Friends of Cushwa news and notes
Michael Breidenbach (Ave Maria University) was a visiting research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, and a visiting scholar at St. John’s College, University of Oxford. His current book project, “The Pope’s Republic: Liberties and Loyalties in America,” examines church- state relations and religious liberty in American Catholic history. He received a German Research Foundation Travel Grant to give a paper on the Catholic Enlightenment in early America at a September 2017 conference of the German Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
An essay by Marion T. Casey (University of Maryland), “The Minims of Notre Dame: Underpinnings of Sorin’s University, 1842–1929,” American Catholic Studies, recently won third place in the category “best feature article” in a scholarly magazine at the Catholic Press Association’s June 2017 conference.
The Catholic News Archive is now online at thecatholicnewsarchive.org. This project of the Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA) aims to digitize a variety of diocesan and national Catholic papers. Fundraising is ongoing and the archive continues to grow as new content is added, but the site already includes The Catholic Standard and Times (Archdiocese of Philadelphia), the Clarion Herald (Archdiocese of New Orleans), The Monitor (Archdiocese of San Francisco), National Catholic Reporter, the Pittsburgh Catholic, Shepherd of the Valley (St. Louis, Missouri), and The Voice (Archdiocese of Miami), as well as The Catholic World in Pictures and historic news feeds of Catholic News Service. Users may perform full-text keyword searches or may browse the papers by date and by title. The CRRA has also compiled links to other Catholic papers available online elsewhere. For more information, visit www.catholicresearch.org.
William Kevin Cawley, senior archivist and curator of manuscripts at the University of Notre Dame Archives, received the College of Arts and Letters Award of Appreciation for his expert collaboration and support of the work of departments and centers across the College. Our many travel grant recipients know how much Kevin’s expertise and service have enriched the research of countless visitors to the Notre Dame Archives. Thank you, Kevin, for all that you do!
In April 2017, the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Hesburgh Libraries at Notre Dame together launched Convocate, a free online database for exploring the connections between Catholic social teaching and international human rights law. The database consists of texts on Catholic social teaching from the Vatican and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as documents dealing with international human rights from organizations including the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the African Union, and the Council of Europe. Learn more at convocate.nd.edu.
William S. Cossen (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) has been named book review editor for H-SHGAPE, the H-Net forum for the Society of Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Visit networks.h-net.org/h-shgape.
Sister Charlaine Fill, S.S.N.D., archivist for the Atlantic-Midwest Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, shares the news that in fall 2017, the S.S.N.D.s will consolidate their North American archives at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee. At present, there are eleven archives in eight locations corresponding to the eight former provinces, recently reconfigured into two. The new archives will accommodate approximately 2,800 linear feet of materials, mostly documents and some audiovisual materials. Artifacts will remain in their current locations. The S.S.N.D.s have had a common filing system for over 30 years and have developed several databases, including those for international, North American, and local holdings, as well as those summarizing the histories of deceased and former members. This common background will facilitate consolidation. Michele Levandoski has recently been hired as the archivist for the new archives.
Among the 2017 Catholic Press Awards, all four winners for the category “best essay” from a scholarly magazine are from U.S. Catholic historians: Katharine E. Harmon, “‘That Word “Liturgy” Is So Unfortunate’: Learning the Mystical Body and Practicing Catholic Action in the U.S. Liturgical Movement (c. 1926–1955),” American Catholic Studies (first place); Father David J. Endres, “Judge Leander Perez and the Franciscans of Our Lady of Good Harbor: A School Integration Battle in Buras, Louisiana 1962–1965,” Catholic Southwest (second place); Thomas Rzeznik , “The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa,” American Catholic Studies (third place); Shannen Dee Williams, “Subversive Images and Forgotten Truths: A Selected Visual History of Black Women Religious,” American Catholic Studies (honorable mention).
The 37th Annual Holy Cross History Conference is scheduled for May 31 – June 2, 2018, at Holy Cross Village, Notre Dame, Indiana. Presentation proposals are due December 1, 2017. For complete details including proposal submission instructions, visit holycrosshistory.com.
