{"id":852,"date":"2011-05-21T00:46:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T04:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archives.nd.edu\/about\/news\/?p=852"},"modified":"2011-05-21T00:46:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-21T04:46:58","slug":"the-minim-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/the-minim-department\/","title":{"rendered":"The Minim Department"},"content":{"rendered":" <\/a>
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For nearly ninety years, Notre Dame consisted of three departments:\u00a0 Senior (collegiate, ages 17+), Junior (preparatory, ages 12-17), and Minim (grammar school, under the age of 12).\u00a0 It was possible to arrive at Notre Dame at the age of six and not leave until after graduating from the Senior Department at the age of twenty-two.\u00a0 Or, as in the case of Jimmy Edwards<\/a>, some never left.\u00a0 For some years, the University Bulletins listed the ages of students enrolled at Notre Dame [see the Student Index<\/a>].\u00a0 The earliest age listed is Roscoe Clarke of Denver, Colorado, at 3 \u00bd years old in 1893.<\/p>\n

Lay women were in charge of the education and care of the Minims until the Sisters of the Holy Cross took over in 1863.\u00a0 During the 1860s-1870s, the number of students in the Minim Department generally hovered around thirty to forty students.\u00a0 With growing numbers, St. Edward’s Hall became their home in 1882.\u00a0 In 1883, the number of the Minim Department finally reached an enrollment of one hundred students and was the cause of much celebration at Notre Dame.\u00a0 With no coincidence, the celebration was planned for November 24, the forty-first anniversary of the arrival of Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, at Notre Dame.\u00a0 Fr. Sorin looked fondly upon the boys and their accomplishments and enthusiasm.\u00a0 He often spoiled them with special treats such as oranges and candy and they heartily honored Fr. Sorin on Founder’s Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, with a group of Minims, the “Princes of St. Edward’s Hall,” c1880s-1890s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The three departments of students at Notre Dame operated mostly independently of one another.\u00a0 However, on such a small campus, they were quite aware of each others’ activities.\u00a0 In 1867, its first year of publication, Scholastic <\/em>had the following comments about the Minim Department:\u00a0 “They are now fully organized, and apparently depend on none of their Senior associates except for regular<\/em> meals, which they continue to take with the Juniors. … [O]therwise they have literally nothing to do with the other students.\u00a0 They would not allow anyone to infringe upon their grounds or rights…\u00a0 They are at times rather a noisy little nation, especially since music is taught them upon their own premises; the splendid piano which as been placed there for their exclusive use, is seldom silent” [Scholastic<\/em>, 09\/21\/1867, page 4].\u00a0 Teasing the Minims on their favored status with Fr. Sorin, the author of the column joked that if the boys acted up, they could be sent to another boys school in Indiana.<\/p>\n

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Cornet Band with a few Minim members, 1869<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sports and physical activities played an important part in all of the students’ lives, and the Minims were no exception.\u00a0 They played most of the same sports as their older counterparts, including football, baseball, and track.\u00a0 They also held gymnastic expositions and participated various races around campus.\u00a0 They had their own play halls, fields and equipment.\u00a0 However, the Minims often proved to be valiant opponents against the Junior Department and area teams such as South Bend Junior High.<\/p>\n

[photoshelter-img i_id=”I00001vd7HlXCTq4″ buy=”1″ caption=”Minim students with bicycles on Main Quad with Main Building Dome in the background, 1892..Photo by Rev. Alexander Kirsch, CSC)” width=”576″ height=”367″]<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Minim football team, 1911<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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When not playing themselves, Minims were known as the most spirited fans and eternal optimists of Notre Dame athletics — “the hearty embodiment of the Notre Dame spirit.”<\/p>\n

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1912 Dome yearbook feature page on the Minims<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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With the influence of the vision of Rev. John Zahm, CSC, Notre Dame began to move toward the more modern model of a university at the beginning of the twentieth century.\u00a0 This modern plan did not include boarding schools for boys.\u00a0 The Junior Preparatory Department was eliminated in 1922 and the Minim Department ended\u00a0in 1929.\u00a0 Upon the closing of the Minim Department, Scholastic<\/em> issued this parting tribute:\u00a0 “No more will [St. Edward’s Hall] be the haven of the youngsters who have been in such close touch with the University since the beginning of its existence.\u00a0 No more will the Sophomore Hallers be treated to the sight of aspiring embryonic All-Americans staging their gridiron battles on the Minims’ field.\u00a0 The school has been done away with; the Sisters have taken up their work in other parts of the country; and old Brother Cajetan who had charge of St. Edward’s is dead.” [Scholastic<\/em>, 09\/20\/1929, page 10].<\/p>\n

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Sources:
\nScholastic<\/em>
\nDome<\/em> yearbook
\nGNDL 20\/05<\/a>
\nGSBA 1\/14<\/a>
\nGGPP 2\/04<\/a>
\nGNDS 9\/01<\/a><\/p>\n

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For nearly ninety years, Notre Dame consisted of three departments:\u00a0 Senior (collegiate, ages 17+), Junior (preparatory, ages 12-17), and Minim (grammar school, under the age of 12).\u00a0 It was possible to arrive at Notre Dame at the age of six and not leave until after graduating from the Senior Department at the age of twenty-two.\u00a0 … Continue reading “The Minim Department”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nd-history","tag-student-life"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 05:52:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}