[Photo by Heather Gollatz]
and with a firefighter coat and helmet outside on the bench in memorial of the firefighters in New York and Washington, D.C., 2001/0912
[Photo by Heather Gollatz]
September 11, 2001
Author: Notre Dame Archives
Women & Spirit Exhibit
The Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America traveling exhibit stops in South Bend from September 2 – December 31, 2011, at the Northern Indiana Center for History. A number of photographs and audio-visual materials from the Notre Dame Archives make an appearance in this exhibit.
Early in Notre Dame’s history in 1843, four Holy Cross sisters joined founder Rev. Edward Sorin. For over 115 years afterward, they graced the “French Quarter” behind Main Building, now known as the Brownson Hall complex.
Two unidentified Holy Cross (CSC) Sisters, c1860s-1870s
The nuns at Notre Dame were entrenched in university life from 1843-1958. “They staffed the laundries, infirmaries, kitchens, and St. Edwards’ Minims School. There was hardly a facet of Notre Dame life they did not influence. They set type in the University Press offices located just east of the rear of Brownson Hall, bound books and periodicals, and deciphered mysterious chirography in manuscripts which baffled the editors. They were tailors, nurses, gardeners, seamstresses, cooks, and charwomen for thousands of Notre Dame priests, brothers, lay faculty and students. Beginning with only 4 sisters, their numbers grew to 140, then dwindled to only 14 in 1958″ [Schlereth, page 45].
Mass of thanksgiving in the Holy Cross Sisters’ convent chapel, 1958/0504.
Caption: “Rev. Arthur Hope, CSC (right), author of Notre Dame: 100 Years, preaches at a Solemn High Mass May 4th marking the departure of virtually all the Holy Cross nuns from the campus after 115 years of devoted service to the University. Pope Pius XII sent his congratulations and apostolic blessing to the Sisters who vacated the campus convent and returned to their mother-house at St. Mary’s College the following day. in earlier years more than 100 Holy Cross nuns served Notre Dame in many capacities. Only five nuns will remain to care for altar linens and staff the student infirmary.”
In its mission to collect, maintain, and preserve records that document the life of the Catholic Church and her people as lived in the American context, the Notre Dame Archives houses a number of collections regarding religious women from various congregations, organizations, and individuals. Among the larger collections are those of the National Assembly of Religious Women (US), the Leadership Conference of Women Religious of the United States, Sr. Marie Augusta Neal, and the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.
Conference of Major Superiors of Women (CMSW), later Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), August 1963
Sources:
University of Notre Dame: Portrait of History and Campus by Thomas J. Schlereth
GSBA 3/15
GPHR 45/3464
GLCW
Washington Hall
Notre Dame Film, Television, and Theater professor Mark Pilkinton’s much anticipated book on Washington Hall was released earlier this week. Look for Washington Hall at Notre Dame: Crossroads of the University, 1864-2004 at your favorite bookstore or library. A detailed history of performing arts at Notre Dame is long-over due and this book will enrich the whole story of Notre Dame.
These murals were most likely painted over in the 1956 renovation as
the University embraced modern architecture and decor.
Pilkinton has been a regular here in the Notre Dame Archives for many years as he laboriously researched Washington Hall (built in 1881) and other exhibition halls and theatrical venues that preceded it. His new book is a comprehensive history of the building architecturally, as well it’s role at the heart of Main Quad as the hub of many theatrical and musical performances, lectures, movie screenings, and other events.
Pilkinton was also instrumental in the development of the Theatre Chronology database, hosted on the Archives’ website, which attempts to detail every student theatrical performance ever held at Notre Dame. Pilkinton is continuously updating the database as new performances are staged and as new information on old performances is unearthed.
Rockefeller Hall
Near where Cavanaugh Hall is today, there once was a building which had the tongue-in-cheek name “Rockefeller Hall.” This building housed the University privies and possibly stables at some point, and the upper level housed transient men who came to Notre Dame in winter in search of food and lodging in exchange for odd jobs around campus.
In 1913, the University decided to forgo providing such accommodations: “That the University of Notre Dame is to do away with its famous home of tramps and hoboes, was learned last week when the faculty decided to abandon Rockefeller Hall, which for a quarter century has been the annual winter mecca for hundreds of the ‘sons of rest’ from all parts of the United States. This bit of news has caused much regret among the students, who had learned to look forward to the annual pilgrimage of the hoboes” [Catholic Columbian Record, 10/03/1913; PNDP 10-Ro-01].
The students, at least according to one contributor to Scholastic, envied their fellow “inmates” at Notre Dame because of the freedom these men had to come and go as they pleased. Rockefeller Hall was “the only hall at the University where general permission is exhibited” [Scholastic, 10/01/1913, page 96].
