The digital exhibit, Treasures from the Catholic Research Resource Alliance: Women Religious, began with the idea of highlighting some of the rare and unique resources that are available as bibliographic citations and finding aids through the Catholic Resource Research Alliance (CRRA)’s consortial database, the Catholic Portal. Women religious is one of the major collection themes of the Alliance, however, unlike other kinds of materials, many of these resources have not been fully documented or cataloged and it is often frustrating for researchers to locate them. One of the best methods still is by consulting the out of print book, “Women Religious History Sources: a Guide to Repositories in the United States,” edited by Evangeline Thomas, with the assistance of Joyce L. White and Lois Wachtel [New York: R.R. Bowker, 1983].
In the process of creating the exhibit, we assembled an ad-hoc advisory board, composed of Margaret Susan Thompson, Professor, the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University; Diane Maher, Associate Professor University Archivist/Special Collections Librarian, University of San Diego; Jennifer Younger, Executive Director, Catholic Research Resources Alliance; Sally Witt, Archivist, Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden; and Denise Gallo, Provincial Archivist Daughters of Charity to suggest institutions and collections. All of us hoped that the exhibit would highlight the spirituality and courage of these women who serve as health and educational professionals, as missionaries and social workers, and who live their lives as part of a community of faith.
At the end of the day, Tracy Jackson and I decided to let the images speak for themselves. You will see a wide range of images, many of them never published that include postcards, photographs, and letters. The materials can be browsed by institution, format, subject, location and time period. The exhibit will be live and active until October 31, 2013, after which it will remain available but will not be monitored.
Nota bene: This Website was created by Thomas McGee using WordPress. We are grateful for his sound design and for the help of his colleague, Michael Soupios, the Associate Director for Digital Media at Seton Hall University’s Teaching, Learning and Technology Center.
Marta Deyrup and Tracy Jackson
Seton Hall University Libraries
For further information about the contents of this exhibit please contact the participating institutions:
Catholic University of America: American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives
College of New Rochelle: College of New Rochelle Archives
Daughters of Charity: Provincial Archives
Gonzaga University: University Archives and Special Collections
Loyola Marymount University: Archives and Special Collections
Loyola University Chicago: University Archives & Special Collections
Marquette University: Special Collections and University Archives
Regis University: Archives and Special Collections
Saint Mary’s College: Archives
Seton Hall University: Archives and Special Collections Center
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas: Mercy Heritage Center
University of Dayton: Archives and Collections
University of San Diego: Department of Special Collections & University Archives