RG 04: Historical Documents and Collections/Baltimore Carmel (HDBC)

This record group consists of the specific documents and collections gathered and designated as of historical interest or importance by the nuns of both Port Tobacco and Baltimore over the span of their two-hundred-year history. The very first of these documents is the original land grant charter for Charles Neale's patrimonial inheritance called Chandler's Hope, signed by Cecil Calvert, with the seal of Lord Baltimore, dating back to 1674. It was this land that Neale would use in order to bargain for the more suitable property belonging to Baker Brooke at Port Tobacco. Also contained in this series are all the official deeds and blueprints kept by Baltimore Carmel for financial and legal purposes.

The remainder of the series consists of holdings that reflect the history of Carmel in America, as well as all the general historical materials saved by the nuns. Most pertain to the U.S. Catholic church and the Carmelite Order, in general, and Baltimore Carmel, specifically. Besides the annals that were meticulously kept from the time of settlement, another important source of historical materials is a scrapbook kept from 1882 until the first decade of the twentieth century and a book of permissions in which was kept the official permissions that regulated many aspects of the daily life, ceremonial and customs of the community. Since the Book of Permissions consists of official church and civic records, however, it has been included in RG V: Official Records, Archdiocese of Baltimore and Vatican. Both volumes, however, are so similar in design and purpose and concentrate on the same time period that they are probably the work of the same Sister, Louise of St. John Evangelist Peckocheck.

Several of the series reflect the involvement of the Carmelite monastery with the Archdiocese of Baltimore and with Baltimore City itself. Thus, there are souvenir books, magazines, biographies, and other materials on the bishops and auxiliary bishops who served the archdiocese from the time of John Carroll; publications on the religious congregations of women and men, the secular clergy and the parishes they served; and other materials on the religious congregations, such as the Maryknoll and Jesuit orders, who worked closely with the Carmelites.

Materials collected on topics involving the Church in the United States and abroad comprise several other series. These reflect the Church at Rome, the Pope, national and international congresses held in the United States, materials on the American saints.

Since the Sisters were curious and interested in the world for which they prayed, they also collected details of Americana as well. These form still another series.

Arranged under topics, chronologically.