. Schell, Congregation Archivist, Adrian Dominican Sisters