Vatican “Secret Archives”

We went to the Vatican Secret Archives. I tweeted about it:

70 MILES of documents in the #vaticanarchives – it took an archivist 20 YEARS and 800,000 index cards to create the sole index!

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Love that Italian archivists measure collections in kilometers rather than linear feet! #CUArome @CUA_LIS

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

We went up about 6 flights of stairs & guide delighted in telling us we were 2 stories underground, in a bunker housing 47km of docs

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

The Vatican declassifies its documents according to papacy, not a yearly schedule: Pius XII is next on deck.

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

#vaticanarchives began digitizing holdings in the 1980s – over 48 terrabytes so far – most at-risk documents are digitized first.

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

#vaticanarchives archivist touched briefly on risks of bit rot/obsolete formats: flashbacks to our other @CUA_LIS coursework!

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Just walked into the Vatican's "secret archives" – I think I'm inside a Faberge egg RN

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Crazy detailed carved wood-paneled ceilings in these rooms – it's like The Cloisters @metmuseum threw up all over the place

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Archivist at the Vatican described Francis's encyclicals & other theological writing as drawing heavily on Benedict's…

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Says Benedict "is tired now," but Francis's work "is written with 4 hands," ie, #PopeFrancis draws heavily from docs left by Benedict

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

(this was in re: my question about whether Benedict had left material to the #vaticanarchives following his retirement)

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

I like thinking about my hands working beside others' across time – seems more collaborative than "standing on someone's shoulders"

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

TIL: the pope's old clothes go into the "Vatican wardrobe," where current pope can select from clothes of all past popes

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 26, 2015

Visions of Italy group photo from the top of the Secret Vatican Archives! @CUA_LIS @CUA_AGLISS @CUArtSci pic.twitter.com/V1GOUeyG1O

— Renate Chancellor (@rchancell) May 26, 2015

best. class. ever. https://t.co/tpRSY1gM9E

— Anita Kinney (@Anitalifedotcom) May 27, 2015