The Guardian lives on -- in Baltimore

Digital archive pages from 1945 help Catholic Relief Services' research

Published: December 22, 2012

CRS / Michael Owsianny

Catholic Relief Services displays pages from The Guardian published in1945, two years after the agency was founded in New York City.

CRS / Michael Owsianny

Catholic Relief Services displays pages from The Guardian published in1945, two years after the agency was founded in New York City.

Articles from The Guardian, the predecessor to Arkansas Catholic, helped Catholic Relief Services expand its historical records. A lobby display was created in November in Baltimore to reflect Catholic Relief Services' early days. The agency came to life in 1943 and will mark its 70th anniversary in 2013.

When CRS organizers were searching on the Internet for stories about the agency, then known as War Relief Services, they came across a 1945 digitally archived copy of The Guardian. Arkansas Catholic began its digital archive project in 2010 in association with its 100th anniversary and the 1945 volume was sponsored by Sheila Harrison of Hot Springs Village in honor of her mother who was married in 1945. The Arkansas Catholic staff worked with CRS staff to provide them with high-resolution copies of certain pages featuring CRS.

The display opened Nov. 1 and was up through November.

CRS employee Michael Gesker said, "One of the stories that your paper handled so well was the detailed description of a U.S. bomber crashing into the Empire State Building in 1945. At the time our War Relief headquarters was in New York and in that building. Several of our staff were killed in the crash. The diagram of our offices in The Guardian was very detailed and enlightening. Your paper also included many articles about our work in Europe, particularly France, during the war. Many people forget that we worked there because so much of our work is now in Africa, but we did get our start helping refugees in Europe."

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