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1. Sisters and pupils at St. Henry's School, Perham, Minnesota

Creator:
Wetzel, Conrad Jr.
Date Created:
1880?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Perham marks the beginning of the Lake Park region of Minnesota. In 1873 the town was platted by the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Land Company and named after Josiah Perham, the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The early businesses were the Glove Milling company and the Schmidt Wagon Works. Within ten years the Catholic community developed a school system, at one time having the three following Catholic schools in the area: 1.) St. Henry's - the Benedictine sisters opened a school in a section of the convent but when the enrollment increased, the former public school and a harness shop were utilized; enrollment there reached a peak of 269 pupils with 5-6 sisters teaching in subsequent years. 2.) St. Joseph - the Benedictine sisters began teaching in a district school (Ottertail County), three miles from Perham. (In 1885 St. Benedict's Convent built a large dwelling there intended to serve as a sisters' health resort; instead, it became the residence for the 5 sisters at St. Joseph's School. The dwelling was later sold for $1,100.) 3.) St. Stanislaus - in 1902, the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph's also staffed this small school but three years later it closed because only 38 students enrolled. However, the pastor reopened it seven years later and the Polish-speaking Felician sisters staffed it for another twenty years (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

2. Student sewing room, St. Benedict's Academy, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
St. John's University Photographic Studio, Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1886 - 1889
Description:
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909; St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. Some of St. Benedict's Academy students in this sewing class are identified as follows: (at the sewing machines:) the Chester twins and Agnes Kalscha; (at the end of the table:) Christainson and Dorothy Hoesch. The academy catalogues of the 1880s included sewing, ornamental needlework and needle-point lace, and various handcrafts in vogue at the time, such as making wax fruit, muslim and wax flowers, and hair wreaths (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

3. Assumption School, Eden Valley, Minnesota

Creator:
Steinman, R.
Date Created:
1901 - 1902?
Description:
Schools in North-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Eden Valley was platted in 1886 when the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company laid their tracks through the area, Eden Valley developed rather rapidly. By 1901 three Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph went there to teach in temporary classrooms until the new parochial school was completed in 1902. Eventually the enrollment peaked at 310 with 8 sisters teaching at the Assumption School. Watkins The same year, the neighboring town of Watkins was platted along the same railroad. By 1907 the Catholic parish, St. Anthony's, in Watkins was large enough to build its own parochial school. The Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph were invited to teach there and the school soon realized an enrollment of 200 pupils. In subsequent years, the school developed to a peak of 321 students and for some years included high school classes (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, Olsenius, page 137).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

4. Sister Borgia Knelleken in the Animal Laboratory at St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Creator:
St. Cloud Edition Our Sunday Vivitor
Date Created:
1940 - 1949
Description:
Because Sister Borgia was willing to take on any task asked of her, she responded to Dr. Page E. Stangl's (pathologist) request to help him set up a laboratory of animals for research. She called herself the zoo-keeper and worked with this project in her quiet, unassuming way for 39 years--first in crowded conditions among the offices on 6th floor of the hospital and then in the seclusion of the sub-basement.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

5. Teachers and pupils at the first school built by Father Francis Pierz, Pierz, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1872?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Father Francis Pierz invited the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph to teach in Pierz where he and his parishioners had begun building a school in 1869. The school had not been completed by the time the sisters came in 1871, so they lived with some of the parishioners until the upstairs of the log school house was completed as the sisters' convent. The school on the first floor accommodated 100 pupils. For the sisters, this was a first experience of staffing a rural school and living at such a distance from the motherhouse. However, rural schools mushroomed quickly throughout the Northwest Territory. By 1910, the sisters staffed over 40 such schools outside St. Cloud and the Twin Cities area. Needless to say, the teachers endured many hardships in these rural areas. If they were lucky, equipment consisted of desks and a piece of blackboard. Attendance was variable and classrooms were overcrowded (sometimes 80 in one small room). At times there were no classrooms other than the church, the church basement or sacristy. Cold and hunger prevailed and the ever-present hostile controversy of public versus parochial schools affected school discipline. Salaries were sparse or even non-existent (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives ; McDonald, pages 68-69).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

