Collection highlights, news about acquisitions, events and exhibits, and behind-the-scenes looks at the work and services of Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) at Notre Dame.
This edition includes for the first time a scathing attack on the Protestant Reformation by Gabriel de Saconay (1527-1580), which elicited a reply from Jean Calvin. In his preface, Saconay offers a polemical summary of the previous 45 years, including discussions concerning Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli.
Also reproduced in the preface are letters by Erasmus and St. John Fisher concerning the work, as well as a letter from Pope Leo X that appeared in the preface of the first edition.
We have identified only six other North American holdings of this edition.
In observance of LGBTQ Pride Month, Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to highlight the recently acquired Gay Rodeo Ephemera Collection (MSSP 10128). Containing programs, posters, fliers, and other printed material, the collection documents the history of rodeo organizations and rodeo events by and for LGBTQ people.
Souvenir Program, 2nd Annual Golden State Cowboys Round Up.
One of the earliest organized groups of gay rodeo enthusiasts was the California-based Golden State Cowboys (GSC) founded in 1969. In the introduction to the 1972 Souvenir Rodeo Program for the 2nd Annual Golden State Cowboys Round Up (MSSP 10128-01), GSC President Ernie Wilbanks described the group’s early history and explained the organization’s mission:
“Admittedly, we have had problems and growing pains but we have never lost our self respect and hopefully can become an even greater source of community pride. Without a goal no race is ever won and we believe the same criteria can apply to an organization without a purpose. Our purpose is one of friendship in performing those facets of service to our community that promote the honor and acceptance of our fellow man.”
Images of social events and activities from the Golden State Cowboys 1972 program.
A relatively small social organization for fans of rodeo and rodeo culture, the Golden State Cowboys folded by about 1976. Other organizations soon sprung up in the late 1970s and early 1980s—particularly in Nevada, California, and Colorado—that sponsored some of the first rodeos that explicitly featured and celebrated LGBTQ rodeo participants.
Although originating in the Western United States, organized gay rodeos slowly spread around the country. One of the earlier significant gay rodeos was held in New York City in Madison Square Garden on Saturday, October 1, 1983. Sponsored by the pioneering gay rights organization, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc., the “World’s Toughest Rodeo” was an AIDS Benefit fundraiser (MSSP 10128-002).
The cover of the program for the World’s Toughest Rodeo (left), and page 5 (right) with the following dedication: “We dedicate this special evening to the memory of our many loved ones who have died and to the lovers, families, and friends who have endured these losses. We salute their courageous spirit and extend our continued support. Unity has given us this strength.”
Paul Popham, the President of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc., described the purpose of community-building activities like the “World’s Toughest Rodeo” in the program for the event:
“What emerged as a horrifying disease that sapped our physical strength has resulted in newly-found strength in other areas. We have discovered communal strength, spiritual strength, and political strength. We find that we are truly more powerful than we had ever dreamed. By transcending the various social boundaries that kept us apart as strangers, we find that we are not only a nation, but an entire world of brothers, sisters, and friends.
A battle it has been and continues to be. But as we march, in greater numbers, and with greater courage, love, and hope, our victory seems more possible with every step.”
Gay rodeos increased in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in the founding of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) in 1985. The IGRA sponsored the first International Gay Finals Rodeo competition in Hayward, California, in September 1987. RBSC’s Gay Rodeo Ephemera Collection includes a production copy of the poster for the inaugural IGRA championships (MSSP 10128-08-F2).
The collection includes other programs, posters, and pieces of ephemera that demonstrate the proliferation of gay rodeos. The holdings include, for example, a poster for the 1994 12th Annual Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeo sponsored by the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association (MSSP 10128-09-F2) and the program for the 1996 North Star Regional Rodeo and Great Northern Shindig in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, sponsored by the North Star Gay Rodeo Association (MSSP 10128-06). As seen on these two items, the newfound popularity of gay rodeos attracted corporate sponsors that helped to fund these events.
The Gay Rodeo Ephemera Collection is open and available to researchers. RBSC welcomes new donations to expand the contents of this important collection.
