In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • About This Issue
  • Brett Grainger, Associate Editor

Historians of American Catholicism are living in strange times. On the one hand, thanks to the swift proliferation of online archives, we find ourselves with a surfeit of riches from the past. At the same time, many of these riches languish undiscovered for lack of the proper tools or networks to locate them. So argues Maria Mazzenga (The Catholic University of America), who introduces our forum on digitization and Catholic archives. We are grateful to Maria for organizing the forum, which includes contributions from Fernanda Perrone (Rutgers University, New Brunswick), Robert E. Carbonneau, CP (U.S. Catholic China Bureau), and Marian J. Barber (Catholic Archives of Texas). While each essay offers its own perspectives, a common theme is finding practical ways to increase mutual collaboration, understanding, and access among the researchers and gatekeepers of Catholic history.

In our second piece, Paul T. Murray (Siena College) narrates the radicalization and political activism of Bill Hansen, first director of the Arkansas Project of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Murray covers Hansen’s journey from his working-class Cincinnati upbringing and radicalization at Xavier University to his years as a Freedom Rider in the South, enduring numerous arrests and beatings at the hands of segregationists. Murray identifies both the theological sources behind Hansen’s early commitment to civil rights, as well as his gradual disenchantment with the church’s response to racism, which eventually led him to abandon the religion of his youth.

Interracial justice is also the theme of our final article, by Kevin Ryan (D’Youville College). Ryan recounts the rise and fall of “Operation Hospitality,” a voluntary busing program run by the Archdiocese of Chicago between 1968 and 1974. Ryan describes Catholic interracialists’ faith in the power of integration to overcome racial bias and offers evidence that the program improved the racial attitudes of white and black participants, despite the demands it placed on black families and the program’s early termination, due to financial issues.

Finally, we’re pleased to announce that the Catholic Press Association has awarded American Catholic Studies First Place for General Excellence among scholarly journals in 2017. A full list of our awards, including a number for individual articles and forums, may be found inside. We are grateful to all of our authors and reviewers for their contributions to the journal over the past year. [End Page i]

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