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    Preserving Our Heritage: Catholic Archives of Western Pennsylvania

    January 23, 2025,  Noon to 1:00 p.m. EST

     Join us in this online discussion to inspire and help communities think about how they can collect and preserve their own history.

    The event is free but requires registration. Click here to register or copy and paste this link in your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvc-ugpz8uHtTvWV5gLwU0P6lYXf8Xr1UW  

    By the early 1800s, the Catholic Church had taken root in Western Pennsylvania, eventually growing to the point where four dioceses were formed to serve the needs of the region's growing Catholic population: Pittsburgh (1843); Erie (1853); Altoona-Johnstown (1901); and Greensburg (1951). By 1965, nearly thirty percent of the population in Western Pennsylvania identified as Catholic. Over the past forty years, the Catholic Church in the region has been shrinking, and with that diminishment, there has been an increased risk of the loss of archival records that document Catholic history in the Commonwealth. The history of the Catholic Church and of Western Pennsylvania are deeply linked and the preservation of this history is at a precarious crossroad.

    Kathleen Washy will talk about an ongoing collaborative effort to bring together diverse stakeholders into a conversation designed to raise awareness and create lasting solutions to the problem of archival and historical loss of these important records. Please join us after Kathy’s presentation for a group discussion of how your community can also preserve and share its history!

    Speaker: Kathleen Washy, Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden

    About the Community History Dialog Series:

    The Pennsylvania State Archives started this series in 2020 to gather community groups, archivists, and others to share their own experiences collecting and preserving their community’s stories and offer guidance. These discussions are helpful to groups just beginning to preserve their history or those who have significant collections already and are seeking next steps.   

    Recordings of previous Community History Dialog events and additional resources for community history projects can be found here: https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/News-Programs/CHD/Pages/default.aspx

    For more information contact:

    Tyler Stump 

    tystump@pa.gov

    717-783-9874

     

    The Community History Dialog series is an initiative of the Pennsylvania State Archives made possible in part through a  National Historical Publications and Records Commission State Board Programming Grant.