About the Catholic News Archive

This digitizing program is inspired by conversations with scholars, students, consultants, librarians, archivists, granting agencies, historians, business owners, clergy, religious, and the leaders of other professional organizations. Stakeholders have been consistent: in addition to providing discovery of uncommon Catholic scholarly resources and collections, providing access to the thing itself is imperative. CRRA turned to its Scholars Advisory Committee to identify singular collections that are not digitized but of high value to a wide scholarly base. It identified three targets:

• The Official Catholic Directory: The OCD (Villanova University) and The Official Catholic Directory and Clergy List (University of Notre Dame).
• Catholic pamphlets, and
• Catholic newspapers. 

With participation and support from the Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists (ACDA), the Catholic Library Association (CLA) and Atla, CRRA is taking the lead to digitize historical Catholic newspapers.

CRRA also provides a subscription service that provides a secure, professional-grade, reliable and search-engine-friendly solution for Catholic publications seeking to maintain an online archive of current and/or historical issues. Learn more about the Catholic News Archive Community News Hosting Service.

Presentations and publications about the Archive or featuring news found in the Archive

• Supporting the Spirit of Inquiry, by Jennifer Younger. Published in the Catholic Library World, v. 93, no.3, March 23, pp. 164-165.

• Ukraine- The Strength of the Human Spirit, by Karen Lesiak. Published in Catholic Library World, v. 93, no.1, September 2022, pp. 12-15

• Introducing the Catholic News Archive: Flyer distributed at the Catholic Media Conference, Portland, OR, July 4-7, 2022

• Digital archives show local Catholic life from generations past, by Gina Christian. Posted January 10, 2022. CatholicPhilly.

• Catholic Missionaries and Missions, by Karen Lesiak. Published in Catholic Library World, v.92, no.2, December 2021, pp. 88-91.

• The Immigrant Struggle, by Karen Lesiak. Published in Catholic Library World, v. 91, no. 3, March 2021, pp. 174-177.

• The Ravages of Genocide, by Karen Lesiak. Published in the Catholic Library World, v. 91, no.2, December 2020, pp.88-89.
  
  
• The Catholic News Archive: project briefing, by Paul Bracke, Gonzaga University, and Jean McManus, University of Notre Dame. Presented at the Coalition for Networked Information Fall Conference, November 13, 2020.
  
  
• Catholic News Archive. Advisor Review. By Sharon Kabel. Published in The Charleston Advisor, v. 22, no. 2, 1 October 2020, pp. 21-25. Posted with permission.
  
  
• Vatican II: Catholic reform and revitalization in a modern world, by Karen Lesiak. Published in the Catholic Library World, v. 91, n. 1, September 2020, pp. 10-11.
  
  
• Hymns, teach-ins and a horse ride to school: Catholic stories of the first Earth Day, by Brian Roewe, environment correspondent. Published in the National Catholic Reporter, April 21, 2020.
  
  
• Care of the Environment, by Karen Lesiak. Published in the Catholic Library World, v. 90, no. 3, March 2020, p. 173.
  
  
• CRRA Corner: Fully Searchable, Open Digital Repository at Your Fingertips, by Josh Dinsman and Darren Poley. Published in the Catholic Library World, v. 90, no. 1, September 2019, p. 12.
  
  
• Faith, Scholarship, and Catholic News, by Maria M. Mazzenga and Jennifer A. Younger. ACCU Update Newsletter, Fall 2019, pp.11-12.
  
  
• Getting the Word Out: Whenever Possible Tell Scholars About the Trove That is The Catholic News Archive, by Darren Poley. CRRA Blog, August 8, 2019.
  
  
• Fully-searchable, open digital repository, at your fingertips, an announcement sent from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities to library directors at ACCU member institutions, April 24, 2019. 
  
  
• A Fully-searchable open digital repository of historical Catholic news, a flier distributed at the American Catholic Historical Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Jan. 3-5, 2019.
  
  
• Digitized Catholic Advocate Provides a Window to Newark's Past During Vatican II, by Michael Giorgio. Seton Hall University News. July 21, 2018.
  
  
• Catholic News Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, by Jennifer Younger. ACCU Update Newsletter, Summer 2018, pp.14-15.
  
  
• Digitization Project Preserving Century of Catholic Newspapers and Newsfeeds, by Katherine Nuss, MLS. The Archival Spirit, p. 2, July 2017. 

• Best Practices for Digital Archiving: Aggregated, Catholic, Collaborative, presented by Pat Lawton and Jennifer Younger. Catholic Media Conference, June 3, 2016.
  
  
• Building a Catholic News Archive, presented by Pat Lawton and Jennifer Younger. Catholic Media Conference, June 25, 2015.
  
  
• Implementing the Catholic Newspapers Program: Collaborative Digitization and Discovery within a Nonprofit: Distributed, Online Organization, by Patricia Lawton and Alexandra Budz. IFLA 2014, Newspapers Section Pre-conference, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2014.
  
  
• CRRA Catholic Newspapers Program, presented by Pat Lawton. CRRA Annual Meeting, Marquette University, May 7-8, 2014.
  
  
• CRRA Catholic Newspapers Program, presented by Pat Lawton. CRRA Annual Meeting, DePaul University, July 1, 2013.
  
  
• The Catholic Research Resources Alliance: Providing Access to Rare and Unique Materials, from the Spring 2013 issue of American Catholic Studies Newsletter.