In honor of Asian / Pacific American Heritage Month, we are pleased to highlight the recently acquired bookHawai hōjin yakyūshi : yakyū ippyakunensai kinen—titled in English, The Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii. Written by Rev. Chinpei P. Goto in 1940, this prolifically illustrated 772-page book chronicles the history of baseball played by Japanese and Japanese-American athletes in Hawaii. Featuring nearly 100 pages of photographs and engravings, the book exhaustively documents the history of Japanese-Hawaiian baseball.
Chinpei P. Goto was born in Iwate-Ken, Japan in 1887, and he immigrated to Hawaii with his parents in 1899. Soon after arriving, Goto attracted attention as a talented baseball player, particularly with the Asahi club, one of the earliest successful Japanese teams in Hawaii. He would remain associated with the game in his adopted home for the rest of his life, and, after his playing days, he became a tireless baseball booster and historian.
Asahi Baseball team in about 1906. Chinpei Goto sits in the front row on the left.
He first published a history of the sport in 1919 in his book Hawai hōjin yakyūshi—English title Japanese Balldom of Hawaii. He wrote this updated second edition, Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii, in conjunction with the reputed 1939 centennial of the invention of baseball. Renowned for his knowledge of the sport on the islands, his obituary on the front page of the March 13, 1954 Honolulu Star Bulletin called him simply “the father of Japanese Baseball in Hawaii.”
Oversize foldout picture, depicting “scenes at initial game of Honolulu Japanese Baseball League, March 4, 1923.”
In his Introduction to Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii, Goto wrote that on the ball field there was no “distinction… between a millionaire or an ordinary worker,” and, he argued, “in this commonality lies the ideal of true democracy.” He emphasized the importance of the sport to both American and Japanese societies. He explained that he hoped his book would “raise awareness of the nation’s culture” and wanted to see “Hawaiian baseball… continue to flourish.”
Inter-Island Japanese Baseball Championship, c. 1920.
In the book’s foreword, Tadaoki Yamamoto, a Japanese Olympic Team official and a leader in the YMCA movement, praised baseball as “a wonderful and eternal bridge” that “connects the hearts of the people of our nation to the people of the United States with Hawaii as its base.” [All approximate translations provided by the author and any mistakes are mine].
Kaneohe Japanese YMA Baseball Team, Jan. 29, 1939.
Goto’s two remarkable history books are responsible for much of our knowledge of Japanese baseball in Hawaii, and they are still essential reading for any student of this topic. Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii features plentiful images of important and noteworthy baseball teams, players, and administrators dating back to the nineteenth century.
Honolulu Professional Baseball Team, c. 1916.Two-page spread featuring images of prominent Japanese baseball players in Hawaii.
These publications were funded in part by patrons who purchased advertisements to support Goto’s historical writing. As a testament to the importance of baseball to the Japanese-American community in Hawaii, a wide range of business bought advertisements, including daily newspapers, beauty salons, and service stations.
Examples of advertisements that supported the publication of Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii.
Chinpei Goto (standing left) and family in 1939.
Goto converted to Christianity as a young man, and he was eventually ordained as a Methodist minister. He founded and led several churches in Hawaii during the inter-war period. Throughout his life he was known on the islands both for his encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and for his compassionate ministries. If you would like to learn more about the long history of Japanese baseball in Hawaii, Rev. Chinpei P. Goto’s Japanese Baseballdom of Hawaii is available to all researchers.
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Tuesday, May 13 at 1:30pm | “Potawatomi in Un/Expected Places: Archives, Stories, and the Native American Initiative of Notre Dame” by Zada Ballew.
Last year, Ballew spent nine months at Hesburgh Library researching on behalf of the Native American Initiative (NAI) of Notre Dame. Her goal was to better understand the role that Indigenous peoples have played in the founding and shaping of Notre Dame’s history. What she found surprised her in ways that she didn’t expect. In this talk, she will share some of the most important findings with the people who helped make this work possible.
Presented by the Professional Development Committee (PDC) of Hesburgh Libraries.
