Records Elsewhere

Elsewhere, in other record offices, libraries and perhaps private collections, will be material relating to the Shrine – the other side of a story or correspondence, perhaps, or outsiders' views of Fr Patten and his work. There will be newspaper and magazine articles that may not have been kept by the Shrine staff at the time. As early as the 1930s Fr Patten was trying to build up a collection of books, cuttings and references to Walsingham from the earliest times, and appealed frequently in Our Lady's Mirror for its readers to help him. Much has since been dispersed, but we continue to collect, always concentrating most on gaps in the material from Fr Patten's lifetime. We benefit from having been left Fr Peter Cobb’s own similar collection. Apart from one case of the Shrine’s having loaned a document to another record office, whatever is elsewhere does not belong to the Shrine. If you know of any unique photographs or documents, we would be pleased to hear about them, or to be told of items seen elsewhere, in museums, for example. We can then approach the owners or custodians for permission to copy. Fr Patten didn’t have to think about eBay: please don’t bid for Walsingham items on our behalf. If you plan to present them as gifts, please do contact the honorary archivist first to make sure that we don’t have them already. If you see something that looks interesting or out of the ordinary, just give us the details and we’ll do the rest.

THE ARCHIVES SECTION LINKS THE COLLECTION FR PETER COBB ARCHIVE WANTS VIDEO RECORDS RECORDS ELSEWHERE BIOGRAPHIES OF FR PATTEN