6. Teachers and pupils at first St. Michael's School, Buckman, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1888?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). In 1887, Sisters Clara Billig and Appolonia Jensen began teaching in this one-room parish/district school and convent in Buckman. A combination parochial-district school continued there without opposition for at least another 50 years (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

7. Students from the White Earth Indian Reservation attending St. Benedict's Industrial School, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1884 - 1886
Description:
St. Benedict's Industrial School was established in 1884 when St. Benedict's Convent contracted with the U.S. government, through the Catholic Indian Bureau, for support of 30 girls from the White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Since St. Benedict's Convent had sent sisters to teach at the White Earth mission in 1878, recruitment contacts could easily be made. However, the parents were reluctant to have their daughters leave home and the children did not take to the rigors and formalities of institutional life and education. As a result of the resistance of the Ojibwe, most of the students who came from the reservation were of not fully native but of mixed white and Indian blood. Thus, the sisters inadvertently became a part of the suppressive system which disregarded the spirit and culture of the American Indians. "The federal government, aided by church-sponsored missionaries, marched steadily toward its goal of assimilation for Indians. The drive was particularly strong between the 1880s and the 1930s. Their aim was detribalization, individualization and 'Americanization' of the American Indian." (Berg, p. 159) In the boarding schools, students, taken from their homes, were given a new wardrobe, new language and a whole new way of life. It is not surprising that before the turn of the century the government rescinded the contract system. But it has taken almost another century and the experience of assimilating peoples of different cultures for the American people to begin to appreciate the enrichment that multicultural living can offer. (SBMA, McDonald, pages 120-122 and Sister Carol Berg, OSB, "Agents of Cultural Change: the Benedictines in White Earth," Minnesota History, winter 1982, page 159).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

8. St. Mary's Hospital, Duluth, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1888
Description:
In 1887, two years after starting a hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, St. John's Abbey gave the sisters the minor seminary which was part of the monks' St. Clement Priory building complex of church, rectory and school in Duluth. Encouraged by the success of their hospital in St. Cloud, the sisters converted the seminary to a hospital and named it St. Mary's Hospital (2nd building on the right ). The hospital was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Benedictine sisters in Duluth when they branched off from St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN, to form an independent convent in Duluth in 1892 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

9. St. Mary's Church, School and Convent, St. Germain and Hanover Streets, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1877
Description:
Early years in St. Cloud (1857-1863). The upper floor of St. Mary's Church and School was renovated in 1858 to serve as the second convent for the Benedictine sisters. St. Mary's was the first Catholic parish in St. Cloud. It was organized in 1855 by Father Francis Xavier Pierz, the missionary who had lured Catholic Germans to America (specifically to Minnesota) in the early 1850s with promises of farming and wood lands, rivers, opportunity, and freedom. The year before the Benedictine sisters arrived at St. Mary's Parish, the pastor had opened a private school in a room in Joseph Edlebrock's house. His intention was to complete the section of the complex meant for the school and to have the sisters take charge. However, the parishioners, fearful of losing government support and desirous of managing their church and school, did not accept that arrangement. The sisters then started their own convent school and continued the lessons they had given while at Tenvoorde's house for children of any interested settlers. Twenty children enrolled the first days after the sisters opened St. Mary's School. Among the girls were: Mary Edelbrock, Lizzie Rosenberger, Catherine Felders, and Mary Brown. Among the boys were: Anton, Barney, and Joseph Edelbrock, Henry Rosenberrger, John Niebler, Joseph Reichert, and Louis Emmel. Among those who took private music lessons were: Jennie and Mary Mitchell, Mary and Jennie Cramsie, Sophia and Cecilia Corbett, and Nettie Swisshelm. (McDonald page37) Jane Swisshelm, the editor of the local newspaper wrote: "There is a school kept by a company of Benedictine nuns where is taught, in addition to the common branches, German, drawing, music, and needlework. The subjects are taught by ladies of polished manners and unusual proficiency. The school is in much favor with our citizens and is in a flourishing condition." (ST CLOUD VISITER, May 20,, June 24, 1858). The reputation of the sisters spread. In 1862, two sisters were invited to the nearby parish of Clinton (St. Joseph) where they taught in the district school. The following year, St. Joseph became the site of the motherhouse of the Benedictine sisters in Minnesota. When St. Mary's Parish built a new school in 1876, the sisters (having returned to St. Cloud in 1869) purchased the former convent/school complex and converted it to St. Agnes Academy. The sisters were hoping to alleviate the overcrowded conditions of the boarding school and sisters' quarters in nearby St. Joseph, where the enrollment of day students alone had reached over 200. The sisters teaching at St. Agnes Academy were pioneers in making a distinction between primary and secondary education in the area. Because this academy never flourished as a boarding school in St. Cloud, the sisters closed it in 1880 and opened St. Joseph's Academy in St. Joseph (McDonald, pages 7-16, 22-23, 36-39, 70-71, 120-123; Patricia Kelly Witte, pages 14-17).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

