Patrick Shank has been passionate about history since growing up in the St. Anastasia Parish in Newtown Square, but it wasn’t until college that he learned how to archive that history, writes Elena Perri for Catholic Philly.

Now he’s the new head archivist at the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“Most of the time people have never heard of an archivist or archives, so I usually just say that I’m in charge of maintaining historical records,” Shank said. “They’ll try to draw comparisons to the National Treasure or Indiana Jones [movies], but it’s not always as exciting as that.”

Shank is a 2011 graduate of Archbishop Carroll High School. He has a bachelor’s degree a master’s degree in history, and he interned at the U.S. Navy Archive in Washington, D.C.

The Catholic Historical Research Center maintains current archdiocesan records and the correspondence of bishops.  It also manages collections from the American Catholic Historical Society.

His favorite collections are those focusing on the canonization process for Mother Katharine Drexel and [Saint] John Neumann. 

Wartime chaplain kits and Catholic editorial cartoons dating back to the 1800s are just some of the unique items found in the archive.

Read more about Patrick Shank in Catholic Philly