The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati archives seems to have begun when Sister Mary Agnes Mccann was elected to the Council in 1874. Years before she completed The History of Mother Seton’s Daughters, she recognized the importance of preserving the history of the Community and faithfully served as a defacto Congregational Archivist for the Community for over 50 years. In 1929, the Council decided to give the role of Congregational Archivist to the Secretary General of the Community. The first documented use of the term Archivist occurred with Sister Leona Murphy in an article for the Mother Seton Journal, published by the students of the College of Mount St. Joseph. In it, the students describe being able to “read several carefully preserved letters of Mother Seton” under the watchful eye of Sister Leona and “even reverently leafed through [Elizabeth Seton’s] famous journal.” By the 1960s, another more general article about the archives was published, providing a florid description of the treasures housed within the repository’s boxes and their remarkable survival through the 1885 Motherhouse fire:
Letters, documents, and pictures recount deeds of heroism. Within a once smoke-blackened vault and its file-lined annex are stirring tales--stories of four pioneers who came to Cincinnati from Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1829; of the outgrowth of an independent community in 1852; of its expansion until it could send Sisters to seven states; to Wuchang, China; to Rome, Italy; to Lima, Peru.
Congregational Secretaries continued to serve as Archivist for over 40 years before Sister Marie Ann Austin was appointed by the Council to serve as Archivist in 1971. From there, four Sisters primarily with extensive library experience were appointed to the position, overseeing an exponential expansion of the collection and its move to Seton Hall in the late 1980s. Sisters Anita Marie Howe and Laura Marie Watson took advantage of regional professional meetings and workshops offered through Wright State University and the University of Dayton in the 1980s. In 1996, Sister Judith Metz was appointed as Archivist and received extensive professional training through the Library of Congress and other Society of American Archivists programs. She was instrumental in building displays throughout the Motherhouse, overseeing the extensive processing of the entire archival collection, and initiating digitization endeavors that continue to this day. In 2016, Sister Judith decided to focus on her passion of writing as Congregational Historian and the Community hired Veronica Buchanan, its first lay archivist.
The items below are the submissions selected by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati archivist for the History of the Sisters of Charity Federation Communities in Objects collaborative exhibit:
A small brass plate inscribed “Sr. Mary Regina” affixed to a varnished wooden box - a black velvet-lined writing surface – small compartments for pens and ink – and tucked beneath, a secure space for writing paper, snippets already penned, or letters received. Mother Regina’s lap desk was a well-loved and treasured possession.
A well-used brush and painter’s palette preserved more than a century ago are reminders of a significant chapter in the history of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. In 1899, Mother Sebastian Shea traveled to New York City in search of a muralist to paint the half-dome above the altar in the Motherhouse’s Immaculate Conception Chapel. The German painter William Lamprecht accepted the commission.
Click on the image to learn more about each object's significance.
