By KENNY KEANE, Globe staff reporter
July 10, 2003

"Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves also what shall be true for the future."

That quote by a man named John Ruskin came to mind for Sister Kevin Cummings, PBVM, as she thought back on the work she has done as archivist of the Sioux City Diocese for the past 19 years. That long tenure came to an end on June 30 with her retirement, which will eventually be followed by a move to the motherhouse in Dubuque.

The diocese hired Sister Kevin in 1984 as archivist, which is a position that she said has changed quite a bit since she arrived.

"The chancellor, according to canon law, is the main archivist, but because of all the other duties there actually hadn't been that much attention paid to archives as such," she said. "There has been frustration not having everything looking nice, neat and in order, but when I consider what order has been brought in the records, getting shelving for tribunal materials and for the archives it was pretty much from scratch.

"When I first came I thought I was going to have a computer in about two or three weeks. It stretched out into years. So that was one frustration because a lot of things were done on typewriter that could have been done on computer."

Sister Kevin was actually without her own typewriter at first. She said that in the absence of Father Merle Kollasch, his typewriter was passed over to her.

"When he came back there was no typewriter so he was searching the building," Sister Kevin said. "So I said, 'Maybe I have your typewriter.' He didn't think so. One of the secretaries said, 'Oh yes, I think you're right.' So that was one of the early funny things. Poor Father Kollasch never got it back, but he must have gotten something else instead."

Aside from her duties as archivist, which included checking and jacketing all the microfilm when she first arrived, Sister Kevin also worked as librarian, handled reference work and did some cataloging. She said that at that time no one had really discovered her, but since then - as more and more people realized there was an archivist - she has handled request upon request.

"Then of course there was the centennial, and there were four or five years in preparation for that - planning plus getting materials ready, especially for the history, for the calendar and a little bit on the Globe," she said. "We were maybe a little bit hometown at first. 'If you need anything, well just get it,' was what the chancellor said.

"Now there are purchase orders and a lot more forms to fill out. It's much busier now. It wasn't that I wasn't busy, but I was doing different things. So it's a lot different now."

As with almost everyone, Sister Kevin said it is the people she has worked with that she has enjoyed most of all. In particular, she said she has appreciated all the bishops she has been acquainted with during her time here.

"Bishop Greteman was a big help," she said. "He and his sister did translations from the German for me sometimes even when he was doing winter in Florida. He agreed to an oral history interview, and he came up from Carroll in fact to do it. He was always very gracious in helping.

"Bishop Soens is always very shepherdly. I always felt that there was a good relationship there - the same with Bishop DiNardo. It's not that I meet with him except just in passing, but I feel that there's a level of support."

As for relocating to Dubuque, Sister Kevin said she is not looking forward to the actual move itself, but she is looking forward to new endeavors at the motherhouse.

"I've loved it here in Sioux City," she said. "It's just a quirky enough town, I guess. The friends, the business and otherwise - after almost 20 years - it's a big part of my life that's actually been spent here.

"I won't be gainfully employed, but I hope I'll be doing work that will still be ministry. I have no way really of knowing what I'll actually be doing until I get there, but I think I'll probably be doing quite a bit at what is called the Presentation Lantern Center, which is kind of a drop-in place. There's a lot of education there, and because I have a background in education, I think I could be helpful there."

The future of the archives for the diocese will be left in the hands of Dan Burns, who has been training under Sister Kevin since his arrival on May 27.

"He should do very well," Sister Kevin said. "As I hope I've made clear to him, any changes he makes, those are his changes. I do not intend to have any strings and think they're messing up what I did over 19 years. I see it as a positive going forward."

Looking at the role of archivist, Sister Kevin said the historical reasons for saving the records is the crux of the whole thing.

"If we knew today exactly what people are going to want to find 50 years from now it'd be a lot easier to decide," she said. "The archives - having one and fulfilling the duties and obligations and so on - is a part of fulfilling canon law. Secondly, it isn't just facts, figures, abstracts and that sort of thing, but we are to somehow help retain the full spirit of the church in the Sioux City Diocese."