Students, scholars, journalists, writers and others will find valuable materials for reporting on social and political events of the region as well as Catholic history in the Diocese of Charleston. As the United States bishops stated in their Document on Ecclesiastical Archives (1974), “Church historians have still not penetrated to the heart of the peculiarly American experience.” This statement holds true for the Catholic Church in South Carolina, and we welcome historical research.
A brief description of holdings, a calendar inventory, and an online catalog to portions of archives collections are available.
Some recent research topics include:
- Black Catholic burial grounds
- Irish in the Atlantic World
- Refugees of the Haitian Revolution, 1791
- Bishop John England (1786-1842) and Catholic Republicanism
- Clergy and the Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969
- Bishop Patrick N. Lynch’s 1864 Confederate commission and pamphlet on slavery
- Patrick Keeley, architect of the Cathedral of St. John and St. Finbar & Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
- Black Catholics in nineteenth century Charleston
- Benedictine Father Michael McInerny's standard design for churches
