The Propaganda Fide microfilm in the Notre Dame Archives includes only documents having to do with the Catholic Church in the United States or in territories that eventually became part of the United States. Documents (1622-1903), in Latin, Italian, French, and English, include decisions and decrees of the Congregation, correspondence with interested parties (often bishops and priests in the United States), and papers consulted or generated in monthly and weekly meetings, in audiences with the pope, or in meetings of commissions.

In 1983, as number 18 of Studia Urbaniana, the Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana published an Inventory of the Historical Archives of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples or "De Propaganda Fide", new enlarged edition, by N. Kowalsky, OMI, and J. Metzler, OMI. This inventory serves as a general finding aid for all of the holdings of the Propaganda archives (not only those that pertain to the United States).

The Academy of American Franciscan History has published United States Documents in the Propaganda Fide Archives, a calendar in twelve volumes covering 1673 to 1892. In general, our microfilm contains documents described in these volumes. For a description of documents in the New Series (1893- ) see our calendar below.