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First published in 1931, the earliest editions of the SPIRIT were published bi-monthly and not included verse, but also articles on the art of expression and about the Catholic Poetry Society of America in some form along with literary book reviews of interest.  This periodical was also well-cross referenced to help readers find past submissions through the Catholic Periodical Index and Catholic Bookman from its founding days forward.  Additionally, the Catholic Poetry Society of America first headquartered in New York City had chapters in many major cities across the United States.  Over its first few decades the SPIRIT was published either in black and white or maroon colored text without illustrations.

                      

A swell of popularity for the SPIRIT continued onward through the 1950s-60s as shown through anthology works and maintenance of its usual format of title, poem, and author citation.  Lengths varied, but the text in some way always reflected the mission of the society and publication focus.  The editions released in 1968 would turn out to be the last with New York City as its home base.  The SPIRIT would move its operations to the campus of Seton Hall University the following year.

          

During the course of 1969, the SPIRIT underwent various changes not only with new offices, but the publication also modified its look and aesthetic to reflect the times.  Under the Editorship of David Rogers and James R. Lindroth from the Seton Hall University Department of English, the SPIRIT would continue to publish further works and also artwork related to the Catholic experience.  This also inspired a campus-wide poetic anthology entitled – Puddle Wonderful which lasted for one issue.  Otherwise, latter day changes including more colorful cover art, theme-editions, and changing font types brought a more modern appearance to the SPIRIT through the 1970s and 80s.  Recent editions of the SPIRIT continued to promote artistic writing in verse form.  Full editions were less frequently produced and came out annually by the 1990s.  They content themes remained consistent, but the graphics would go back to more basic and classical representations found in early issues along with a change of logo from the early Eagle to a Spectre to capture the visual and symbolic look of the SPIRIT.

More about the early years and a historical overview along with examples of the poetry and art can be found in the text panels and full display visible from the Archives & Special Collections Center Reading Room and adjacent hallway from January-February, 2016.  For more information please feel free to e-mail us at: Alan.Delozier@shu.edu, or call: (973) 275-2378.

 

Seton Hall has long built a tradition of marking the Christmas season in varied ways including observance of Advent, Midnight Mass, a live Nativity Scene and in recent years the ceremonial tree lighting have brought the community together in celebration of the season.  Among the most memorable traditions found in the early days of school history included an annual musical Christmas program(me) which showcased the theatrical talents, voices, and instrumental prowess of the student body.  Included here are examples of the entertainment fare offered to the audiences who were there to share good cheer which did not always offer traditional carols, but rather an eclectic mix of different song titles and themes designed to entertain and inspire those in attendance.

         

Interestingly, it was in 1930 and the yule-time production of “The Late Cap’t Crow” where the first documented appearance of a Pirate on the shores of Setonia came about as shown in the pages of The Setonian around four months prior to the adoption of the legendary school nickname.  Santa Claus would share space on campus with the Pirates from this time forward.

Over subsequent Christmas celebrations more traditional holiday-themed events took place after World War II such as traditional holiday parties, concerts, and the like would become more commonplace.  The true spirit and meaning of Christmas is timeliness for many people.  This not only present in a religious sense, but also in popular culture circles.  For example, how many of us have ever watched the movie “A Christmas Story” and saw Ralphie’s quest for the Red Ryder B-B Gun while being roundly warned – “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out Kid!”  This endearing tale is not only popular among Setonians, but also the wider world through the pen of legendary writer and raconteur Jean Shepherd who not only narrated this movie, but wrote this treatment based on his early life under the original title – “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”  Shepherd was an author, television, and radio personality who had a popular show on W-O-R radio in New York City for a number of years between the 1950s-70s and made regular appearances on the Seton Hall campus (including a mid-December gig in 1965 as heralded below) during these years in the limelight whose time on campus are still remembered fondly by those who saw him in concert.  Please click here to listen in on Jean Shepherd announce his date at Seton Hall on 12/16/1965.

                                         

Beyond the stage and regardless of the era and how the season was celebrated, Seton Hall has its own traditions in the art of holiday cheer and commemoration from Cap’t Crow to those who are writing their own “Christmas Story” at Seton Hall.

Within the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center are a variety of valuable resources available to students and scholars alike. As a recent graduate of Seton Hall University with a major in history and minor in art history, interning in the archives proved to be one of the most engaging and educational experiences in my academic career. This experience resulted in my researching and organizing materials on President John F. Kennedy as well as his connection to Newark and more specifically Seton Hall in this exhibit.

The exhibit on display this summer represents many materials pertaining to John F. Kennedy, including photographs, correspondence, books and campaign buttons. The first case illustrates President Kennedy’s career as a Senator as well as his campaign to Presidency. Some of the highlights in the first case include a replica of Kennedy’s Knights of Columbus application dated April 26, 1946. There are also a variety of rare campaign buttons and facsimile documents of invitations to the White House during Kennedy’s presidency. The exhibit also displays two rare photographs of President Kennedy with New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes.

The second case of the exhibit displays items that commemorate the assassination of John F Kennedy and its aftermath. Highlights in the second case include a Western Union Telegram and a record from January 19, 1964 of the service held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in honor of President Kennedy. Another key item is a book that includes the addresses from the United States Senate and House of Representatives titled Memorial Addresses in the Senate of the United States in Eulogy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Overall the exhibit is meant to represent the variety of materials and sources on John F. Kennedy that can be found in the Monsignor William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center. It is important for students and the public alike to be aware of the rich resources available here.

