Roman Catholic Archives of Fiji ProjectSuva, Fiji February 24-28, 2025
I returned to the Archdiocese of Fiji to work on the Catholic Archives, which has been an ongoing project since 2019. At the moment the diocese does not have an archivist or employee to process and safeguard the collections, and currently, the Chancellor is responsible for the archives. However, because most of the collections have not been processed, the archives remain closed to the general public. Because of budget restraints, there are no plans to hire an archivist or someone to oversee the archives. Nevertheless, the collections do provide a unique history to the Catholic Church, Fiji and the mission stations throughout the Fijian islands.
This trip was a bit of a redemption trip for me. In September of 2024 I came to Suva to work on the collections but immediately fell ill on my second day in Fiji. I caught a very intense Fijian flu that kept me from working four out of five days. It was quite frustrating because I was using my own money to fund the week. Thus, the airfare, hotel and my time was wasted. I was so sick that couldn't even work on other projects in the hotel room. Later in the week I was able to see a doctor who gave me some antibiotics. However, by the time they kicked in the week had pretty much passed. I was able to do some work on Friday, but not very much.
Thus, on Monday morning, February 24, I was eager to get started. The archive was small. In fact, it was one room, and the desk that was inside could only fit two people. The archives was more of a repository than anything else, and over the years, the room has also been sadly used as a storage room. There were wheelchairs, and poster stands from the Red Cross that were placed in the room, which made accessing the archives quite difficult. The air-conditioning unit, too, wasn't working correctly and only blew warm air. I was able to open a window for ventilation, but working in the room became unbearably hot, especially in the afternoon this time of year. Despite the harsh environment (which could be easily fixed), the records have remained hardy and in very good condition. After taking some time to clean my workspace, I was ready to tackle the boxes.
One may recall that in early 2024, my co-volunteer, Katherine Foi, and I had finished processing what we called the Historical Collection. It was quite an extensive collection that consisted of over two hundred boxes. This time around, I concentrated on processing the more modern, smaller collections that mostly consisted of one to four boxes. The time frame for these records were approximately from 1967 to 2011. Thus, they were in good condition.
I approached the processing the records like I did with the Historical Collection. I cleaned the records and re-folder them into acid-free envelopes. I removed fasteners, especially paperclips and rusty nails. However, I made the decision to not remove the staples. I know this could be quite controversial, but there were so many that it would've been time consuming. Plus, most of them were so small that I truly didn't believe that they were going to cause any damage to the documents. Maps, hand-written letters that were deemed important, and photographs were given extra preservation processing and protection. Perhaps, most importantly, I typed up box lists in a Word document. Now, we can find items a little easier. After the processing was done, I labeled the box and moved onto the next one.
In the afternoons, volunteer Katherine Foi, came to the archives to help. As a schoolteacher, she had to wait until school was out before coming over the Nicholas House where the archives was located. During this week she concentrated on processing and preserving the photograph collection. There were over ten boxes full of photographs. Fortunately, Katherine has an extensive knowledge of the Catholic history of Fiji, and thus she was a good fit to tackle this important collection. The photograph boxes had no original order, so she was able to sort and place similar topical photographs together. Then, she would place them in acid-free envelopes.
Her knowledge was also important because she was able to identify people and places, which helped when it came time for her to create box lists.
Overall, the week was extremely productive. I processed approximately a hundred boxes. Katherine preserved and cataloged five boxes. But keep in mind, each box that she was working on contained about a hundred or more photographs. There are many more collections to process, and it will take some time to get through them all. Plus, there are the current records that are being stored in another office that will need processing as well. In a way, I wish could've stayed longer but my budget at the moment only allows for me to be there for a week. There are plans for my return in August/September of this year... and I can't wait to return.