The BCIM archives at Marquette
The following information on the acquisition of the Bureau Catholic Indian Mission Records (BCIM) to Marquette University comes from Mark Thiel, “[former] archivist at Raynor Memorial Libraries, where he [was] responsible for Acquisition, administration and reference service of special collection and digital initiatives pertaining to Catholic Native America and Catholic Broadcasting.”
Rev. Francis Paul Prucha, S.J., Professor Emeritus of the Department of History, whose research focused on Native Americans and the United States policies, is responsible for Marquette University’s holdings of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Mission (BCIM) records. He spent many years in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia during his research on legal and political disputes between the federal government, the Catholic Church, and the Protestant church over the education of Native Americans. The American Philosophical Society held the BCIM records which have represented the Catholic Church and its affairs with the federal government and its relationship with Indigenous Peoples since 1874. In 1970, the Executive Director of the BCIM allowed Fr. Prucha access to the archival holdings as they would be foundational to his research. He was shown four file cabinets with records for which Fr. Prucha thought they contained the entire collection and was impressed by their quality but also concerned with their deteriorating condition. “Nonetheless, Fr. Prucha correctly recognized that these brittle records were valuable and needed archival custody.”
It is important to analyze the use of the words “valuable” and “custody” in relation to the archives. What is the inherent value of the documents and photographs? Who are they valuable for, the Catholic church or the tribal nations? Is there monetary value attached? What is the connotation of the word “custody?” When we think, use, and hear this word, often it is in a carceral sense. What does it mean for the BCIM records to be in the “custody” of a Catholic Jesuit institution like Marquette University and not in the hands of the Native nations? Would the Indigenous Nations even want possession of the settler-colonizers’ documents?
Fr. Prucha, wanting to preserve these archives shared his concern about their condition with the administration at Marquette while also attune to the fact the BCIM director’s health was failing and neighboring George Washington University sought the archival property as well, “while he believed that Marquette would be a good place for the records, his main interest was to make sure that they would be preserved somewhere with access for scholars.”
According to Mary Annette Pember, who does extensive research on the Catholic mission and boarding schools, “They [BCIM] have all of their records at Marquette University in a special collection. And despite the fact that they received a great deal of federal money, over the years, they’re very guarded about access to these archives. So it took, it took, a certain amount of persistence on my part to be able to gain access to those. And it was very illuminating” (Talahongva). The issue of access seems to be an issue for outside scholars and community members who wish to look into the records. This demonstrates the continued violence of the archives and the gatekeeping used to keep sensitive information inside instead and protected.
Ultimately Marquette administration and archivists accepted Fr. Prucha’s request with the assumed knowledge that there were only four file cabinets of archival documents with correspondence. The acquisition was justified by the fact that Fr. Prucha’s scholarship focused on federal Indian policy, the identity of Marquette as a Jesuit institution, and because of Marquette’s other holdings of Catholic social documents (Dorothy Day Catholic Worker papers). The de Rancé foundation, the largest Catholic foundation in the United States at the time, funded the project. The foundation’s founder was Harry G. John, grandson of Miller Brewing founder Frederick Miller and company president from 1946–1947 (Wilkes). His sales in Miller company stock allowed for the financing of the foundation. With the funding secured by de Rancé, they hoped to house and preserve the records and “they planned to coordinate with Marquette’s recruitment efforts to attract more Native American students and develop a study center focusing on Native-Catholic history” (Thiel).
The agreement for Marquette’s acquisition included the requirement that the records be microfilmed and the understanding that if Marquette ever existed as anything other than a Catholic, Jesuit Institution, the BCIM could reclaim the records. In 1977, in a sixty-five-foot semi-trailer, professional movers transferred ten tons of archival material from BCIM to Marquette’s Memorial Library.