Rockefeller Hall was demolished in June 1931 and Cavanaugh Hall was ready for student residents for the fall of 1936.
This photograph appears in Grover Miller’s Scrapbook. Miller was on the staff of the Dome yearbook and this photo is on a page alongside other photographs clearly on Notre Dame campus. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to assume that this scene took place somewhere on the grounds of Notre Dame.
Sources:
Scholastic
PNDP 10-Ro-01
GMIL 2/02
GMIL 2/06
Notre Dame Summer School
Notre Dame established a summer school program in 1918 “to help Religious teachers to make their work more interesting and more effective” [UPWC 41/44]. On a deeper level, the summer school program had a few other important side effects. The program was open to both men and women and offered undergraduate and graduate coursework. For decades, the majority of students were clergy from various congregations across the country: primarily sisters along with priests and brothers. These women were among Notre Dame’s first female students and alumnae. Many of the summer school students were high school teachers and would promote Notre Dame to their college-bound male students. Additionally, the Summer School program became a cornerstone in the foundation of the Graduate School.
From the beginning, coursework was available in most areas of study, including business, science, and liberal arts. Since most of the students were secondary educators, the summer school program also offered specialized courses such as education and library science that were not normally offered during the regular school year.
In 1960, “One out of sixty-five nuns in the United States is improving her skills as a teacher or administrator at the University of Notre Dame this summer” with a total of 1373 nuns enrolled. “The sisters, whose religious garb contrasts sharply with the Bermuda shorts and sports shirts of Notre Dame’s lay students, constitute the largest block of the 2877 summer school enrollment. The student body currently numbers 268 priests, 79 seminarians, 163 Brothers, 904 lay men, and 90 lay women.” Four-fifths of the summer session students were graduate students in 1960. [PNDP PR 60-55]
As time went on, demand for the summer school program declined. The program was “originally intended to provide an opportunity for religious teachers to finish their baccalaureates in order to meet certification requirements then being imposed by many states” [Schlereth, page 161]. Its function perhaps was not as needed in later years as the numbers of clergy, particularly sisters, declined and the numbers of people with college degrees increased. Summer sessions still exist today, but are primarily composed of regularly enrolled Notre Dame students.
For more information regarding the summer school sessions, the University Archives holds a number resources, including press releases, informational bulletins, course schedules, and newsletters.
Sources:
PNDP 30-Su-1
PNDP 40-Su-1
UPWC 41/44
Notre Dame Press Releases
The University of Notre Dame: A Portrait of Its History and Campus, by Thomas Schlereth
GTJS 5/09
GPHR 45/1274
GHJC 50/40
Notre Dame Mascots
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea of mascots and team names at Notre Dame was very fluid. Team names often changed from year to year, team to team, game to game. Sports writers used a number of monikers, ranging from Catholics, Hoosiers, Rockmen, Ramblers, etc., sometimes varying within a single sports article, until Fighting Irish began to stick in the 1920s. Mascots were often seen as good luck charms and Notre Dame had a revolving door of them until the 1930s. Minim student Willie Robb was the mascot for the 1895 baseball team [GMLS 5/01] and Irish Catholic actress Sally O’Neil served as mascot for the Notre Dame vs. Southern California (USC) football game in 1926 [Los Angeles Times, “Another View of Charley Riley,” 12/05/1926].
Animals, and dogs in particular, were often used as early mascots. A September 22, 1900, South Bend Tribune article recounts the menagerie of personal pets used as mascots:
“Dad Moulton, Manager Eggeman, and Pat O’Dea Have Pets.
If Notre Dame is unsuccessful on the gridiron this fall, it will not be due to a lack of mascots, and if there is anything in variety of mascots Notre Dame will be successful.
When Dad Moulton arrived his train was a menagerie, made up of two trick dogs and canary bird — one of the dogs, a hairless Mexican, Dad intends to use as a hoodoo for opposing teams in conjunction with a black and white billy goat Manager Eggeman received from Fort Wayne.
The goat is of the stock yards variety with a records of having eaten two shirts and a pair of shoes in one morning. He has already shown a bellicose disposition — but under the care of Moulton, who intends to train him, he may be taught to save his combativeness for the opposing team.