Thursday, May 15 at 3:00pm | Hesburgh Libraries’ 2024-2025 Rare Books and Special Collections Postdoctoral Fellow Anne Elise Crafton (MI PhD ‘24) will discuss the major research and collections project they completed during their postdoc year. Crafton catalogued over 270 previously undescribed medieval and early modern documents in the Hesburgh Libraries’ collection. They will discuss the challenges and discoveries which emerged from the project and reflect on the intensive work of making the hitherto unknown documents accessible for scholars, students, and faculty at Notre Dame and beyond.
There are currently no events scheduled to be hosted in June or July.
The exhibition Tragedies of War: Images of WWII in Print Visual Culture runs through the summer and closes in late July. Learn more about the exhibit in this video, and plan your visit this summer.
The current spotlight exhibit is Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers (January – May 2025). In May, we will install spotlights highlighting Medieval charters (May – August 2025) and Medieval homiletics (May – July 2025) from our collections.
Rare Books and Special Collections is open regular hours during the summer.
RBSC will be closed Monday, May 26, for Memorial Day and Friday, July 4th, for Independence Day.
Thursday, April 22 at 4:30pm | Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Program commemorating the victims of Holocaust and featuring a live performance of “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Lori Laitman, performed by Anne Slovin (Soprano, University of Notre Dame) and Jason Gresl (Clarinet, Saint Mary’s College).
The Spring 2025 Exhibition — Tragedies of War: Images of World War II in Print Visual Culture — is now open and runs through the end of July. Based predominantly on recently acquired Rare Books and Special Collections European holdings, the exhibition commemorates the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) and will explore a diverse assortment of themes including Fascist Racial Ideology, the Holocaust, Children in War, Resistance, Liberation, and Memories of War.
Curated by Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), Jean McManus (Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives) and Julia Schneider (German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries).
The current spotlight exhibit is Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers (January–April 2025). In 1980, the University of Notre Dame became the first major university to boycott Campbell Soup products in support of Midwestern farmworkers represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, OH). In a few short months, a small and dedicated cohort of students tapped into a growing movement and convinced the campus to act in solidarity.
Curated by Emiliano Aguilar (Assistant Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies).
Rare Books and Special Collections will be closed April 18 in observance of Good Friday.
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to showcase this recently-catalogued item, Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland. This journal was published sporadically between 1935-36 by an organization called Na Fianna Éireann—also known as the Boy Scouts of Ireland. The goal of the publication was to rekindle a spirit of patriotism in a new generation of Irish youth. It featured songs, poetry, and prose in English and Irish; biographical sketches of republican heroes and martyrs; patriotic editorials that focused on the glorious past; essays on the joys and benefits of camping; and updates on the various sluaite (troops) across the country. Hesburgh Libraries houses the only complete run of this extremely scarce publication in which, among other things, 13-year-old Brendan Behan saw his first articles in print.
Background
Legendary member of the Fianna, Oisín, tells St. Patrick about the deeds of his father, Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Ua Concheanainn, Tomás. Fianna Éireann. Brún agus Ó Nólláin, n.d.
Na Fianna Éireann was founded in 1909 by Countess Constance Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson to create an Irish nationalist alternative to British uniformed youth groups like the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts (from which the Boy Scouts of America would later be formed). Taking its name from the Fianna, the legendary band of warriors in ancient Irish mythology, the young members of Na Fianna Éireann were provided with both military training and a nationalist education, emphasizing the importance of Irish language, history, and cultural traditions.1 Although generally aged between eight and seventeen years, these boys were prepared, mentally and physically, to make the ultimate sacrifice for Ireland.2
Due to the military nature of Na Fianna Éireann, however, controversies regarding the role of girls in the organization quickly arose. Even though Countess Markievicz, one of Ireland’s most famous woman activists, was a founding member of the Fianna, the annual Ard-Fheis (National Convention) of 1912 voted to make the organization open to boys only.3
RBSC has a copy of the 1924 Fianna Handbook, revised and expanded from the original 1914 version. Special Collections Rare Books Small DA 954 .F53 192
Members of Na Fianna Éireann were also involved in the production and distribution of Irish nationalist publications, including the 1914 Fianna Handbookand a monthly newspaper, Fianna, which first appeared in February 1915 and ran until Easter 1916. British authorities included this work in a list of publications that they considered to be disseminating “seditious propaganda.” Although the publication contained mostly innocuous fiction, poetry, jokes, historical essays, and a monthly column on folklore written in Irish, it is apparent that British authorities were aware of the nationalist undertones of the contents and likely of Na Fianna Éireann itself.4
Detail from page 29. Drill terms in Irish from Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland, 1935. These terms were in use from the time of the founding of Na Fianna Éireann.
