Author: Notre Dame Archives

Founder’s Day

October 13th is the feast day of St. Edward the Confessor, patron saint of
Rev. Edward Sorin, founder of the University of Notre Dame.

Statue of St. Edward the Confessor, holding a model of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, outside of St. Edward’s Hall, 1978

In the early 1840s, this feast day naturally became a day to honor the University’s most prominent figure and it quickly became one of the highlights of the school year for the students of all ages.  The students from Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Academy celebrated the day, and often the eve as well, with theatrical and musical performances, athletic matches (such as three-legged races, boat races, baseball and football games), and a much anticipated feast in the dining hall.

Students running in a backward race on Cartier Field on Founder’s Day, 1913

Amid the festivities, students, clergy, and other well-wishers sent Fr. Sorin letters, telegrams, and cards, wishing him a happy feast day, expressing their gratitude and affection towards Sorin, of which a number are currently housed with the University Archives in Fr. Sorin’s papers.

Address to the Very Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, Superior General [of the Congregation of Holy Cross], on his Patronal Festival by the Juniors 1885. The address contained the following excerpt: “It is in this wise dear Father General that St. Edward’s Day has come to be a kind of royal feast day at Notre Dame. For it is your name day and you are the illustrious founder and generous protector and director of our beloved Alma Mater.”


Cover of the hand-drawn card the Novices presented to Fr. Edward Sorin on the feast day of St. Edward, c1880s.

In the 1910s, the Columbus Day celebrations were combined with Founder’s Day.  In 1912, the Knights of Columbus Council at Notre Dame organized the Discovery Day celebration.  “The celebration [was] partly the result of a country wide campaign by the order to make the day a legal holiday in the various states” [South Bend Times, 10/12/1912, from PNDP 70-Sa-03].

Over the years, the exuberance of the feast day waned.  In the 1950s and 1960s, students placed wreaths at the base of the Fr. Sorin statue.  Today Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to honor St. Edward and to give thanks to Fr. Edward Sorin, who, in all of his tenacity, quickly turned a small school in the wilderness of Indiana into a nationally renowned institution.

Students and unidentified priest placing a wreath at Sorin Statue on Founder’s Day, 1960/1013.

Also of interest, AgencyND produced this video in 2008 regarding Founder’s Day, using a number of assets from the University Archives:

Sources:
Scholastic
Notre Dame:  100 Years, by Arthur J. Hope, CSC
PNDP 70-Sa-03
CSOR 3/06-19
GMIL 2/06
GPHR 45/4037
GNDM 78/041

 


October is American Archives Month

Explore the University Archives
A lot of information about the Notre Dame Archives can be found on our website.  Don’t know where to begin?  About our Collections details the main types of records held at the University Archives:  official University records, manuscript collections, photographs, audio-visual material, and printed material.  Also take a look at our online list of collections and subject guide for our manuscript collections.  The subject guide can be a good starting point, but it is not a definitive resource — there may be other collections not listed that address a particular subject, but not on as a large of a scale as those listed.

Subject:  Orphanages.   Angel Guardian Orphanage in Chicago, run by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ – Six orphans with a banner thanking donors for their Golden Jubilee gift, 1915.

Search our Collections provides an index to our finding aids.  This is a text-only database and you will not see any images or documents.  Due to the sheer volume of materials in relation to the small staff and resources, most archives do not describe at the item level or transcribe individual items.

The calendared items are found in a separate finding aid.  The calendar is a summary of individual documents mostly collected by our first archivist James Farnham Edwards.  For more information about the calendar, see this previous post.

The University Archives has also complied a few other Specialized Indexes, including indexes to Scholastic, Voice, and Observer, early students and faculty, and a chronology of theatrical performances on campus.

In order to view items, you will have to visit the University Archives or request photocopies (not all items are able to be photocopied).  We are open Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.  Appointments are encouraged, but not required.  Please see Information for Researchers for more information about visiting the University Archives.

We do offer a number of resources online, including online exhibits, full-text publications, and ND Quick Facts.  Our online Latin Dictionary is one most visited pages of the entire University’s web site.