10. St. Martin Church and Rectory, St. Martin, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1891
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). This "cathedral on the prairie," like so many other churches dotting the landscape of Stearns County (sometimes referred to as "Little Germany") was reminiscent of the churches in the Old World. St. Martin's Parish first built the rectory (1875) and eleven years later built this church. They did not build a parochial school at this time, but, like most other German communities, invited the Benedictine sisters in 1877 to teach in the district school at St. Martin. The ensuing conflict so rocked the small Catholic community that the sisters chose to withdraw in 1891. After a sixty-year lapse of time, the parish built a parochial school for 212 pupils and the Benedictine sisters returned to teach there. It is most unusual that, despite the turmoil of the early history of St. Martin, fourty-four young women from St. Martin's Parish joined the Benedictine community in St. Joseph (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

11. St. Joseph Church rectory and a portion of the convent and school complex (to the right) on Main Street, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1887
Description:
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). In the early 1860s, St. Joseph (Clinton) was a settlement of 80 families scattered on farms within a radius of 30 miles from the village, which was comprised of 5 homes and the church-school-rectory complex. The settlement flourished so that by 1869, St. Joseph could boast of 180 families. This staunch German Catholic community built a large Gothic style church (1871) and rectory (1874) from stones which the parishioners gathered from their fields. However, because they depended on the district schools, they did not build a parochial school at this time. In 1862, two sisters from the Benedictine community in St. Cloud were invited by the pastor to teach in the St. Joseph district school. After two years, the sisters experienced the same controversy about government support as they had in St. Cloud. In fact, the school board dismissed the sisters and gave H. L. Duerr a four-year teaching contract. This forced the sisters to seek other means of support by establishing an academy, orphanage, and industrial school. The sisters continued these projects even after they were re-employed as district school teachers at the completion of Duerr's contract in 1868. Besides teaching in the St. Joseph School District 9, others (Sisters Aurelia Bissen, Romana Widmer, and Gonzaga Kevenhoerster) taught in District 108 and three (Sisters Cecilia Kapsner, Hilaria Finske, and Vincentia Phiilipp) taught in District 1 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 57-60; Idelia Loso, pages 19-21, 36, 39-40).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

12. St. Benedict's Industrial School for girls, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1886
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). After a fire in April of 1886 destroyed the church and school complex that had housed the Industrial School, the sisters temporarily provided room and board in the convent. Immediately, the construction of Marmion Hall, the new Industrial School, was begun between the St. Joseph Church and St. Benedict's Convent/Academy. It was ready for the fall term of 1886 for girls from White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Because of the new quarters and the inspector's good report of the St. Benedict's Industrial School, the Indian Commissioner subsequently expanded the contract permitting the sisters to take any number of pupils and to draw them from any Indian reservation. However, even though the enrollment in the school increased to 100, only 25 were paid for by the government (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