Current and former Fianna participated in the 1916 Easter Rising, and the organization later worked alongside the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence (1919-21). As with the broader republican movement, Na Fianna Éireann experienced internal divisions over the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, ultimately taking an anti-Treaty stance (Pro-Treaty members having left the group). The ensuing Irish Civil War (1922-23) nearly destroyed Na Fianna Éireann, as membership numbers collapsed, and many leaders and affiliates were killed or imprisoned. After the Civil War, Countess Markiewicz once again revived her beloved organization, though with a fundamental change in philosophy that disassociated the children’s group from any actual military activity. Instead, they became an independent, non-political, civilian group focused on educating and training young boys to be good Irish citizens.5 Theirs, however, was still to be a republican education.
Revival of Fianna
Revitalizing Na Fianna Éireann proved difficult, as the Free State government did not buy into the notion that the group was truly non-political; thus, in 1931, the IRA and the Fianna were declared illegal organizations. Na Fianna Éireann also faced competition from other youth organizations, especially the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland founded in 1927, but membership did continue to increase each year. When Éamon de Valera and his Fianna Fáil party gained power in 1932, and freed republican prisoners and suspended the Act proscribing Na Fianna Éireann, membership exploded across the country.
Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland, vol 1., no. 1 (October 1935)
High-ranking officials in the organization decided to revive the Fianna journal for a new generation of youth. With the help of poet Norah O’Kane of Derry, they published the first issue of Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland in October 1935.6 Serving and former members of Na Fianna Éireann who died in the Easter Rising were praised and promoted as role models in historical essays, and contributors like young Brendan Behan provided wonder tales and heroic biographies of their own.
Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland June 1936, page 130; and Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland, July-August 1936, page 148
Interestingly, despite its continued existence as a boys-only organization, this incarnation of Fianna devoted as much space in its columns to the past and present contributions of women to the nationalist cause, reprinting the works of—and offering tributes to—Rose Kavanagh, Alice Milligan, Countess Markievicz, Anna Johnston (AKA Ethne Carbery) and several others, while issuing regular reports on the activities of Cumann na mBan, Cumann na gCailíní, Cumann na Gael, and Mná na Poblachta. Since one of the leading editors was Norah O’Kane, one might perceive her guidance, and potentially even the primacy of her input, in these choices.7
Detail from Fianna: The Voice of Young Ireland, July-August, 1936, page 137.
Na Fianna Éireann was made illegal in the Free State in the summer of 1936, along with other Republican organizations, and Fianna was shuttered after the July-August issue. The proscription of this journal and its sponsoring organization, along with its association with a children’s cause, may have led to its scarcity in the historical record. Yet, it offers much to researchers interested in the under-studied topics of women’s and children’s contributions to Irish independence. Notre Dame is excited to house this rare publication, and we hope that you will visit Rare Books and Special Collections to see more of this fascinating periodical, and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Women’s History Month at the same time.
2. At age eighteen the Fianna would ‘graduate’ into the Irish Volunteers military group or, after 1919, the IRA.
3. Some girls joined the Clann na Gael Girl Scouts, an auxiliary to the Hibernian Rifles. When Cumann na mBan (League of Women) was formed in 1914 as an auxiliary to the Irish Volunteers, many of the young women who joined were former Fianna. It was not until 1930 that Cumann na mBan established their own republican scouting organization for girls, Cumann na gCailíní, or the Irish National Girl Scouts. See: Hay, Na Fianna Éireann, 11-12.
