Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI)
To contact the Archives:
Postal address:
ARSI
Borgo S. Spirito 4
00193 Roma
Italy
Entrance: Borgo S. Spirito 8
Telephone: (39) 06-6897 7536
Director: Father Brian Mac Cuarta SJ
Email: arsi-dir@sjcuria.org; arsi-seg@sjcuria.org
For the Biblioteca Storica: arsi-bib@sjcuria.org
The collections of the Archivum Romanum
ARSI is the archives of the central government of the Society of Jesus worldwide. It does not hold all Jesuit collections that scholars might seek. For example, the Fondo Gesuitico dei Manoscritti (Jesuit manuscript collection) is held by the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II, and by the Archivio di Stato, Rome. The Vatican Archives also has considerable holdings relating to the activities of Jesuits. For records of the academic activities of Jesuits in Rome, see Archivio Pontificia Università Gregoriana.
ARSI also houses the Biblioteca Storica, a collection of about 100,000 books on the history of the Society of Jesus (originally the Biblioteca dell’Istituto Storico della Compagnia di Gesù).
From 1 March 2011 the Biblioteca Storica has affiliated to the Polo Biblioteche Ecclesiastiche. Entries for books catalogued after that date may be consulted online: www.ceibib.it/opac
Publishing division: The journal Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu appears twice a year. The journal focuses on aspects of the history and culture of the Society of Jesus. Contents, 1932-2010: http://www.istitutodatini.it/biblio/riviste/a-c/ahsi8.htm
Books on Jesuit history (documents, and studies) are published under the imprint Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu – IHSI.
Publications editor: Paul Oberholzer SJ arsi-oberholzer@sjcuria.org
Business manager: James Pratt SJ arsi-pratt@sjcuria.org
A description in Italian (the regular working language of the archives)
Father Thomas McCoog SJ has published a useful book, A Guide to Jesuit Archives (St Louis, MO, 2001), that describes the collections of contemporary Jesuit archives all over the world, and how to contact them.
more info about the book...
For information on Jesuits who died between 7 Aug. 1814 and 30 Sept. 1970, see Catalogus Defunctorum.
ARSI Chinese collection:
For the Chinese books in the Jap.Sin. I-IV collection, see:
Albert Chan, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome:
A Descriptive Catalogue: Japonica-Sinica I-IV, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2002.
>> LINK
For additional information about this collection, with useful lists, see:
Ad Dudink, "The Japonica-Sinica collections I-IV in the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus:
An Overview", Monumenta Serica 50 (2002), pp. 481-536.
Some 100 texts of the collection have been published in a facsimile edition:
Nicolas Standaert 鐘鳴旦 & Ad Dudink 杜鼎克, Yesuhui Luoma dang'anguan MingQing tianzhujiao wenxian
耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻
(Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus),
Taibei: Ricci Institute, 2002, 12 vols. ISBN957-9390-16-9, in total 6786 pp.
>> LINK
Information about all the Christian sources from the Jap.Sin. collection can be found in
the Chinese Christian Texts database (CCT-database):
>> LINK
Policies of the ARSI
Details on the policyYearly Schedule
Dates when Archivio and Biblioteca Storica are closed in 2012
Dates are inclusive
From Thurs 5 April to Mon 9 April (Easter)
Wed 25 April
Tues 1 May
Fri 29 June (Sts Peter and Paul)
From Thurs 26 July until Fri 14 September (summer closure)
Thurs 1 November (All Saints)
Fri 2 November (All Souls))
From Mon 24 December 2012 to Fri 4 January 2013 (Christmas – Epiphany)
Daily Schedule
Open Mon-Fri, 9am to 12.45 pm; 2pm to 4.45pm. Any change in the daily schedule will be immediately communicated to readers.
Access: who may do research
Each year at the first visit to ARSI, the researcher must register and provide i) proof of identity, and ii) a letter of recommendation. Every day, morning and evening, the researcher must sign the register. Those using manuscript material must have the competence to read the documents provided. Staff will provide only limited assistance.
Restrictions
No access to documents later than 10 February 1939 (the death of Pope Pius XI).
Assistance
Staff are available to offer limited guidance to researchers.
Reproduction
Photocopies and CD-ROMs are to be requested on the forms provided. Authorization from the author is needed to reproduce material from theses deposited in the library. Requests for reproductions will be processed in the order in which they are received. Each request for reproduction of material is considered individually regarding the means of reproduction. Reproductions must be paid for in advance.
Using the material
Permission to reproduce material from the archives is granted by the Director only after he has received the proper request form. Materials reproduced are for personal use only. To publish any such material, researchers must first receive permission from the Director.
Readers who have used documents from ARSI for their theses or publications are expected to donate a copy of their work to ARSI. ARSI will not make any thesis available to the public without prior authorization from the author.