ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT THE

ANNUAL MEETING, DECEMBER 21, 1915

One of the first evidences of civilization-indeed it is the earliest use of written language-is the manifestation of a desire to record passing events for the information and guidance of future times; and one of the triumphs of modern civilization is that painstaking delving and research which have brought to light the culture of nations long buried in oblivion. The mission of the American Catholic Historical Society embraces the task of preserving the materials of present-day history for the use of the future historian and the labor of gathering together the documents and monuments of by-gone days that the life of the past may be reconstructed. So the Society aims to diffuse the historical spirit by which the records of the present may be preserved and the spirit of investigation by which the records of the past may be rescued from oblivion. The library and museum of the Society where are housed books and pamphlets, manuscripts and pictures, newspapers and souvenirs, all the materials out of which history is woven, aim to furnish a work352095

shop where the historian of the Church in America may labor among authentic documents.

A Catholic Historical Society is a kind of insurance society, striving by preserving the sources of history to insure the Church against misrepresentation, for there is no more favorite and no more telling attack that can be made on the Church than that drawn from the pages of history. The office of the Society is not, however, that of a Catholic Truth Society, nor is it merely an organization for antiquarian research out of sole love of delving into the dust of the past. While it makes no claim to filling a loud-crying need nor to performing an indispensable service for Catholicity in America, it is not on the other hand a mere luxury of Catholic erudition. In treasuring up the memorials of the life of the Church in America, the Society is doing a work of real service for religion, a work which means much even for conversions into the fold.

Surely the record of Catholicity in America is an added evidence of the divine character of the Church, of her four distinguishing marks as the Church of Christ. To those who have merely the current traditional notions of American history it is hardly less than amazing to learn of the important role played by Catholics in the drama of the Western world especially during the centuries of discovery and exploration, while it is positively startling to learn of the civilizing influence of Catholics in Spanish America. The story of Catholicity in America is an inspiring one and one that is little known. Spread the knowledge of the glories of the Church in the annals of American history and faith will be strengthened and new enthusiasm enkindled for things Catholic. Those who visited the Panama Exposition last summer returned, after seeing the California Missions and learning of the civilization brought by the Franciscan Padres in the

south-west, the non-Catholics with lessened prejudices and the Catholics with increased pride in their faith.

Any one who has tried to do even a bit of local research work, for example the writing of the history of a parish of even recent erection will appreciate the convenience, not to say necessity of a central storehouse, where the sources of history can be preserved. The materials of American Catholic history are scattered abroad and because they are so dispersed many of them will be irretrievably lost. There is no doubt but that most valuable historical matter finds its way to the fire or the junkheap because of neglect to store it where it would be preserved from destruction. Important historical documents have lain buried in dust in old chests and forgotten cupboards often rescued from destruction by the merest accident. The aim of the Catholic Historical Society is to save just such material. Its motto might well be the Scriptural expression: "Colligite fragmenta ne pereant."

Our library and cabinet should be a depositary for all historical material that is worthy of preservation, and often more is worthy of preservation than its possessor imagines, that the investigator into the facts of history may come to this old mansion with the assurance that he will find the object of his quest. This Society must not be looked upon as a purely local institution. Its name indicates its scope, the American Catholic Historical Society. Not only the history of this great archdiocese falls within the province of the Society but of the entire nation and of all America, North and South, so that its aim might well be expressed in an adaptation of the Terentian phrase, “Americani nihil a me alienum puto." The first service, then, which can be rendered to this Society is to supply it with the raw materials of history books, papers, pictures, letters, diaries, relics,

the records of the present and the souvenirs of the past. There is hardly an individual who has not in his possession things interesting and valuable to the scholar of American Catholic history; let him deposit such possessions here where they will be safe from destruction and available for the use of investigators.

A word as to the important question of the support of the Society. The first means of support is an adequate membership. There surely are five thousand Catholics in this city alone who are Catholic to the degree of being interested in the history of the Church in America and who are able financially to spend five dollars a year for the collection and preservation of the sources and monuments of that history. Many do not join the Society because they have not the time or have not the ability to do research work themselves but by their membership they can make it possible for others to do it. Some do not join our ranks because the work of the Society does not appeal to them. True, it is not a charitable work like caring for the sick and the orphans, providing for the deaf and the blind, the aged and the helpless. But it is nevertheless a work worthy of the support of Catholics; for it is one of those intellectual activities which keep alive that spirit of charity which provides for the afflicted and the needy. This is the age of the glorification of the merely useful. "What good is it?" is the question constantly asked; and unless that good is of a very utilitarian order, a good that is tangible and which may be distinctly labeled, most people will none of it. There is no doubt that this Society does real good for the cause of the Church, more good than most Catholics realize and more good than can be definitely catalogued.

Apart from a large membership of workers and supporters of workers, the Society might well be financed by an endowment fund. Such a fund has been started