Joseph Mannard (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) published a book chapter titled “‘Our Dear Houses are Here, There + Everywhere’: The Convent Revolution in Antebellum America,” in Chinese in Trans-Pacific Conversations: Doing History in a Global Age (Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2017), edited by Wang Wang Xi and Xiao Hongsong. An English-language version of the article appears in the summer 2017 issue of American Catholic Studies. Mannard also presented a paper at the annual conference of the History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland, held at University College Dublin in June 2017. His paper, “‘Enveloped in a Fog of Mystery’: The Strange Elopement of Sr. Ann Gertrude Wightt from Georgetown Visitation in 1831,” considers the first documented “runaway nun” in U.S. history. The paper is part of a planned larger project on Wightt’s life, including her post-convent years, and her significance for the Catholic Church in the early American republic.
Ryan P. Murphy (Chestnut Hill College) defended his dissertation, “Breaking Through the Glass Cloister: The Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, Social Justice, and Gender Consciousness After Vatican II,” in March at Temple University. He is currently the director of service learning at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, where he also teaches sociology as an adjunct instructor.
Terrence Murphy (Saint Mary’s University, Halifax), has a paper titled “Emancipation vs. Equity: Civic Inclusion of Halifax Catholics, 1830–1865” in the 2017 issue of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association’s Historical Studies.
Brill has published a volume edited by Kyle Roberts and Stephen Schloesser, S.J., Crossings and Dwellings: Restored Jesuits, Women Religious, American Experience, 1814–2014. Contributors include Pete Cajka, Mary Ewens, O.P., Dana Freiburger, Paula Kane, Rima Lunin Schultz, James O’Toole, and Thomas Tweed. More information at p. 37.
Robert P. Russo (independent scholar) contributed entries on David Dellinger of the Chicago Seven and Ammon Hennacy of the Catholic Worker to Opposition to War: An Encyclopedia of U.S. Peace and Antiwar Movements, edited by Mitchell K. Hall and forthcoming from ABC-CLIO.
Thomas Rzeznik (Seton Hall University), co-editor of American Catholic Studies, shares the news that American Catholic Studies is now available electronically through JSTOR. The database now provides full-text access to issues from 1999 through 2014. Also available through JSTOR is the full run of the journal’s predecessor, The Records of the American Catholic Historical Society, from 1884 to 1998. This is the first time that much of this scholarship has been digitized. Under the terms of the agreement, the most recent three years of American Catholic Studies are embargoed in JSTOR but remain accessible via Project MUSE.
David W. Stowe (Michigan State University) contributed a July article, “Why a 2,500-year-old Hebrew poem still matters,” at The Conversation (theconversation.com). Stowe is author of Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137 (Oxford, 2016).
Brandon Vaidyanathan has accepted a new position as associate professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America.
Grant Wacker is editor, along with Andrew Finstuen and Anne Blue Wills, of Billy Graham: American Pilgrim (Oxford University Press, 2017). More information at p. 32.
Barbra Mann Wall received the “Best Book in History and Policy” award from the American Journal of Nursing for Into Africa: A Transnational History of Catholic Medical Missions and Social Change (Rutgers, 2016). Into Africa also earned Wall the Lavinia L. Dock Award for outstanding scholarly research and writing from the American Association for the History of Nursing.
Enduring Trends and New Directions: A Conference on the History of American Christianity
Rescheduled: March 22–23, 2018
Notre Dame’s conference honoring Mark Noll has been rescheduled for March 2018. The conference will include panels on the history of American Christianity from the colonial era to the 20th century as well as the recent history of World Christianity. Discussions on the “evangelical mind” and on the writing of “grand narratives” in U.S. religious history will feature commentary from scholars such as Catherine Brekus, Darren Dochuk, Thomas Kidd, and George Marsden. For updates and registration information, visit nollconference.com.
Newberry Seminar on Religion and Culture in the Americas
The 2017–2018 schedule for the Religion and Culture in the Americas Seminar is now posted. The first seminar will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, November 10, 2017, at the Newberry Library in Chicago, featuring papers from James Krippner (Haverford College) and Kevin Vrevich (Ohio State University). For details and the full schedule, visit newberry.org/newberry-seminar-religion-and-culture-americas.