Greek Orthodox have been settling in the United States as early as the 1880's. Since the establishment of the first in 1892, the evolution of the Greek American community has become a primary concern of the Church and its leadership. Thus, through the work of this vital department, the preservation of historical documents of the Greek Orthodox Churches and Hellenism in the Americas has become a priority.
Established more than thirty years ago, the Department of Archives has undertaken the task of systematically evaluating, organizing and classifying voluminous files, dating as far back as 1905. These documents, which preceded the formal establishment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, record the history, progress and growth of its institutions, the Greek American community and numerous fraternal, social, cultural and educational organizations.
The office of the Archives, once envisioned as a dream, has now become a reality. After many years of work, the chronicles of our history can be described as a professional approach to the preservation of our Greek Orthodox heritage in America.
Included in the Archive are thousands of documents representing numerous categories of Church development. Among the many categories indexed, these are included:
Greeks in America.
The primary concerns of this department are to meet the needs to preserve, restore and index documents which are the historical accounts of events leading up to the organization and development of the Greek Orthodox Churches of the Americas. Since documents recording these important events are irreplaceable and in danger of disintegrating due to age, every effort is being made to preserve and restore them in a centralized location at the Archdiocese.
Since the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 1922, the evolution of the Greek-American community has been a primary interest to the leadership of the Church. To meet this concern, his Eminence Archbishop Iakovos created the Department of Archives in 1964 to serve as a repository of Orthodoxy and Hellenism in the Americas. The department's task was to systematically collect, organize and categorize a vast collection of materials accumulated by the Archdiocese over the years that bore witness to its own history and that of Hellenic culture in the New World. The Archdiocese's archival collection also records the Hellenic culture in the New World. The Archdiocese's archival collection also records the progress and growth of the Church and its institution, as well as that of the numerous social, cultural, and educational organizations of the Greek-American community. Perhaps by looking through the department's collection one can discover and appreciate the struggle and triumph of Orthodoxy and our Holy Archdiocese since its inception while also understanding the Church's identity and its relationship to others.
The mission of the Department of Archive is to systematically, collect, organize, catalog, and maintain the documents relating to the history of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Greek-American community. As a repository of select resources, the department's goal is to preserve our indelible past, chronicle our present, and to provide a valuable resource center for future generations interested in the unique history of our Holy Archdiocese, the vast richness of our Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism in the Americas.
The Archdiocese's archival collection chronicles all aspects of church affairs and its institutions, and includes a collection of material regarding:
The department also includes materials regarding the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, an extensive collection of photographs, an impressive library on Hellenism in the Americas, and information on various Hellenic cultural and fraternal organizations and societies within the national and international landscape.
These are cross-referenced and listed in alphabetical and chronological order:
Open to serious scholars and students with the appropriate academic credentials and a letter of reference from your diocesan metropolitan or parish priest. Many documents need to be processed before viewing.
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Calle, Nikie, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Department of Archives,
Workshop Report in Procedures for the Preservation of Parish Histories,
36th Biennial Clergy Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
on-line publication July 2002, available at http://www.pahh.com/symposia/workshops2002/calle.html.
You are here, PAHH.com : Memoirs and Histories : 36th-CLC : 3rd Report.
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