4. The organization later revived the journal Fianna—in 1921 and 1926—but it shuttered after one issue each time.
5. See John R. Watts, “Na Fianna Éireann: A Case Study of a Political Youth Organization,” PhD Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1981. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/1907/
6. Many boys had fathers who served in the British army during WWI, so it was necessary to indoctrinate them into the republican cause. For more on the editors of Fianna see: S.G. O’Kelly, “I Knew the Real Brendan Behan,” in Irish Digest, vol. 78, No. 12, 1964, 67-70.
7. Note the masthead, unlike previous iterations of the journal, depicts a girl opposite a young boy scout. Also, the inclusion of all women’s groups is especially interesting, as Mná na Poblachta had recently split from Cumann na mBan on political lines. This lack of an editorial preference for which group to highlight in its pages is telling. The Fianna were still referring to Cumann na gCailíní as their female counterpart in 1964 and finally began to accept girls as members in 1968–69.
We join the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history by celebrating Women’s History Month.
Rare Books and Special Collections recently acquired a small collection of mostly printed materials of the National Woman’s Party (NWP) and its short-lived precursor, the Congressional Union (CU). Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, CU’s founders, believed the mainstream National American Woman Suffrage Association’s methods were neither effective nor aggressive enough. Paul and Burns engaged in militant (non-violent) protest—like picketing the White House—to bring attention to women’s suffrage. By 1916 the NWP had formed in states where women had won the right to vote. It was the first women’s political party and had a single plank: immediate passage of a suffrage amendment to the Constitution.
After passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the NWP turned to campaigns for women’s full and equal rights at home and abroad. The party championed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution and opposed any legislation that constrained women’s choices in the labor market.
“The Woman’s Party and the Minimum Wage for Women” flyer, circa 1923.
Protective labor legislation, put into place beginning in the first decade of the twentieth century, safeguarded women from exploitative working conditions. The NWP argued that by restricting the number of hours a woman could work, for example, these laws kept women from competing for the better-paying positions held by men, whose hours were not restricted. Although these arguments did not make much headway during the 1920s, by the 1930s and after World War II, as the job market and women’s place in it changed, the NWP’s campaigns helped dismantle gender-based restrictions on women’s labor.
“Feminist Leaders From Other Lands Conferring At Woman’s Party Headquarters,” Equal Rights, 1924.Equal Rights, 1937.The NWP’s international focus.
The NWP also stressed the importance of creating international ties among women and raising the status of women everywhere. The party formed an international organization and worked for gender equality in the League of Nations and later, the United Nations. The 1937 issue shown here, for example, included news and reports on women from Ireland, the Philippines, Mexico, and in the legal codes of Hinduism and Vedicism, in addition to the United States.
The NWP gained some political traction for the ERA in the immediate postwar period, bringing the amendment to a vote in the Senate in 1946. Ultimately, however, the party was unable to secure the measure’s passage. In a notable political success, the NWP helped ensure that the wording of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin) included women in its purview. The NWP operated as a political action committee until 1997.
“Equal Rights Amendment Reaches Vote In Senate, July 19, 1946,” Equal Rights, 1946.
Always a small vanguard of feminist women, the NWP’s forceful tactics and focus on women’s equality in the United States and around the world made it one of the most important political and social organizations of the twentieth century.
This collection holds a variety of printed formats: flyers, pamphlets, brochures, programs, a publicity photograph, and a long, although incomplete, run of the NWP’s magazine, Equal Rights—from 1924 to 1951. While the magazine is partially available online (see the Hathi Trust catalog record), access to physical copies in RBSC enhances researchers’ experience of these records.
Friday, March 28 at 5:00pm | Faith in Action: Solidarity with Regional Migrant Farmworkers — view the RBSC Spotlight Exhibit, “Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers,” and join a robust conversation afterward with curator Dr. Emiliano Aguilar (Assistant Professor in the Department of History). After viewing the exhibit, visitors will gather in room 125 for refreshments and discussion.