GPHR 45/2646:  Four Notre Dame Presidents Gathered Together, 1956/1221.
Caption:  “Four decades of growth at ND are represented by these Holy Cross priests who have served as president of the famed university.  The Most Rev. John F. O’Hara, CSC, (seated left), Archbishop of Philadelphia, was ND president from 1934-1940.  Rev. Matthew Walsh, CSC, (seated right) headed the university from 1922-1928.  ND’s president today is Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, (standing left) [1952-1987] and his immediate predecessor is Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, CSC, (standing right), director of The ND Foundation, who was university president 1946-1952.  The photo was made recently (December 21 [1956]) when Archbishop O’Hara visited the campus.”


Donate your materials
Please also consider donating your materials to the University Archives that fit within our collecting scope.  Many of our collections exist because of the generosity of individuals.  These materials are preserved for future generations to learn from and enjoy.

A page of ephemera from William Schmitt’s scrapbook.  Schmitt was a member of the 1909 Western Championship football team.  Scrapbooks like this provide an intimate view into the life of a student that is difficult to replicate through other sources.


Patriot of the Year Award

For over 120 years, Notre Dame celebrated George Washington’s Birthday with theatrical and musical presentations (more about that in a future post).  In 1954, the University created the Patriot of the Year Award to honor a public figure “who exemplifies the American ideals of justice, personal integrity and service to country” [Scholastic, 02/12/1954, page 10].

The senior class voted from a number of candidates and the honoree would address the students and faculty at the Washington Day Exercises.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was named the first Patriot of the Year.  Others that followed included Bishop Fulton Sheen, Senator John F. Kennedy, Vice President Richard Nixon, Comedian Bob Hop, Lt. Col. John Glenn, and Sargent Shriver.  In 1967 the candidates were Leonard Bernstein, J. William Fullbright, Chet Huntley/David Brinkley, Martin Luther King Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, Carl Sandburg, Earl Warren, Arthur Goldberg, and Louis Armstrong, with Gen. William Westmoreland winning the nomination.

The Washington Day Exercises fizzled out around 1970 along with the Patriot of the Year Award, ending a long-beloved tradition at Notre Dame.

Tickets and press credentials for the Washington Day Exercises, 1960-1964


Senator John F. Kennedy receiving the Patriot of the Year Award from Senior Class President George Strake at the Washington Day Exercises, February 1957.


Vice President Richard Nixon receiving the Patriot of the Year Award from Senior Class President Richard Corbett, with Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, 02/23/1960.
Nixon’s Notre Dame speech on patriotism was printed and distributed at the
1960 Republican Convention.

Comedian Bob Hope receiving the Patriot of the Year Award from Senior Class President Earl Linhan at the Washington Day Exercises in the Fieldhouse, 02/27/1962.
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, is also on stage.

Program cover from the 1965 Washington Day Exercises and Patriot of the Year Award Ceremony.  R. Sargent Shirver Jr. received the award this year.

Sources: 
Scholastic
PNDP-70-Wa-01
UDIS 73/14
GDIS 05/Kennedy
GPOR 12/08
GPHR 45/4332

See also the list of Patriot of the Year Award recipients

Notre Dame Farms

Father Edward Sorin and his compatriots began cultivating the land at Notre Dame shortly after their November 1842 arrival.  The farms were developed “to provide food stuffs for its resident staff, faculty, and students, as well as to generate revenue to finance other aspects of its educational work.”  [“The Notre Dame Farms, 1843-1940,” by Thomas Schlereth; The Old Courthouse News, winter 1975; PNDP 30-FA-8]

“An extensive complex of farm buildings was gradually constructed along the southeastern shore of St. Mary’s Lake as well as on the higher ground now enclosed by Corby,  Sorin, Walsh, and Badin Halls”  [Schlereth]

View of the farm buildings about where Bond Hall is now, 1888. The steeple is not complete on the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The farm buildings included an ice-house, slaughter house, horse barn, dairy and cattle barns, “wagon sheds, tool houses, corn cribs, implement sheds, and wheat granaries. … Scattered among the farm buildings were water toughs fed by windmills and wells” [Schlereth].

