Local Catholic History emerges from ‘the vault'
Project uncovers treasures from Alaska's past
The Archdiocese of Anchorage is racing to save the past before it's gone.
In order to chronicle the history of the Catholic Church in Anchorage, the archdiocese is compiling permanent archives of its most precious documents, photographs and artifacts.
It is the archdiocese's first formal archival since its founding in 1966.
But identifying church antiquities is not easy. No one knows who wielded the ceremonial saber or wore the scarlet-tufted monsignor's cap.
The Chancery's “vault” — a concrete-lined, temperature-controlled, fire-safe basement, where the artifacts are housed — contains as many mysteries as it did when the building's former owner, an oil-exploring geophysicist stowed his secret maps there.
Historical items number in the thousands, said archdiocesan archivist Dave Belanger — who with his wife Priscilla — is sorting and trying to identify the treasures.
Over the years, maps and charts of Alaska and letters about church buildings and ordinations have all been stashed into the vault.
There are also blessed altar stones – a special stone encasing a saint's relic that is placed into a Catholic church's altar at its dedication. One contains a relic of Pope St. Pius X. Another was salvaged from the 1960s Copper Valley fire. Other altar stones are unmarked.
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