Not to be outdone by the trainer or the manger, [football coach] Pat O’Dea intends to send to Colorado to a friend of his who has pet kangaroos. With this aggregation of animals, the kangaroo hurdling hedge fences, the goat bucking the line and the dogs doing tricks on the side-lines, Notre Dame should present a terrifying appearance to any antagonist.” [PNDP 3020-m-01]
An American Bulldog named Mike shows up throughout William Schmitt’s scrapbook. Schmitt was part of the 1909 Western Championship Football Team and it could be inferred that the team considered this dog a mascot. In Natural Enemies, author John Kryk mentioned that Notre Dame Coach Frank Longman owned such a dog (page 64), so it would make sense that the team would embrace Mike.
The history of Irish Terriers as mascots contains a number of conflicting accounts. “Clashmore Mike” is the name that most people today recognize, but there were a number of other other dogs who played mascot in one capacity or another for over forty years.
In Scholastic’s 03/31/1933 issue, James Fitzpatrick supposed that the dogs are Irish wolf hounds, “but which suspiciously resemble airdales [sic Airedales].” This pre-dates Clashmore Mike, but alludes to the importance that these dogs would have for the next few decades.).
In May 1924, Terry was hit by a car when following two students who were walking on Niles Road, and he died a few days later. According to the Notre Dame Daily, “the need of a mascot was acute. All the other colleges in the United States have their mascot supposed to represent in some manner the character of the school. Terry was given to the school because it was felt that one of his breed was the best standard bearer that we could possibly have” [PNDP 3020-m-01].
The Toledo Club again donated Tipperary Terrence II to Notre Dame in time for the 1924 Army game. Not much is mentioned of him after that.
Caption: “Head Coach Knute Rockne of the Notre Dame football team with ‘Terry’ the winning mascot, who will be present at the contest with the Army at the Polo Grounds.” The South Bend Tribune noted, “Rockne regards Mascot Terry as an omen of good luck, and wouldn’t think of starting a game without having the Airedale on the scene of battle.”
Charles Otis presented Notre Dame with Irish Terrier Brick Top Shaun Rhue at the Notre Dame vs. Navy football game in Cleveland on November 19, 1932. Shaun Rhue was prone to running away and calmly walking in the traffic of busy streets. He disappeared for good in the spring of 1933.
Caption: “With affectionate regards to Shaun Rhue and the College of Notre Dame. Best hopes and wishes from Chas. A. Otis.”
In 1935, Clashmore Mike, donated by Chicago breeder William J. Butler, became the official football team mascot. Notre Dame officials ran with the publicity of this mascot, which is probably one reason as to why he is best know today. He had his own column in the football programs and bravely battled the Pitt panther, Army mule, and Navy goat.
Clashmore Mike entertained fans with his sideline gymnastics for years until his death in September 1945. He was buried in Notre Dame Stadium and was succeeded by Clashmore Mike II, who was born Shannon Invader. After Clashmore Mike II ran away in 1948, James McGarraghy of Chicago presented Notre Dame with Shannon View Mike.
The Notre Dame Archives has two of the 1950s dog coats in its collections — one in green and one in blue.
This is where the history becomes a bit muddy. The 1952 Scholastic Football Review mentions Shannon View Mike and Pat and the 1953 Scholastic Football Review calls the mascot Clashmore Mike III. A 1958 article mentions that Shannon View Mike I “became distinctly anti-social” and “had to be put away” in 1954. Shannon View Mike II, whose registered name was Shannon View Rudy, came shortly there after. Shannon View Mike II had a companion Pat (perhaps the same Pat mentioned in 1952), registered Castlebar Caprice, and the two of them produced three litters of pups. “The first litter was raffled in the 1956 ND Mardi Gras Festival by the Monogram Club” and the other litters were sold to Notre Dame fans. One male pup was retained by the University. Apparently there was a Shannon View Mike III followed by Mascot Mike. Mike III was named on the field during the 1960s. [PNDP 3020-m-01]
In the 1940s, a human “Irishman” appeared at Pep Rallies, at Media Day, on the sidelines game day, and on the ND vs. Navy football program covers. In 1960, a “Leprechaun” joined the ranks of the cheerleaders on the sidelines. Artist Ted Drake designed the famous leprechaun logo, which was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine with new football Coach Ara Parseghian in November 20, 1964. By the end of the decade, the Terriers had slowly faded into history. It’s not apparent as to why — some suggest that the last dog either died or became too old and that the handlers suffered the same fate and were never replaced.
Resurgence for a return to the Irish Terrier mascot began around Knute Rockne’s 100th birthday anniversary in 1988. Marge Andre of the Irish Terrier Club of Chicago attempted to weed through the conflicting accounts to write a history of the mascot [see also PNDP 3020-m-01 for a printed version from 1988]. The efforts to reinstate the scrappy dog as mascot still exist today, albeit with no success as of yet.