13. St. Benedict's (Bethlehem) Boarding School for Little Boys, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1897
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). After the closing of the Industrial School, the west end of Marmion Hall (porch added on) accommodated the boarding school for little boys (age 6-12) as a department of St. Benedict's Academy. It was often referred to as "Bethlehem School for Boys." There were 7 students the first year and as the enrollment increased, the maximum number of boys housed per year was set at 36. A total of 715 boys attended during the next 40 years of the school's existence at St. Benedict's. In 1938, it was transferred to Altoona, Wisconsin (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

14. St. Alexius Hospital, Bismarck, North Dakota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1888 - 1915
Description:
As early as 1878 while prospecting for a site to establish a college for men in the Dakota Territory, Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, OSB, became aware of the need for a hospital in the still undeveloped area of Mandan and Bismarck. In 1885 he bought the Lamborn Hotel in Bismarck and succeeded in interesting Mother Scholastica Kerst in converting it to a hospital. It was a challenge to change the settlers' prejudice against hospitals as institutions for the wayward and shiftless. However, after five years and with the expertise of Dr. E. pageQuaine in surgery and Sister Boniface Timmers, OSB, in administration, the hospital gained favor and grew from a primitive institution to one of the finest hospitals in the land. With the help of a donation from St. John's Abbey, the Benedictine sisters were able to repay the abbey for the debt incurred by the original purchase and they named the hospital St. Alexius. By 1913, they were able to build a new hospital and to organize a school of nursing there (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 126-137).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

15. Sister Stephen Schaaf's class of 1892, St. Joseph's School, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1892
Description:
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Students in Sister Stephen Schaaf's class of 1892 have been identified as follows: Top row: (Sister Stephen Schaaf), Anna Krahl, Bertha Walz, Christ Walz, George Warnert, Mike Nierengarten, Casper Benning, Frank Rau, Leroy Baloh, Mike Ziegelmeier; 2nd row: Teresa Walz, Lizzie Neis, Molly Roeder, Rose Orth, Anna Walz, Johanna Rau, Mary Mae Schloemer, ___ Burgmeier, Mary Notsch; 1st row: Frank Katzner, Joe Reber, Anton Walz, Joseph Meyer, Pius Ziegelmeier (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

16. Sister Philothea Valerius' class, St. Joseph's School, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1888?
Description:
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Some of the students in Sister Philothea Valerius' class (c. 1890s) have been identified as follows. Front row left to right: 1. Mary Kotschever, 2. Mary Meyer, 3. Johanna Rau, 5. Bertha Kroll, 6. Mary Lauermann, 7. Bertha Horsch, 8. Monica Ablen, 9. Mary Becker, 10. Mary Schloemer, 11. Bertha Schloemer, 13. Burgmeier, 14. Rose Orth. Second row: 2. Joseph Meyer, 3. Math Bohmer, 4. Michael Meyer, 5. John Reber, 8. Henry Nierengarten (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

17. Orphans at St. Benedict's Orphanage, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1880 - 1884
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). As early as 1875, the sisters had begun to care for orphans in an informal way, but in 1884 the orphanage was incorporated under the laws of the State. Overcrowded conditions forced the sisters to transfer them from St. Cloud to St. Joseph and back again until it was decided to move the girls to the sisters' quarters in Pierz, Minnesota, and the boys were moved back to the old log church and school in St. Joseph. When the fire of 1886 destroyed the orphan home in St. Joseph, the sisters made room for the 23 orphan boys in other buildings on the premises. Finally, at the request of Bishop Otto Zardetti in 1893, the orphans were given to the care of the newly-founded community of Sisters of St. Francis in Little Falls. The Sisters at St. Benedict's, however, retained the familial atmosphere effected by the presence of the orphan children by opening the Bethlehem School for Little Boys as a department of St. Benedict's Academy; little girls,"minims," were housed with the academy students (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 122-123).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