The Spring 2025 Exhibition — Tragedies of War: Images of World War II in Print Visual Culture — will open shortly and runs through the end of July 2025. Based predominantly on recently acquired Rare Books and Special Collections European holdings, the exhibition commemorates the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) and will explore a diverse assortment of themes including Fascist Racial Ideology, the Holocaust, Children in War, Resistance, Liberation, and Memories of War.
Curated by Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), Jean McManus (Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives) and Julia Schneider (German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries).
The current spotlight exhibit is Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers (January–April 2025). In 1980, the University of Notre Dame became the first major university to boycott Campbell Soup products in support of Midwestern farmworkers represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, OH). In a few short months, a small and dedicated cohort of students tapped into a growing movement and convinced the campus to act in solidarity.
Curated by Emiliano Aguilar (Assistant Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies).
Special Collections is open regular hours during Notre Dame’s Spring Break (March 10-14).
We join with The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
Remembering the Harrisburg Trojans, Champion African American Football Team
In recognition of Black History Month and in conjunction with the upcoming Super Bowl, Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to highlight the recent acquisition of a unique vintage homemade fan poster about the Harrisburg Trojans.
Although mostly forgotten today, the Trojans were one of the best African American football teams in the World War Two-era and the winner of the unofficial “World Negro Football Championship” in 1941. This 28-inch by 22-inch poster made by an unknown fan in about 1945 celebrates the accomplishments of the Trojans and provides a rare insight into fan culture around African American sports teams during the era of segregation.
Willie Moon
Founded in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1938, the Trojans were composed mainly of African American athletes who had played high school football in the region, and they quickly developed a reputation as a talented team. The Trojans attracted considerable press coverage and routinely drew big crowds for the high quality of their play against both white and African American semi-pro, amateur, and professional teams.
The Trojans regularly competed at the highest levels of African American football. On Sunday, November 2, 1941, for example, the New York Brown Bombers, one of the best and most well-known African American teams in the country, visited Harrisburg and played the Trojans in a game billed as the “World Negro Football Championship.”
Lunch Atwell
In a thrilling and hard-fought game, the Trojans upset the favored Brown Bombers 12 to 7 to claim the title of best Black football team in the country. Willie Moon was the star for Harrisburg, accounting for all of the Trojans’ points. In the second quarter, Moon blocked a Brown Bombers’ punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Trailing 7-6, late in the fourth quarter, Harrisburg’s Lunch Atwell recovered a Brown Bombers fumble on a punt return to set up more heroics by Moon. With one minute left in the game, Moon made a leaping catch in the end zone of a 22-yard pass by Sammy Greene for the game-winning touchdown.
The local Harrisburg Telegraph newspaper (November 3, 1941, page 12) described the action:
When Willie Moon rose up in back of the goal line to snare a long forward pass for a touchdown, in the waning minutes of play, the Harrisburg Trojans football team yesterday beat the highly-touted New York Brown Bombers, 12 to 7, and cinched the World’s Negro football championship.
Moon’s spectacular leap into the air for the pass thrown diagonally across the field by Sammy Greene, was the climax of one of the most thrilling grid battles seen here for a long while, and it was also a signal for hundreds of the more than 4000 persons in the stands to rush onto the playing field at Island Park to congratulate the ultimate victors.
Sammy Greene
In 1942 and 1943, the strong Washington Lions team visited Harrisburg to challenge the Trojans for the “Negro Football Championship.” In 1942, the two teams played to a 7-7 tie, and, the following year, the Lions beat Harrisburg 8-0 to earn the title.
The Trojans’ financial and administrative affairs were handled in these years by business manager Ned R. Givens and promoter William E. “Bud” Marshall. The Trojans continued playing each fall through about the 1950 season.
Unusually, although the players on the Trojans were predominantly African American, the team added white players to its roster for both the 1942 and 1945 seasons. In 1942, the Trojans fielded white players Dusan “Duke” Maronic—who would go on to play in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1944 through 1950—and John Krovic. In 1945, the team included white players Andy Anderson and Bob Sostar.
