2019 Awards
Deirdre Raftery, Distinguished Historian Award
Whereas Nano Nagle: The Life and Legacy by Deirdre Raftery (and Catherine Nowland-Roebuck and Catriona Delaney) has been described as “meticulously researched and fascinating study of [Nagle’s] life and legacy [that] is long overdue and very welcome,” and will surely serve as a model for researching and writing the history of women religious; and
Whereas she has published thirteen books and numerous articles, and has presented at a number of conferences on the history of women religious; and
Whereas her work in digitizing the history of women religious, including the 2016 exhibition “Loreto 1916,” demonstrates the many ways in which history can be made accessible outside of the academy; and
Whereas she has been a noted champion for preserving congregational archives, and has donated a substantial amount of time to assisting congregations as they discern the future of convent collections; and
Whereas she founded Convent Collections (UCD), a research group of scholars that are currently working in the field to develop and complete projects related to the history of women religious; and
Whereas as an advocate of early career scholars she provides support and guidance that goes beyond her role as a professor and advisor; and
Whereas her contributions to the Conference on the History of Women Religious and the History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland have been a service to the scholarly community worldwide; therefore
Be it resolved that the Conference on the History of Women Religious here assembled confers on Deirdre Raftery the Distinguished Historian Award. Given the twenty-fifth day of June in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, at the conference, “Commemoration, Preservation, Celebration,” gathered at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.
Catherine O'Donnell, Distinguished Book Award
Whereas, Elizabeth Seton: American Saint (Cornell University Press, 2018) has been described as a thorough and engaging account of Seton’s fascinating life that chronicles her extraordinary achievements and reminds readers of her important role in the story of U.S. Catholicism, women religious, and the history of women; and
Whereas Elizabeth Seton: American Saint situates Seton in the history of the early republic, including the history and legacy of anti-Catholicism, and as a result, demonstrates that the woman who founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph (later the Daughters of Charity) influenced and was influenced by many facets of life in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries; and
Whereas Elizabeth Seton: American Saint is the first critical scholarly biography of Seton in nearly seventy years and is meticulously researched and written in a way that will appeal to professional historians as well as general readers; and
Whereas Elizabeth Seton: American Saint reminds the historical community that Catholic women, lay and religious, deserve their place alongside Catharine Beecher, Emma Willard, and Margaret Fuller as champions of education for young women; and
Whereas Elizabeth Seton: American Saint will generate new interest in the first canonized saint who was born in the United States; therefore
Be it resolved that the Conference on the History of Women Religious here assembled confers on Catherine O’Donnell the Distinguished Book Award. Given the twenty-fifth day of June in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, at the conference, “Commemoration, Preservation, Celebration,” gathered at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana.
These award citations were presented at the Conference on the History of Women Religious in 2019.