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Facilitating Discovery: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Sacramental and Cemetery Records

  • May 04, 2022
  • 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
  • Zoom

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Since 2016, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB) has partnered with American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) to digitize over 1,500 volumes of sacramental records resulting in a database of over 15 million searchable names, with work ongoing. The collection is free to access via americanancestors.org and the original project has expanded to include Catholic cemetery records. This database is consistently one of American Ancestors’ most popular offerings. Both organizations have employed a variety of strategies to better help users connect with the content.

In this presentation, Violet Hurst (Archivist, Archdiocese of Boston), Thomas Lester (Director of the Archive & Library, Archdiocese of Boston), and Molly Rogers (Associate Director of Database Content, American Ancestors/NEHGS) will discuss the motivations for forming this partnership, how they promoted the collection to potential users, and the research tools and content which have derived from the project.

About the speakers

Violet Hurst is an archivist at the Archdiocese of Boston. One of her major contributions since joining in March 2020 has been inputting data into ArcGIS to make the parish and cemetery map projects possible. She also contributes to the archdiocesan newspaper, provides reference and outreach to patrons, and processes collections.

Thomas Lester is the Director of the Archive & Library at the Archdiocese of Boston. He oversees all aspects of the archive, library, and records management for archdiocesan administration, parishes, and schools. He approached NEHGS in early 2015 to discuss a potential partnership to digitize sacramental records and continues to oversee the project for RCAB.  

Molly Rogers is the Associate Director of Database Content at American Ancestors/NEHGS. She oversees all the digitization projects in process and works to create new partnerships as AmericanAncestors.org expands its online database offerings. She has been working with the Archdiocese of Boston on this particular project since digitization of the sacramental records began in 2016.

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