Catholic Orphanage for Colored Children
At Wading River, Suffolk Co., Long Island, New York
Saint Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church
Print | Discuss Online

Historic Note

The Saint Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church was founded in 1921 in response to racial intolerance of White-American Catholics. For many decades after its founding, African-American and Caribbean-American Catholics from as far as Long Island came to worship at Saint Peter Claver. Today Saint Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church has a majority of Caribbean-Americans and is pastored by Reverend James Krische.

Earliest recorded efforts to start this Black Roman Catholic Church are the minutes to meetings of a group of Black Catholics whose intent was to satisfy "a growing desire among the clergy and themselves to have a church for Colored Catholics established in this Diocese."* Church history speaks of years of frustration and disappointment encountered by the Colored Catholics and Rev. Bernard J. Quinn, the Reverend who years later was commissioned to establish a church for Black people. The church quickly grew to include such activities as a school, a mission in Jamaica and an orphanage at Wading River also used for "Camp Claver" a summer camp for boys and girls. The development of this church was a difficult undertaking considering the racial climate at the time. The orphanage was burned down twice before it was fully built.

There are presently over twenty Church committees and programs at Saint Peter Claver including choirs, dance committees, the Forever Young Club, the Special Friend's of Claver, and the SPC Brooklyn Federal Credit Union.

* Minutes of the first meeting of the Colored Catholic Club April 21, 1915

Overview of Records

The papers of the St Peter Claver R.C. Church were surveyed between February and August 2002. As the first Black Parish in the city, records reflect the activities of activist Reverends and laity. Perhaps most interesting are the series containing the important papers of parishioners such as deeds, wills, stock certificates and the like. This series even contained a 1920 Stock Certificate from Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line -evidence of early Garveyites in the church.

The church holds the sacramental registers of the now closed Nativity Church in addition to its own. All documents surveyed are located in the church rectory. Saint Peter Claver has approximately 25 cubic feet of records dating from as early as 1916 to the present, with the exception of the records of the once neighboring Nativity Church, which span from 1872-1974. Records formats include file folders, photographs, ledgers, and computer IBM formats-including some 4 ½ inch floppy disks. The church holds records that reflect the following series designations: correspondence, minutes, volumes, financial records, publications, and press releases in addition to material that that reflects church activities as the Friend's of Saint Peter Claver Information, School Alumni Contact Information, the Music Director's files and the like.

Housing, retention, and access are at the sole discretion of the Church.

Series Statements

Special Friends of Saint Peter Claver Information

This series dates from 1994 to the present with the greatest concentration of documents from 2001 to 2002. It is randomly ordered and includes files such as membership information, financial information, booster club information and receipts.

Music Director's Files

These files, housed in the church office, reflect the activities of the church's music groups. This series is randomly ordered in file folders and includes meeting minutes, attendance sheets, sheet music and general music ministry information.

Minutes-Colored Catholics Club

This series contains minutes of the first group to attempt to create a Black Catholic church. The series dates from 1915-1926 and is arranged chronologically.

Blueprints/Neighborhood Maps

This series includes photocopies of the church convent located across the street from the church building and maps of the surrounding neighborhood. The maps were used by a church group interested in community zoning laws and empty lots. The series is undated and unarranged. Maps are located in the church office and bound in two 2-inch binders.

Stray Notes/Bulletins

This series, in two formats, contains the church bulletins. Bulletins from 1944 through 1961 are bound alphabetically in a series of books called "Stray Notes." More recent weekly Bulletins dating from 2001 to the present are kept in a three-ringed binder.

Sacramental Records

Sacramental records are the bound volumes of hand written ledgers that record each communion, confirmation, wedding, and baptism performed by the church. This series happens to date from 1872 to the present because the church also holds the records of the once neighboring Nativity Church.

Card Catalogues

These are the card catalogues that correspond to the Sacramental Records. Each marriage, communion, confirmation, and baptism entry in the sacramental records is accompanied by a card. This series dates from 1922 to the present, is arranged alphabetically and is stored in the church office.

Anniversary Journal Info

This series is a collection of church anniversary journals from 1978-2004. Journals usually contain important information about the history of the church and its present activities along with advertisements that give information about parishioner activities and community businesses. Also in this series are the records of the documents created in the development of the journals such as journal contracts from 2001.

Church Group Files

These files contain information on church activities and committees. The randomly arranged series dates from 1979 to the present with the greatest concentration from 1989 to the present. It contains files from the liturgy committee, sports program, pastoral committee, finance committee and Eucharistic ministers.

Administrative

The church's administrative records are randomly arranged. The series is approximately 2 cubic feet of insurance information, year-end reports, taxation and finance information, and school alumni contact information collected at the 1983 reunion.

Financial

This series is dispersed throughout the office and chronologically, alphabetically and randomly arranged depending upon location. Financial documents from 1977 through the present were surveyed: approximately five cubic feet of records. The series contains files such as general office expense information-alphabetically arranged, budgets, financial reports, tax exempt information, bank statements and correspondence.

Parishioner Personal Papers

This series dates from 1914 to 1995 and contains personal papers such as deeds, wills, insurance policies, death certificates, stock certificates and bonds. Of note in this series is a stock certificate from the Black Star Line dated 1920. This series is randomly arranged and located in the church office.

Diskettes

This undated and randomly arranged series contains 10 floppies in total. It includes 3 ½-inch IBM formatted floppies as well as 4 ½-inch floppies although the church no longer has any computers able to read the 4 ½-inch floppy format. The diskettes are labeled "Christmas Novena, Catholic education office, Brooklyn federal credit union, back-up data, calendar info, and EFA"

Photographs

Church photographs are distributed throughout the building mostly in the basement and in the first floor dining area. The photographs are all poorly stored and in questionable condition stored in a cabinet or in boxes in the basement with some stuck together and many in adhesive photo albums. The photographs are all unidentified, undated and unarranged with the exception of some black and white War Department press release photos that include captions. The photograph subjects are church activities such as services, members, Camp Claver, and school dances.