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1 ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Group of the Australian Society of Archivists Inc Number 18 April 2010 Number 18 Feb 2011 Blessed Collections Newsletter of the Religious Collections Special Interest The 2010 RCSIG AGM was held on Thursday 14 th October A site visit to the Christian Brothers Archives in Parkville, Melbourne commencing at circa am followed by the AGM at 2.15 pm at Goold Catholic Museum, 398 Albert Street Melbourne concluding to give time for participants to attend the ASA AGM at 3pm at the Rydges Hotel. Minutes of ASA Religious Collections Special Interest Group Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at James Alipius Goold Catholic Museum Assembly Room 398 Albert Street, Melbourne on Thursday 14 October, Meeting Commenced at 2.15 pm. The site visit had been to the Christian Brothers Treacy Centre Archives, Parkville at am hosted Br John O Halloran CFC followed with lunch paid for by the ASA Council. 1. Present : The following members of the RCSIG were present. Denis Connor, Canberra-Goulburn, Anne Cooke, Pauline Garland, Sydney Archdiocese Catholic Archives, Sue Ryan Adelaide Catholic Archdiocese Archives, Br William Shaw FSC, Sr Frances Stibi PBVM, Perth Catholic Archdiocese Archives, Louise Trott Anglican Diocese Archives, Sr Lia Van Haren SGS, Good Samaritan Archives Sydney, Fiona Byrnes, NAA Sydney. Non-members present Sr Patricia Burke, RSC. The Convener Louise Trott welcomed those present to the meeting, and circulated the minutes of the last 2009 RCSIG Annual General Meeting and the attendance sheet to be signed. 2. Apologies. Read: Roberta Cowan, Sheena Hesse, Uniting Church Archives, Shauna Hicks, Lyall Kupke, Margaret Paterson, Janette Pelosi, Desley Soden, Sr Irene Young, Lee Davey. 1

2 3. Thanks were expressed to our hosts of Melbourne Archdiocesan staff Rachel Naughton and Michael Taffe who set up and opened the room for the meeting and graciously provided the venue. 4. Personal introductions around the room from those attending the meeting. 5. Minutes of 2009 RCSIG AGM. Minutes were accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting moved by Sue Ryan and seconded by Pauline Garland. 6. Matters arising from the Minutes of the 2009 AGM. 6.2 Sue nothing to report. 6.3 Denis asked has Desley sent copy of report on archives of other religions and faiths in Brisbane? Action: Louise will chase up. 6.4 No other matters arising. 7. Convener s report. 7.1 Usually the RCSIG piggy backs on the Schools SIG day but this time events are split and we have not been able to work with them because of arrangements. The RCSIG does not have State branches and therefore no branch support whereas the School SIG does have this support. 7.2 International Meeting in Brisbane in 2010 maybe an opportunity to have special groups. We need to discuss what we can do but it has to be come from members if we do anything. There will be ICA papers devoted to Religion collections. 7.3 Professional members are growing which is a good sign. Lists of members number Report of the Editor of the SIG Newsletter Blessed Collections. Work has been done and an edition is almost ready but because of a number of issues it was not completed in time. A couple of members have sent in reports or articles. But there is a need to make sure no formatting of articles sent in is done to allow smooth addition to copy. 9. Election of RCSIG Committee Office Bearers for Returning officer Fiona Burn who conducted the election. 9.2 Results Convener: Louise Trott, Newsletter Editor: Pauline Garland, Committee members: Sue Ryan, Fiona Burn. 10. General Business Roberta K set up NING for small collections for use of parishes, schools, with web 2.0 abilities Grant to Sr Frances to develop a database for very small parish archives with Mosaic program as a basic program. 11. Conclusion. Closed at quarter to 2.00 pm so that members could attend ASA AGM meeting. 2

3 Minutes of 2009 AGM held in the Darnell Room, St John s Anglican Cathedral, 373 Ann Street, Brisbane, QLD at am prior to the RCSIG AGM. Vote of thanks to Fiona Burn for work with Newsletter for many years. A delicious morning tea enjoyed by all was provided by the Anglican parish Report on 2009 site visit 9.15 am tours to Brisbane Diocesan Archives and St John s Anglican Cathedral divided into two groups. While the RCSIG was held the School SIG group were escorted to the Mercy Heritage Centre with a choice of a tour of the Cathedral as an option the group were too large for one tour. Minutes taken by Situated at 547 Ann Street Brisbane within the grounds of All Hallows School the Heritage Centre is within the All Hallows Convent. Events during the year. Sydney Annual Prayer Meeting for Beginning of Archivists Year. The 6 th Annual Service of Thanksgiving for the shared heritage reflected in the archives of the Presbyterian and Uniting Churches in New South Wales, of dedication of archives staff and volunteers and of all who affirm their involvement in history and archives as part of their 3