Years after, Duke Maronic recalled his time with the Trojans: “Later, I played for the Harrisburg Trojans. They were an all-Negro team. I was the only white guy on the Team. I never gave much thought to it. Neither did the black guys, but once in a while one of the opponents would make a remark.”
George House, Ernest McLaughlin, and John McLaughlin
Besides old clippings from the 1930s and 1940s in central Pennsylvania newspapers or in the African American press, however, there is little available information about the Harrisburg Trojans. Fortunately for researchers, the anonymous creator of this remarkable fan poster has preserved an exceedingly rare source about the Trojans.
Phil Mason
On a piece of black cardboard underneath a heading that reads “1938-Harrisburg Trojans-1945,” the unknown fan has pasted clippings from a promotional pamphlet written and published by business manager Givens. Except for these extracts, there are apparently no other known extant copies of Givens’s pamphlet. It is also unknown if the publication originally included more material than is seen here.
In a clipping from the poster about the history of the team, Givens wrote that the Trojans’
“… policy always was and still is, to play the best teams that they could get, and they never asked anyone for favors or setups. This team was organized in 1938, as one body of athletes, clean living, clean sportsmanship, and sport loving lads. In order to do this, many sacrifices have been made by these boys. Through the guidance of Bill Simpson, Phil Mason and Lewis Carlton they were recognized as one of the most outstanding Negro Professional football teams in the United States.”
Coach Vince Whiting
The poster features rare images and short bios from Givens’s pamphlet about 17 different men who played for the Trojans. The pictures capture talented and serious African American football players ready for action. And the remarkable piece of fan art provides a glimpse into the significance of African American sports teams during the mid-twentieth century and the way in which at least one fan related to the Trojans.
In his pamphlet, Givens concluded his brief historical summary of the team by writing: “And to the boys who are now playing as members of the Trojan team, and to those who have played, I dedicate this book.”
Today, we remember and celebrate the accomplishments of the Harrisburg Trojans and dedicate this post to their legacy.
Hesburgh Libraries has recently acquired the second “issue” of the first edition (1621) of Antonio Daza’s Libro de la Purissima Concepcion de la Madre de Dios (Madrid, 1628), an important early printed defense of the doctrine of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Daza, a Spanish Regular Observant Franciscan, published this vernacular work during the height of the controversy between Franciscans and Dominicans over the orthodoxy of these views.
“The Friars Minor confirmed in 1621 the election of the Immaculate Mother as patron of the order, and bound themselves by oath to teach the mystery in public and in private. The Dominicans, however, were under special obligation to follow the doctrines of St. Thomas, and the common conclusion was that St. Thomas was opposed to the Immaculate Conception. Therefore, the Dominicans asserted that the doctrine was an error against faith (John of Montesono, 1373); although they adopted the feast, they termed it persistently “Sanctificatio B. M. V.” not “Conceptio”…, until in 1622 Gregory XV abolished the term “sanctificatio”. Paul V (1617) decreed that no one should teach publicly that Mary was conceived in original sin, and Gregory XV (1622) imposed absolute silence (in scriptis et sermonibus etiam privatis) upon the adversaries of the doctrine until the Holy See should define the question.”
Daza draws on a fascinating array of evidence, including a 14-month old infant who sang the verses of the Immaculate Conception (f. 90) and the Virgin Mary’s intercession in “regular” conception and ensuring healthy births among devotees (f. 93). Chapter XIII, “De la obediencia y respeto que tienen los demonios a la inmaculada Concepcion de la Virgen; y como conjurados por la virtud deste misterio han salido de los cuerpos humanos, confessando su limpieza” (ff. 107-114) contains accounts of demoniacal possession (generally of women) cured by the intercession of the Virgin Mary; a telling feature of these exorcisms was that the demons “confessed” to Mary’s freedom from sin as they exited their hosts. The following Chapter XIV points out divine punishments imposed on those who have historically spoken against the Immaculate Conception.
We have found only 1 other North American library holding of this second issue (at the Biblioteca Nacional Mexico) and only 4 holdings worldwide.
