Signature plates, undated

This collection focuses primarily on Bayley's tenure as Bishop of Newark from 1853 to 1872, but spans the years 1836-1877. During Bayley's episcopate, the Diocese embraced all of New Jersey, and the Bishop's papers document Catholic activities throughout the entire state. Materials are in English, Latin and French.

An Episcopal register chronicles visitations from Macopin to Cape May, blending the Bishop's commentary on parish activities with observations concerning significant state and national affairs. Available letters include correspondence with parish priests laboring throughout New Jersey, seminarians studying at St. Sulpice, prominent laymen, religious communities, and fellow American Bishops including John Hughes of New York and Francis Patrick Kenrick of Baltimore.

Other valuable items also appear throughout the papers. Personal diaries relate details of Bayley's European travels during 1842-1843, as well as his 1867 pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Family correspondence, letters to the Propaganda Fide, documentation concerning the founding of Diocesan institutions and financial accounts exist for the entire period. In addition, the collections boasts Bayley's original handwritten manuscript "Sketch of the Life of the Rt. Rev. Simon William Gabriel Brute de Remur, first Bishop of Vincennes." Published in 1860, this manuscript version of one of Bayley's two scholarly works, the other being his Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Church on the Island of New York, constitutes one of the archives' most significant individual holdings.

Researchers will note that a considerable portion of the collection consists of photocopies. Original manuscripts for these items reside in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and locator numbers in the upper right hand corners of these documents refer to their place in that repository. Bayley carried the bulk of his personal papers to Baltimore upon his 1872 promotion to that Arch-Episcopal See, however all Newark-related material was borrowed and duplicated for researcher convenience. Please consult the archivist for proper method of citation.