Church Record Sunday: Alexian Brothers Archive

A special thanks goes out to my fellow geneablogger Miriam Midkiff of AnceStories for bringing this website to my attention.  Thanks Miriam!

Members of a religion participate in many different way to further that religion's mission and for the sake of their personal salvation.  So many of the records that I concentrate on in this weekly posting have to do with records generated by the attendance and activities of individual members of a faith community.  Today's Church Record Sunday looks at an archive that has to do with those who devote their life's work to a religion. 

The Alexian Brothers are a 800 year old lay, apostolic Catholic order who dedicate their lives to caring for the sick, aged, the poor and the dying.

The Alexian Brothers Archive states that they have: "both the religious and corporate aspects of the organization, including but not limited to correspondence, minutes, reports, manuals and guides, publications, external publicity, and photographs. A valuable adjunct to the archives is the Ministry Museum. The artifacts presented in exhibits on Alexian Brothers Heritage, Spirituality, and Ministry make the records come alive. These objects have been gathered from Alexian Brothers facilities, particularly from the Chicago, St. Louis, and Elizabeth hospitals."

From their website you can learn more about their collections, including  how to can access these records and even how you can donate to their archive. 

From the above link, click on the link to the right hand side of the page, titled History Online to  read articles about the history of the order, a bibliography, and even a 30 page graphic novel detailing the Brother's work.