The exhibit can be viewed on the ground floor of the Walsh Library and is open all hours the library is open. For more information on this exhibit and questions about John F. Kennedy that I discovered please feel free to e-mail me: Alexandra.Jousset@shu.edu

With the month of May comes the much awaited graduation for college seniors and the commencement ceremonies that signal the end of their Seton Hall degree earning journey.  Along with the memories of diploma receiving achievements past, the University Archives has a large number of commencement programs, photographs, and other documentation that shows the activities centering around this celebration from the inaugural exercises in 1856, the first official graduate Louis Edward Firth, AB in 1862 to the ladies and gentlemen representing the Class of 2015.  Below are a few examples of these informative program guides. Additional perspective on graduation can be found through the listing of honorary degree recipients through the years as compiled by our student volunteer Mr. Matthew Peters.

We look forward to working with you on your own commencement research exercises.  In the meantime, congratulations to all the graduates present and future!

 

The Monsignor William Noé Field Archives & Special Collections Center has sponsored the work of information professionals who maintain a number of specialized Library Reference Guides (LibGuides) for the benefit of our research community.  These LibGuides are designed to provide an introductory navigation site to help with project leads, identify collections, and connect to related themes through the linked resources found on each site.

The latest example created outlines specific Rare Book Collections with different connections to the World Wide Web and designed to help the user learn more about the history of publishing craft and to expand their reference options connected to the Center and beyond.  This site focuses upon our major holdings which include the American Civil War, Ireland and Irish-America, Monsignor John Oesterreicher Judaeo-Christian titles along with our overall and more specialized collecting areas that await discovery.

The Internet link to the Rare Book site can be found here and our full range of LibGuides can be accessed here.

Thank you in advance for your interest and usage of our LibGuides!

Did you ever think about how the Communion Wafers used at mass are created? According to church doctrine, the wafers must be made only of pure wheat flour and water. Traditionally, the dough was rolled out flat and squeezed between the two iron plates of baking tongs, such as the example from the Archives pictured below. The plates are embossed in order to separate the wafers from the rest of the dough and add decorative designs.

 

Originally, a parish would choose a particular baker from the community who was sanctioned to produce the communion wafers using tongs like these. Later, the task of baking the wafers was taken up by cloistered nuns, who were able to produce the wafers on a larger scale and generate income for their convents.

Today, 80% of the wafers in the US market are baked on large scale industrial equipment by the Cavanaugh Company of Greenville, Rhode Island, which boasts that its wafers are “untouched by human hands.” Some convents also carry on the tradition, and have found other ways to compete with private industry. The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, now produce a low-gluten wafer that is safe for consumption by parishioners with Celiac disease.

This was the refrain heard from the floor to rafters of Convention Hall, Philadelphia during the summer of 1940 and echoed through that autumn when the Republican Party nominated corporate lawyer and long time political booster Wendell Lewis Willkie of Indiana as their standard bearer for the upcoming presidential election of that year. Willkie (1892-1944), who never held public office was an outspoken internationalist who later became an informal ambassador-at-large for important causes including global welfare programs and civil rights most notably as outlined in his seminal work: One World(located in the Walsh Library Main Collection, Call Number: D811.5 .W495) which heralded the need for a “world government” to aid society at-large which would later come to fruition in part through the establishment of the United Nations a few years after its publication in 1944. 

                   

Willkie focused his run for the White House on three primary themes which included the lack of military readiness in case of war, streamlining the “New Deal” programs of incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the never before attempted third term candidacy of a sitting president.  In the end, Willkie lost the race, but registered 22.3 million votes nationwide (more than any previous Republican candidate at this point) and won 82 electoral votes (plurality in ten states) total. 

Although defeated, the successful legacy of Wendell Willkie is celebrated in the Seton Hall Archives & Special Collections Center through the availability of varied resources regarding the candidacy of this icon in American political history.  Included are a unique set of scrapbooks donated by Maplewood resident, Mr. Jack Chance who followed this election closely and documented the 1940 race through a collected series of local and national press clippings.  Famed funeral director Mr. Gerald Spatola of Newark served as a delegate from New Jersey to the 1940 G.O.P. convention and in turn left a convention book as a reminder of civic activity on a national stage.  Additionally, our political science department has collected various campaign buttons over the years and Wendell Willkie figures prominent among them and serves a tangible reminder of his candidacy seven decades ago. A further point of connections was made more valid and vivid during that fall of 1940 when Willkie in the midst of a national spotlight was invited to visit campus by former College President, James Kelley, but in an October 15^th letter from the candidate to the chief executive of Seton Hall he wrote regrets for being unable to make his way to South Orange, but praised the work of the school in a larger context inside the following passage…

“As a mid-Westerner, I am of course not intimately familiar with Seton Hall, but I am fully aware of the splendid educational work done by the Catholic clergy at many institutions throughout the land…the College was founded by and named for collateral ancestors of President Roosevelt.  I was extremely interested to hear of the pioneer work of Bishop Bayley and Mother Seton in New Jersey.  The State and the Nation are profiting greatly from the untiring efforts of these inspired people and others like them…It is hope that the college may long be able to continue its educational and character-building endeavors, that it may never have to encounter the hatreds and oppressions which have perverted or destroyed so many similar institutions in other lands.”

Just like 1940, if you want Willkie and learn more about his life and times please feel free to make an appointment with us to explore in further depth and detail.   We can be reached by e-mail:  Archives@shu.edu, or by phone:  (973) 275-2378.  Thank you in advance for your interest.