4 Christian vocation. This service was held on Thursday 11 th February 2010 Scots Presbyterian Church, Margaret Street Sydney with an invitation to attend being extended to all church and religious archivists within Sydney. A large group attended and enjoyed the mingling afterwards during the serving of morning tea provided by the volunteers at the Scots Church. Reports: Other Religious Archives in Brisbane. Following on from this report for the 2008 Conference, the main people I have contact with are the Catholic Archdiocesan Archivist, the Baptist Archivist, and the Lutheran Archivist, and Lutheran Pastor. I have mutually exchanged information with them all, on an occasional basis, for reference enquiries. I sent a personal invitation to them all with information about the ASA Conference in Brisbane, last year, However, none of them attended the Conference, and I only received an acknowledgment from the Lutheran Pastor. Small archives for the religious sector in Brisbane are facing difficulties. The archivist for the Masonic Lodge whom I mentioned in the first part of this report (2008), came to see the set up for the Anglican Archives, to take notes and write a report about setting up an archive for the Lodge. She was part time, and the area assigned for the archives was a dank basement. She was to give me a copy of her report, but I have not had any contact with her since. I was invited to see the Archives for the Lutheran Church which I think was just for the one church in Wickham Terrace, not the whole Lutheran Church in Queensland/SE Queensland. The Archivist had come to view the Anglican Archives first, and was very impressed. At the Lutheran Archives, there was a small library in an open common space, and one small locked room for the archives. I don t think the room was environmentally controlled all the time, but it was clean and dry. The collection seemed well organised, but was stored in very large archival boxes which were difficult to move to and from the shelves. I 4

5 exchanged some standard size spare archival boxes, for their large spare archival boxes because I thought I could find a use for them somewhere. Unfortunately, since that time the Archivist has become very sick and has left she too was only part time, one or two days a week. The Pastor has also retired, so I no longer have a point of contact there. Apart from the ASA meetings, my main contact with other small archives is through the Brisbane schools archival group which I have been attending for about fifteen months. It has been a useful and informative group, and everyone is friendly. It has been helpful for me to put faces to names of some of the church school archivists with whom I have dealings. In summary, it appears that religious archives in Brisbane are not a very viable option to expand the membership of the ASA, or for information exchange through meetings. Reports: CDA of Australia Meeting 2009 Annual meeting of the Catholic Diocesan Archivists of Australia was held 26 th 28 th August 2009in Hobart hosted by Sister Carmel Hall with 15 Diocesan Archivists present including a bishop investing employing an archivist for his diocese. There were guess speakers such Fr Terry Southerwood a well known author of church history and Australian Catholic topics who spoke of his experience in writing and dealing with archives. Brian Andrews the Hobart Heritage Officer and an authority on Pugin and Church architecture having also published a major splendid book on the subject who gave a very informative presentation on the history of the early church buildings and artefacts in Tasmania. A tour of the Hobart Cathedral was conducted by Fr Brain Nicholls who is the Dean of the Cathedral and responsible for the restoration of the Cathedral. Kate Walker president of the RMAA gave a workshop on functional classification as part of records management process. The 5

6 days together concluded with a visit to the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office and the Museum and Art Gallery and tour of the Old Gaol and Penitentiary chapel. But all agree the best part of the days together is the opportunity to share our experiences and network about our work and challenges as Catholic Diocesan Archivists. Pauline Garland Convenor of the CDAA News from WA. The GFC didn t affect my funding as I am allocated a budget from the UCA Synod of WA and as we are only a small volunteer run archives we manage to do all we plan each year within the budget allowed. We do have the strong support of the Uniting Church Synod of WA. Recently a building was purchased and it is located next door to the WA Synod Office in East Perth. We will be moving into the building early in 2011.The ground floor of the building and will be able to set up as dedicated Archive Research Center. After 27 years of living in the wilderness we will at last have a permanent home. Sheena Hesse, Hon Archivist, Uniting Church Archivest f archiveswa@amnet.net.au Catholic Diocesan Archivists of Australia Annual Meeting For 2010 the Catholic Diocesan Archivists of Australia met prior to the ASA Conference in Melbourne commencing with our usual meeting on Monday 10 th October at the Archdiocese then excursion to the Yarra Valley on Tuesday 12 th October when we visited Mont de Lancey Historic Homestead in managed by the Wandin and District Historical Society 6

7 Museum then onto the Tarrawarra Cisterian Abbey and their rare book collection with lunch at the Yering Station. Pauline Garland Photographs also by Pauline Garland The Annual Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication at St Stephen s Uniting Church Macquarie Street, Sydney was held on 10 th February 2011 at 1.00pm followed by light refreshments in the Fergusion Hall. The Anglican Archivist Louise Trott and Catholic Archdiocesan Archivist Pauline Garland both were invited to do a reading and be part of the officiating group. The invited speaker was Rev Dr Peter Bolt from Moore College Sydney with the welcome given by the Rev Dr Paul Logan, OAM as the interim minister at St Stephens. Other church officials present were Rev Niall Reid moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW/ACT and Mr Peter Graham OAM moderator NSW Presbyterian Assembly. Although a considerable group of people attended it was mainly volunteers of the host churches, we would like a greater participation of Sydney archivist involved in church archives. Maybe next year we do some promotion!