18. Music Program (Choral Group), St. Benedict's Academy, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1885
Description:
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909); St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. The students and teachers have been identified as follows. Standing left to right: Kitten Marshall, Margaret Sanz, Bertha Fisher, Adelaide Stumpf, Pauline Roesaler, Augusta Kenek, Catherine Paulissen, Pauline Wieland, Alta Letson, Emma Engesser, Gertrude Wiemann, Eleonore Carmon, Anna Kepper, Nellie Marshall, Minnie Fehrenbacher, Clara Otto, Sister Josephine McLean. Sitting: .Sister Ulric Beck, Lizzie Zapp, Edith Cowing, Nan Marshall, Margaret Claesgens, Margaret Geissel, Josephine Hafner, Anna Alzheimer. Music has always been an important part of the sisters' religious and professional lives. Wherever the sisters opened schools, a music teacher was provided for music instructions in the classrooms and in private lessons; the academy was no exception. Besides the Choral Group, courses were offered in playing the piano, organ, harp, guitar, and zither. For the regular courses and board and room, students paid $80.00 a term. Extra fees ranging from $5.00 to $25,00 were charged for instructions in such courses as music and art; materials were purchased by the students. Records show that some of these accounts were paid in produce: cows, meat, or grain. Because the convent's schedule and discipline, though adapted, prevailed in the boarding school as well, students were given daily charges. These charges, such as cleaning the chimneys of the lamps, starting the fires and keeping them going in the chapel, study hall, dormitories, classrooms and the infirmary, were considered as part of their payment for room and board (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 104-105).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

19. Melrose: St. Boniface Church, Convent and School, Melrose, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1890 - 1900
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Melrose was settled at a ford in the river on the stagecoach trail between the Red River Valley and St. Cloud. It got its spurt of growth in 1871 as the terminus of the west-bound railroad, making it a marketing center. Melrose (named after Melissa Rose, the daughter of one of the early settlers) soon developed into a strong Catholic community eager to establish its own parish. In 1880, St. Boniface School (parish/district) was built and the Benedictine sisters responded to the pastor's invitation to teach there. By 1894, four sisters were teaching 170 pupils, despite the fact that at first they suffered from the usual prejudice of German communities regarding public versus parochial schools. In subsequent years, the enrollment peaked at 325 pupils even though the Irish parishioners established their own grade/high school and enrolled as many as 166 pupils. When St. Boniface and St. Patrick parishes merged in 1958, the parish and school were renamed St. Mary's School which reached a peak enrollment of 481 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

20. Gathering of Ojibwe at White Earth Indian Reservation, White Earth, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1880?
Description:
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). The Ojibwe accepted their missionaries, "blackrobes," as they called them. Sister Philomene Ketten, always in the midst of action, is standing among the women near the center tree in this photograph. [SBMA]
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

21. First class of students at St. Joseph's Academy in the Haarman Building, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1880 - 1881
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). Students and faculty of the first academy class in the Haarman Building (1880-1881) are identified as follows. Faculty upper row: Sisters 1. Flavia Pokowsky, 2. Magdelen Enste, 3. Elizabeth Will (who later became Sister Julia), 4. Bede Linnemann. Faculty - 2nd row: Sister Anotolia Langsford. Faculty - 3rd row: Sister Irminia Kretzer. Students - 2nd row: Anna Burrell, Cecilia Beck, S. Farrell, Katie Rovischer, Emma Otto, Aggie Zingerly, Rose Weiner, Carrie Capser, Iona Owens, Lilly Miller, Katherine Riesgraf, Anna Kapsner. Students - lower 3 rows: Antonette Jennings, Virgina Gerard (later Sister Anastasia), Lena Schlick, Anna Waschenberger, Mary Phillip, Ella Egan, Jennie Kennedy, Katie Loso, Aloysia Zingerly, Adela Jennings, Clara Pottgieser, Lorrina Maurin, Tillie Maurin, Lizzie Beck, Josie Kapser. Because St. Agnes Academy was not flourishing in St. Cloud, Mother Aloysia Bath and the community decided in 1879 to build a new boarding academy at St. Joseph. When the basement walls were nearly completed, the cold weather halted construction; lack of funds prevented more building for another 2 years. The next prioress, Mother Scholastica Kerst, closed the St. Agnes Academy in St. Cloud and rented the Haarman Building across from the church and convent in St. Joseph to open a select boarding academy, St. Joseph's Academy. The Haarman Building was rented for only one year. Because the school was so successful, the earlier plans for a new academy building were immediately resumed and Cecilia Hall was rapidly completed for use in 1882. When the building was blessed, St. Joseph's Academy was renamed St. Benedict's Academy (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives ; McDonald, pages 70-71, 99-100).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