Around 1900, the University moved the farm to South Quad and built a number of buildings.  “The farm complex included several farm houses for the brothers and hired hands, the University horse barn and livery, a dairy barn with a large Holstein herd, a circular barn and surrounding sties for raising over 700 Hampshire hogs, a hennery, and several grain-storage buildings.  Fields of corn, alfalfa, and wheat stretched beyond these structures to the South Bend city limits” [The University of Notre Dame: A Portrait of Its History and Campus, Thomas Schlereth, page 150].

View from the Basilica of the farms on South Quad, c1915. The University Stables were built in 1902 and destroyed by fire in 1925.

 

Interior view of the dairy cow barn, c1915.

In 1900, Brother Leo Donovan became director of the Notre Dame farms.  He went to Illinois and Iowa universities to learn agriculture techniques.  He renewed the farms at Notre Dame, which had become severely depleted due to a lack of crop rotation and proper fertilization of the fields.  In 1917, Brother Leo established an Agriculture School at Notre Dame, which was eventually discontinued in 1932.

Brother Leo Donovan with a work horse in front of the horse stables on South Quad

Brother Leo also became renowned in animal husbandry.  His livestock won many awards over the years at State Fairs and the International Stock Show in Chicago.  “Named Indiana State Champion Feeder in 1937, he supplied and slaughtered (in structures formerly behind Moreau Seminary) all the beef and pork for the University kitchens and shipped the surplus to the Chicago stockyards” [UND, Schlereth, page 152].

Notre Dame’s First Prize hogs at a livestock show, c1926.

 

Some of the ribbons won by Brother Leo Donovan at livestock shows, 1913-1937.

On October 13, 1925, the Notre Dame barn on South Quad burned and the University moved the farms to land east of campus near Bulla Road.  This newly opened space eventually made way for new dormitories and South Dining Hall.  All farming activity was later moved to St. Joseph’s Farm in Granger, Indiana.

A tractor in the farms east of campus with the Main Building in the background, 1924.

In 1867, the University bought 1300 acres of land near Granger and called this farm St. Joseph’s Farm, which “produced everything for the University from peat for fireplaces to tobacco for faculty cigars” [“The Notre Dame Farms,” Schlereth].  This farm was active until 1995, as it became less viable and there were fewer men entering the seminary with farming skills [South Bend Tribune, 03/18/1995, page A1, PNDP 30-Fa-8].

 

Sources:
PNDP 30-Fa-8
Brother Aiden’s extracts (PBAE, page 339)
Brother Leo Dononvan’s Papers (CLEF)
The University of Notre Dame:  A Portrait of Its History and Campus, Thomas Schlereth
GMIL 1/04
GMLS 1/04
GTJS 04/45, 4/50

Mid-Century Modern

In the 1950s and 1960s, Notre Dame administrators and students were embracing modern architecture.  They were turning their backs on what they considered to be old, stodgy buildings of the past and looking toward new designs.

Inside page of the Stepan Center Dedication program, 1962

“Mod Quad” began in 1962 with the geodesic dome Stepan Center, a bold architectural statement.  Plans were made for five high-rise dormitories and the Cardinal O’Hara Chapel, with a space-age design.  Flanner and Grace Halls were completed in 1969, but the plans for the rest of the buildings were eventually scrapped.

Architectural model of the proposed buildings for Mod Quad, c1967

As early as 1947, there were plans to tear down Main Building, which was showing signs of needing serious repair and renovation.  The idea was revisited in the early 1960s when the site of the Main Building was considered for the location of the new library.  Fortunately, the administration eventually settled on the site just north of the Stadium where the current Hesburgh Library now resides.  During this time, a number of students had little love loss over Main Building.  In 1959, John Bellairs poked fun at the dilapidated Main Building, writing a fictitious account of the building collapsing after a janitor pulled out a loose brick (“Decline and Fall of Main Building,” Scholastic 03/20/1959).