Sources:
PNDP 3020-m-01
GATH 24/03
GPUB 17/07
GNDL 38/04
GATH 6/71
GPHR 45/2157
GRST 3/22
Notre Dame Post Offices
The initial success of the University of Notre Dame as an internationally renowned institution is due to the passion and dedication of her founder, the Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC. Located in the rural wilderness of Indiana, Notre Dame had many obstacles to over come and Sorin had many ingenious ideas for strengthening the fledgling school. In 1850, only eight years after the founding, Fr. Sorin asked the federal government to establish a post office at Notre Dame. Sorin’s request was granted in January 1851.
Besides bringing communications directly to campus, a government post office on campus literally put Notre Dame on the map. Sorin noted, “The profit [of a post office established at Notre Dame] is merely a sparing of money and of inconvenience [as opposed to using the South Bend post office], but there is another very valuable circumstance connected herewith: the passing of the stage coach regularly under the windows of the college. The house is daily becoming better known and the roads leading to it will have to be better cared for” [Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac, page 100]. While Fr. Sorin was the Postmaster, the Holy Cross Brothers were the ones in charge of the distribution of mail at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College.
This building was completed in October 1914. In 1935, it was moved to the north side of Chemistry Hall (now Riley Hall of Art and Design) for use as a library. It was razed in the early 1950s with the construction of Nieuwland Science Hall.
The fourth post office was dedicated in 1967 and was located south of the Law School Building near Main Circle. It remained in use until the construction of Hammes Mowbray Hall in 2004. This post office was razed and the space is now occupied by the addition to the Law School.
Hammes Mowbray Hall, which houses the current post office and security department, was built on the north side of campus near Stepan Center and the Power Plant in 2004. For the first time in nearly 150 years, a post office was not located near the main southern entrance of campus.
Sources:
Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac by Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC
University of Notre Dame: Portrait of History and Campus by Thomas J. Schlereth
CSOR 5/10
GTJS 3/36
GFCL 48/63
GMIL 1/01
GPHR 45/0050
GPHR 45/5658
Happy Fourth of July!
GNDS 2/11: Main Building decorated with American flags for the visit of the Governor of Michigan, 1915. In the foreground are SATC students in military uniforms.
[It is difficult to be certain, but this may have actually been the visit from
President Howard Taft on Decoration Day, 1914. See the 1915 Dome yearbook, page 248 for other similar photographs from that event.]
Boating Club and Crews
Notre Dame students have always found the lakes prime summer recreation spots for swimming, boating, and fishing. The St. Joseph’s Boating Club organized on April 21, 1867, “for the physical, as well as the mental education of its members, both the art of Rowing and Sailing” [Annual Catalog for the Academic Year 1866-1867, page 21]. Rev. Auguste Lemonnier, CSC, nephew of Rev. Edward Sorin and University President 1872-1874, was director of the Club. When Lemonnier tragically died in 1874 at the age of 35, the Boating Club was renamed in his honor.
Boating Club on the lake, c1867-1874.
Rev. Auguste Lemonnier, CSC, is at the far right.
Notre Dame garnered a number of boats in the second half of the 19th century, with such names as Nina (staff boat), Pinta, Santa Maria, Hiawatha, Minnehaha, Montmorency, Yosemite, Evangeline, and the Golden Jubilee and Silver Jubilee.
Crew of the Silver Jubilee, 1896
Arthur Chase, Charles Neizer (Niezer), Edward Gilmartin, Jenaro Davila,
Captain John Mullen, Coxswain George McCarrick, Lucian Wheeler
The popularity of the Boating Club quickly made it necessary for the construction of a Boat House to store all of the equipment and provide for lounge space for the members of the Boating Club. While probably not the first, the Boat House which still exists today was built in 1873.
Students around the Boat House on St. Joseph Lake, 1893
The Boating Club would occasionally take trips up to Niles, Michigan, on the St. Joseph River. Crews raced at least twice a year on St. Joseph’s Lake — for the Feast of St. Edward and for Commencement.
Freshman (Class of 1916, upper-left), Sophomore (Class of 1915, lower-right), Junior (Class of 1914, upper-right), and Senior (Class of 1913, lower-left) Class Crew teams who competed in the 1913 Commencement races. The Freshmen defeated the Sophomores, and the Juniors, with Knute Rockne on the team, defeated the Seniors.
Competitive crews clubs at Notre Dame continue to exist today and Women’s Rowing became a varsity sport in 1996.
