The Mount Saint Joseph Archives is known for preserving the Ursuline Sisters’ historic documents. On Nov. 4, 2019, it gave some of them away.
The Archives had copies of The Record – the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville – back to 1890. It also had copies of the precursors to The Record – The Catholic Advocate and The Guardian, from the 1840s and 1850s. All of western Kentucky was a part of the Diocese of Louisville until 1937, when the Diocese of Owensboro was created, and Louisville became an archdiocese.
It turns out the Archdiocese of Louisville did not have those copies. That was discovered when Tim Tomes, who took over as archivist for the Archdiocese of Louisville in July, called Heidi Taylor-Caudill, the archivist for the Mount and the Diocese of Owensboro.
“These will help fill in the gaps we have,” Tomes said when he visited the Mount on Nov. 4. The Ursuline Sisters agreed to turn over their collection of the newspapers, and Tomes managed to get four large containers and several bound versions in his pickup truck.
“Even the bound copies we have in Louisville are in rough shape,” Tomes said. “This is a wonderful gift from one diocese to another.”
Taylor-Caudill said it makes more sense for the archdiocese to have these publications. It will also free up needed space in the flat drawers of the Mount Archives.
Here are some photos from the transfer.