A sketch of a possible plaza and new library building in the place of Main Building, c1960

In 1962, Sam Haffey also supported the idea of the demolition of Main Building, saying “I feel that the character relation of Renaissance dome to French chateau is slightly ridiculous, and that to treat them as an architectural beauty to be preserved forever is also slightly ridiculous” (“A New Campus, Maybe?” Scholastic, 11/09/1962).  It wasn’t until the 1990s that the administration undertook extensive restoration of Main Building to preserve the historic building for generations to come.

Notre Dame’s Main Building is one of the most famous and widely recognizable buildings in the United States.  Its image is so deeply ingrained in the identity of this University that it is difficult to fathom the idea that people once thought to remove it.  Going into the 21st century, we moved back to preferring the traditional Collegiate Gothic look for our campus.  Indeed, the University recently cleared out several utilitarian buildings of the modern architectural era, such as the University Club and the old Post Office.  The architectural gem Stepan Center may not be far behind.  Varied buildings on campus add character to the University and are a reminder of ever-changing architectural aesthetics.

Sources:  Scholastic
A Dome of Learning: The University of Notre Dame’s Main Building by Thomas Schlereth
PNDP 10-St-3
GNDL 4/09A
UNDD:  Notre Dame Architectural Drawings

Notre Dame vs. Michigan

Notre Dame and Michigan have a long and storied history, but the 2010 game will only be the 38th time the two universities have faced each other on the football field over the past 123 years.  Their relationship in football began in 1887 when former Notre Dame student George De Haven scheduled to bring his University of Michigan teammates on a tour of football clubs in the Midwest.  Notre Dame rounded up its best players from the Senior Department to form the first varsity football team.  Notre Dame’s first three varsity games were against Michigan (one in the fall of 1887, two in April 1888).  Below is the published account from Scholastic of the first game played on November 23, 1887.

Scholastic 1887 article regarding first varsity football gameThe rivalry heated up in 1909 when Notre Dame went into Ann Arbor with a then 0-8 series record.  The Notre Dame victory came as a shock to Michigan fans and would later be the focal point in the debate over which team was the true Champion of the West.  Notre Dame went undefeated except for a tie to Marquette and Michigan only lost to Notre Dame.   Sports writers around the country debated for months with no clear resolution.  The yearbooks from both schools claimed bragging rights to the championship that year.

Mike (possibly owned by ND Coach Frank Longman) after the 1909 game

The scheduled 1910 game was canceled at the last minute when Michigan officials declared several Notre Dame players ineligible to play.   Animosity grew between the two universities and between Notre Dame and the Western Conference.  Notre Dame and Michigan wouldn’t meet on the gridiron again until 1942.  That series lasted only two years and the rivalry was picked up again in 1978.  In 1980, nearly a hundred years after their first meeting, Notre Dame finally got a win at home over Michigan with Harry Oliver’s last second, game-winning field goal.  Michigan and Notre Dame respectively rank first and second for the highest winning percentages in college football, further fueling the rivalry and making for a great Saturday match-up.

Sources: Scholastic 1887-1888 and 1909-1910
Natural Enemies by John Kryk
2010 Football Media Guide compiled by the Athletic Department (History & Records – Part 3)
William Schmitt Scrapbook (GATH 24-25)
Click here for more information about conducting sports research at the University Archives.

Shakespeare Marathon 1984

In the spring of 1984, English Professor Paul Rathburn organized a Shakespeare Reading Marathon to raise money for Adam Milani, a St. Joseph High School student who was seriously injured in a hockey game the previous December.  April 25-29, 1984, on the Fieldhouse Mall, students, staff, and faculty continuously read Shakespeare for 100 hours.  Among the campus celebrities who participated were Football Coach Gerry Faust (pictured), Men’s Basketball Coach Digger Phelps, Professor Emil T. Hofman, and the Glee Club.  For their efforts, they raised over $5000 for the Milani Fund and earned a Guinness World Record for continuous reading of Shakespeare.