Postcard of a boat rowing crew practice on St. Joseph’s Lake with Main Building and Sacred Heart Church Basilica in the background, c1910
Women’s Varsity Crew team rowing on St. Mary’s Lake with the Main Building Dome, Hesburgh Library, and Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the background, 1999-2000
Sources:
Scholastic
Dome yearbook 1914
Annual Catalog for the Academic Year 1866-1867
GSBA 2/01
GMLS 7/04
GNDL 4/20
GNDS 28/34 (William Edward Cleaver Scrapbook)
GNDS 9/01 (Warren Baldwin Scrapbook)
GPHR 9/34
Campus Statue Project
In the 1940s, during the midst of World War II, Notre Dame embarked on an ambitious campus beautification project, which would fill twenty empty niches on buildings around campus, including many that had stood vacant for decades. In 1943, classes in the Art Department were cancelled due to lack of fine art students. While such classes remained for the Architecture students, the faculty and artists in residence with the Art Department had some time on their hands to concentrate on the campus statue project.
The first building to see such an installation was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In May 1944, St. Joan of Arc and St. Michael the Archangel finally found their home at the east World War I Memorial Door. The Memorial door itself was originally added to the Basilica in 1924, left with empty niches for twenty years.
Few may have been “aware of the sculpture creations going on in the Old Natatorium Building behind the Dome.” Fortunately, Rev. John J. Bednar, CSC, sculptor of many of those statues, wrote a letter in 1980 to then-Notre Dame Magazine editor Ron Parent describing his involvement in this campus sculpture project. Below are excerpts from Bednar’s letter (at times Bednar refers to himself in the third-person):
“[I]t might be of interest to some that all the statues were done in artificial stone, a cement mix consisting of Portland cement, white cement, silica, marble dust, and for slight coloring, Burnt Siena powder, a warm brown color. The figures had to be made in clay from which a mold was formed for pouring the cement mix. Father O’Donnell would not consent to have the figures carved out of limestone – too slow and expensive a process. As it was, the niches on campus buildings had been neglected for too many years. The World War I Memorial had the names of Joan of Arc and St. Michael carved in Gothic script below the niches in 1924, empty niches, and now we were in the middle of World War II when John Bednar filled those two niches with their namesakes!
“The opportunity to fill all the empty niches on campus facades came when Father Szabo of South Bend brought Eugene Kormendi to meet with John Bednar, the sculptor in the Art Department and to see if Kormendi could obtain any sculpture commissions from the University, a likely outlet for a sculptor. I suggested that we could fill all the empty niches on the campus which I had been eying for years. I had been studying sculpture under the tutelage of Chicago’s foremost sculptor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, (received my M.F.A. in sculpture in 1940 and had introduced sculpture into the program of the Art Department at Notre Dame the same year.) The Szabo-Kormendi visit was perfectly timed for a sculpture project on the campus.
“A reliable witness to the production of the campus sculptures was Tony Lauck, a Moreau seminarian at the time and a sculptor of merit, who also wished to work in the Bednar-Kormendi studio on his own project, a huge block of wood for a standing figure of Christ. Permission granted and Tony brought two other seminarians to help him with a double-handled cross-cut saw for the preliminary shaping of the Christ figure. A bronze casting was made of that wood carving which can be seen today on the grounds of St. Patrick’s Church, South Bend.
“The St. Jerome statue on another Dillon wall, showing the great Biblical Scholar beating his chest with a rock instead of a scourge, Bednar shipped to Indianapolis before installation in the niche. I won a prize in sculpture at the John Herron Art Museum in a juried exhibition The $150 prize paid for the round trip and for the clay, the cements, marble dust etc., and brought back the approval of the jury.”
Among the Sculpture on Campus Installed in the 1940s:
Works by Eugene Kormendi:
Law School Building – “St. Thomas More”; “Christ the King” [due to deterioration, these two statues were disposed of during the 2010 construction of the Law School addition]
Alumni Hall – “The Graduate”
Dillon Hall – “Commodore Barry”
Lyons Hall Arch – “St. Joseph with Lilly”
Morrissey Hall – “St. Andrew”
Rockne Memorial Entrance – “St. Christopher”
St. Liam Hall Infirmary – “The Good Shepherd”; “St. Raphael the Archangel”
Works by Rev. John J. Bednar, CSC
Alumni Hall Courtyard – “St. Thomas Aquinas”; “St. Bonaventure with Cardinal’s Hat”
Dillon Hall – “St. Augustine, Bishop” (courtyard); “St. Jerome”; “Cardinal Newman, Scholar” (above west doorway)
Basilica of the Sacred Heart – “St. Joan of Arc”; “St. Michael Archangel”
Works by James Kress (Detroit)
Howard Hall – “St. Timothy”
Sources:
GBED 1/01 [photographs and letter from Bednar to Parent]
Scholastic
GNDS 24/49
GJJC 1/36