22. First class in the new St. Benedict's Academy, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1882 - 1883
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). About half of the student body of the academy in 1882-1883 (those in the photograph wearing medals) were prospective candidates applying for membership in the Benedictine community. Some members of this class who became sisters are identified as follows: Top row: 3. Susan (Sister Rose) Kilduff, 5. Josephine (Sister Adalberta) Gerard. Second row: 2. Margaret (Sister Eleanor) Irving. Fourth row: 1. Mary (Sister Felicitas) Knapp, 2. Margaret (Sister Ethelburga ) Farrell. Second from bottom row seated on steps: 3. Sophia (S. Ehrentrude) Wessel, 4. Mary Magdalen (S. Ursula) Hoffmann. Bottom row seated on steps: 2. Emily (Sister) Cherrier, 3. Bridget (Sister Magdalen) Walker (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

23. Domestic Arts Class, St. Benedict's Academy, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1886 - 1887
Description:
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909). Some of the class of 1886-87 have been identified as left to right: 1. Pauline Roesler, 2. Edith Cowing, 3. Julia Kinck, 4. Lizzie Zapp, 5. Margaret Kerst, 6. Alta Letson, 7. Christina Schultz. Standing: 1. Sang, 2. Hammond, 3. Wright, 4. Irene Reed, 5. Sister Amata Macket, 6. Mary Rhodes, 7. Lizzie Wagner, 8. Amme Maurin, 9. Nellie Schultz, 10. L. Mutschleckner, 13. Cecilia Northman, 16. Sara Mercer, 17. Nellie McCabe. The academy was geared toward a liberal arts education. While there was no thought of training girls for a career, the intellectual, aesthetic, and moral training did include the practical. The home arts of cooking and baking were considered important in the training of young ladies (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, page 102).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

24. Convent and orphanage built by Sisters of St. Benedict, Pierz, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1887?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). In 1873, Mother Antonia Herman, OSB, arranged to have the Sisters of St. Benedict purchase 10 acres near the church in Pierz intending to begin an independent Benedictine community there. When the new community did not materialize, the building was used for some years as an orphanage for girls because the convents in St. Joseph and St. Cloud were no longer able to house all 63 orphans (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

25. Class of 1885 who made profession of perpetual vows, St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1885
Description:
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). In 1885, the following sisters made their profession of perpetual vows at St. Benedict's Convent: (left to right) (Front Row): Sisters Aquina Prettner, Justina Knapp, Paula Bechtold; (Row 2): Sisters Johanna Philippi, Mother Scholastica, Lidwina Weisser; (Row 3): Sister Meinrad Burrell; Row 4: Sisters Seraphica Kennedy, Vincentia Philipp, Patricia Egan; (Row 5): Sisters Amata Macket, Margaret Dellwo, Laurentia Koempel; (Row 6): Sisters: Franziska Pogatchnik, Elizabeth Reisgraf; (Row 7): Sisters: Martha Fenneis, Demetria Keller, Julia Will, DeSales Walz, Bonaventure Kapsner (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs
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