Nun is keeper of the past at DePaul Provincial House

"Stagecoach kit, not assembled," begins a list of a box's contents.

What in God's name is this doing in the archives of the Daughters of Charity religious order, in the basement of DePaul Provincial House in Menands?

"Oh, our sisters actually crossed the Isthmus of Panama in stagecoaches on their way to California!" Sister Elaine Wheeler, DC, explains eagerly.

Amid the archives

The story of the archives is really Sister Elaine's story. For the witty 86-year-old nun, cataloguing the order's vast collection of documents, books, clothing, trinkets, religious relics and memorabilia turned from a brief assignment into a labor of love.

Sister Elaine's humor is as sharp as her memory. Once upon a time, she recalled, her provincial asked her to spend "six months or a year" archiving some materials sent to Menands from Emmitsburg, Maryland, where the American Daughters of Charity order was founded.

Expecting some stacks of paperwork, the former teacher was shocked to discover documents, news clippings, photos and other materials jammed haphazardly into scores of boxes -- with more arriving in the mail every day.

"As of June 7, I've been here 24 years," Sister Elaine deadpanned on a recent afternoon, surrounded by four walls of massive lists just outlining the system by which things are filed. The archives themselves now have their own huge, climate-controlled room in DePaul Provincial House.

Cataloguing

Next door to the archives, Sister Elaine toils alongside fellow archivists Sister Margaret Ahl and John Diefenderfer. Technically, Sister Margaret is in charge now, but Sister Elaine still works full-time -- and when Sister Margaret was laid low by sciatica before her interview, Sister Elaine was more than willing to talk about her work.

When she began trying to sort through documents a quarter-century ago, Sister Elaine visited 17 other archives of all kinds and sizes to learn the job. Over a period of years, she created a system: Each house (community of sisters) in her province has its own section, divided further into the works the sisters did in that location. Especially noted sisters -- for instance, Sister Mary Rose McGeady, who heads Covenant House in New York City -- might have their own subsection, as well.

Documents for each house are divided into administrative paperwork, histories of the houses, correspondence, personnel and newspaper clippings, and the like. All are in chronological order and numbered so they can be replaced correctly when they're taken out.

Complications

The system got more complicated as the Daughters of Charity branched out from teaching and nursing to other ministries.

Using the example of St. Joseph House in Holbrook, N.Y. (one of the order's communities), Sister Elaine pointed out that only three sisters from that house still teach school. The others work with Haitian immigrants or do social work -- necessitating yet another subsection in their file.

In addition, some of the sisters' activities ended, and others began. Sister Elaine decided that capital letters on the list of archived materials would signify an active ministry, lower-case letters a closed one. The signs on the walls are now in constant flux.

"Researchers wouldn't be able to find anything if we hadn't organized it," Sister Elaine remarked proudly.

History

After working on the same effort for 24 years, Sister Elaine is bursting with stories of what she's learned. There are the Civil War-era stories of "orphan trains," where sisters brought children orphaned during cholera or yellow fever epidemics to farmers, who would pick out "sturdy boys and girls" to adopt as farmworkers.

And during the battle of Gettysburg, Daughters of Charity from nearby Emmitsburg fed Union and Confederate soldiers alike and watered their horses.

Other stories are more recent: for example, that of a group of sisters from Mobile, Alabama, who somehow ended up in Northern Italy and China during World War II to serve as nurses for wounded soldiers; or that of sisters from St. Vincent's orphan asylum in Troy, who asked benefactors to pay half the college tuition and paid the other half themselves so that especially bright students could attend St. Joseph's College in Emmitsburg.

What's inside?

Papers aren't the only thing that have been organized. A hunt through the archives turns up relics of St. Catherine Laboure, dolls sent by sisters in China and Central America, statues of the Blessed Mother, and uniforms children wore at orphan homes run by the sisters.

A clothing rack holds everything from habits in the style foundress St. Elizabeth Ann Seton would have worn, to caps and gowns worn by Sister Mary Rose McGeady when she received honorary doctorates.

Not much is turned away from the archives, but Sister Elaine said they've had to draw the line at award plaques -- they take up too much room. If possible, the engraved metal piece is removed from the wooden backing and put into its recipient's file. The wooden part is thrown away.

"Sister Serena Branson alone would bury us in plaques," explained Sister Elaine, referring to the local nun's many awards.

Making do

Along the way, the archivist has learned a tremendous amount about her craft. A bit of a scavenger, Sister Elaine rarely pays for anything she can make. For example, when she needed a humidifier to moisten folded 17th-century deeds so they wouldn't crack when opened, she refused to spend $250 on it. Instead, she built her own out of a huge bucket of water and a smaller bucket placed in it with the documents inside.

Book covers of acid-free paper cost about $2.50 apiece, but Sister Elaine made her own. The buttons to close them were salvaged from the sisters' blue habits when they replaced white buttons with blue ones.

Sister Elaine defended her practice with humor: "We're so tight, we squeak." Besides, she added, her superiors now know that when she asks to spend money on something for the archives, she must really need it.

Some of the things Sister Elaine have requisitioned over the years include a special air-conditioning unit to keep the archives at a constant 64 degrees, and three computers to bring technology for updating the archives into the 21st century.

Archivist

Four years ago, the Daughters of Charity also hired Mr. Diefenderfer, a SUNY graduate with a master's degree in library sciences who helps keep up with the documents that still pour in every day.

"For me, it's interesting and important to be involved in documenting and preserving the history of a religious community," he told The Evangelist. The activities of women religious "tend to go unnoticed and disappear from historical record."

Energetically pulling huge boxes off the archive shelves, Sister Elaine said she believes her work keeps her alive. England, Australia and nearly all the other provinces of her order have adopted her system. The nun expressed some frustration that her age has prevented her from checking their work herself.

"The superior wouldn't let me go to India," she complained. "She was afraid I'd get sick."

(6/05/03) [[In-content Ad]]