Sources:  The Observer, April 26 and May 2, 1984
UDIS 208/25
GPHR 20/13

University Catalog 1863-1864

The University publishes its annual catalogs and bulletins to inform prospective students and their families of life at Notre Dame.  They often list the faculty, the students, and the academic calendar, and outline activities of the University, such as the available courses, student organizations, and regulations of the University, now known as du Lac.

The 1863-1864 catalog was the University’s twentieth such catalog.  Fr. Edward Sorin was president and the Golden Dome didn’t exist.  The Thespian Society had fifteen members and the Notre Dame Cricket Club had twenty-two members.  Room, board, and tuition was $200.  Each student was expected to arrive with six shirts, four towels, one hat, three pairs of shoes, and one setting of silverware, among a few other personal effects.  The Christmas holiday was only three days long.  Below are the three pages of regulations from the 1863-1864 catalog, which give insight into daily student life at Notre Dame.  Fortunately, students are no longer required to bathe in St. Joseph’s Lake.

[Source:  PNDP 30-BU-02 1863-1864]

Wireless Transmission at Notre Dame

In April 1899, Professor Jerome Green and his assistants were experimenting with wireless telegraphy.  Green is thought to be the first to send wireless transmissions in America and the first to use homemade apparatuses, as opposed to using foreign-made equipment.  The experiments started by transmitting signals from the physics laboratory in Science Hall (now called LaFortune Hall) to other rooms in the building.  They succeeded in sending signals from Science Hall to Sorin Hall, then from the flag pole to the Novitiate (which was located near present-day Holy Cross House).  “They found that everything worked perfectly well here, and so they set about their last and greatest trial.  This was to send a message from Notre Dame to St. Mary’s Academy which is more than a mile away from the University [, using the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for the transmission wire]. … This is the farthest distance a message has been sent in this country as far as we know and the boys in the scientific department feel highly elated over their success.” [Scholastic, 04/22/1899, page 494].

News traveled quickly of Green’s success, which “led the Chicago Tribune to invite Professor Green to Chicago to test the conditions that obtain in a large city.” [Scholastic, 05/06/1899].  The obstacles were great, but after experimenting sending signals to and from various buildings, Green was finally successful in sending messages for half an hour between the Tribune and Marquette buildings.  He was “able, after six hours of trial, to prove the Marconi system practical.” [Sunday Times Herald Chicago, 04/23/1899].

Sources:  Scholastic Magazine, 1899
Jerome J. Green Clippings (CZDD and PNDP 01-Gr-3)

News – Fall 2009

In October, Michael A. Diebold gave us 26 cassette audio tapes containing interviews he conducted with teaching priests of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and transcriptions of the interviews. Sister Rose Marie Mantin, O.P., donated a collection of prayer books, missals, and hymnals used by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan, before the Second Vatican Council.  The Notre Dame Center for Liturgy sent papers of Rev. Gerald Shirilla, consisting of research files having to do with the Catholic Church and its liturgy: collected material, articles, note cards, and drafts of chapters of his dissertation, amounting to approximately three linear feet.

In November, Sister Dorothy Ann Blatnica, S.C., sent 2.5 linear feet of research material gathered for her doctoral dissertation, “In Those Days”: African American Catholics in Cleveland, 1922-1961 (Case Western Reserve University, 1992), published as At the altar of their God: African American Catholics in Cleveland, 1922-1961 (New York: Garland, 1995). This collection consists of audio tapes and transcriptions of interviews; photocopies of historical documents including correspondence, reports, and newspaper clippings; photographs; releases signed by subjects of interviews; the prospectus for her dissertation, with critiques; and a copy of the dissertation itself.

In November and December, Peter Denio sent records (1983-2009) of the National Pastoral Life Center amounting to some 180 linear feet; including general office files, church magazine files, development files, pastoral services files, Roundtable files (The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors), New Pastors’ Workshop files, Executive Director files, and files of NPLC founder and director Msgr. Philip J. Murnion, with photo albums, videos, and other audio-visual material; and some 50,000 computer files amounting to 33 gigabytes of digital data.