he Archdiocese of Chicago’s Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives & Records Center preserves the most important records of  Catholic Chicago. Most of the material is twentieth-century,  but in some cases the records go back even earlier. The holdings of the Archives & Records Center are vast and some unprocessed.

The collection of Archdiocesan Archives includes papers and photographs of former ordinaries (Cardinals: Mundelein, Stritch, Meyer, Cody, and Bernardin), auxiliary bishops, chancellors, vicar general and the administrative records of various Archdiocesan agencies and programs. There are smaller collections of papers of various ordinaries (Bishops Duggan and Foley, Archbishops Feehan and Quigley). Bishop William Quarter’s diary (finished by Bishop Van de Velde) is available on microfilm and in hardcopy. The Archives materials consists of the New World Photographs Collection, the Madaj Collection (Chancery correspondence, 1675-1928) Chancery Correspondence Files,  and the Archdiocesan newspapers (the Western Tablet, 1869-1887; the New World, a.k.a. the Chicago Catholic, 1892 to the present). Personal and working papers are available for Bishop Bernard J. Sheil (head of CYO), William J. Onahan, Rev. David C. Fulmer (superintendent of the Archdiocesan School Board), Bishop Peter J. Muldoon (Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Bishop of Rockford), and Msgr. Charles N. Meter (Secretary of the Commission for Sacred Music, president of the American Federation of Pueri cantores, director of several diocesan choirs). Organizational papers are available for the Chicago House of the Order of the Poor Clares, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Catholic Action Federation, and the Catholic Youth Organization. The Archives houses the oral history projects for Rev. Steven Avella and Michael Hartnett.

The Archives also maintains collections of sacramental registers (pre-1916 available on microfilm), student transcripts, yearbooks, class photographs, parish annual reports, liturgical and devotional materials, cemetery records, diocesan deceased priest files, New World obituaries, deed and construction files, orphanage records, and architectural drawings from Archdiocesan institutions. Commemorative books are available for parishes, religious orders, diocesan clergy, and institutions. The collection encompasses many formats of records such as maps, plans, photographs, paintings,  films, sound recordings, video recordings, but it consists primarily  paper records.