FOIK, PAUL JOSEPH

Librarian, educator, author; b. Stratford, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 14, 1879; d. Austin, Texas, March 1, 1941. He was the son of John and Joanna (Dameck) Foik. After arriving in the U.S. in 1900, he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1901. Following ordination on June 30, 1911, at the University of Notre Dame, Ind., he went to The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where he obtained his Ph.D. the next year. After serving as librarian and archivist at Notre Dame from 1912 to 1924, he moved to St. Edward's University, Austin, Tex., where he filled a number of positions, including those of librarian, archivist, professor of foreign languages, professor of American history, and dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Professionally active, he was an officer in several Texas historical associations, chairman of the Texas Knights of Columbus Historical Commission, and a member of the advisory board of the Texas Centennial Commission. He was founder of the Irish National Library Foundation and of the library section of the National Catholic Educational Association. He was also cofounder of the Catholic Library Association, which he served as vice president and member of the executive council. Foik was well known as an editor, his principal work being the first four volumes of Our Catholic Heritage in Texas 1519–1950 (1936). He served also as associate editor of Mid–America and chairman of the editorial board of the Catholic Periodical Index. He wrote articles for the Encyclopedia Americana and the Dictionary of American Biography, and contributed to the major Catholic historical journals. He published a book on Pioneer Catholic Journalism in the U.S. (1930), as well as several brochures on Catholic history in the Southwest.

Bibliography: Archives, Holy Cross Provincialate, Priests' Society of the Indiana Province, South Bend, Ind. Archives (Catholic), Austin, Tex.

[j. p. gibbons]