Civil War veterans who belonged to St. Peter's A. K. Skaro Post 37 of the G. A. R. Surnames include: Jones, Boutwell, Jenson, Newton, Clark, Hoefer, Filler, Moses, Randall, Lind, and others.
A cabinet card group portrait of Dora Probstfield and seven other young women. The women are possibly students from Moorhead Normal School. The Fallman Parlor Photo Car was a photography studio located on a train car with the photographer renting a railroad car in order to travel from town to town. The studio was known for utilizing backdrops and props.
Formal portrait of Julia and Mabel Rouillard on the occasion of Mabel's confirmation. Julia's husband Thomas was the lay minister at the Church of Messiah.
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Mother Aloysia (Helen) Bath, the first American-born prioress of St. Benedict's Convent, was born in Addison, WI in 1849. Helen entered the community of the Sisters of St. Agnes in Baron, WI, in 1864 and was given the name Sister Agatha. She transferred to the community in St. Joseph, MN in 1871, changed her name to Aloysia, and professed vows there in 1875. Two years later, she was appointed prioress of the community in St. Joseph by Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, to fill out Mother Antonia Herman's term. Mother Aloysia resigned shortly before her term ended. However, nine years later, she was elected by the community to serve another term as prioress. Though of frail health, Mother Aloysia led the community in beginning the construction of a new convent and academy building in St. Joseph, in accepting four new schools in Minnesota, the American Indian mission in White Earth, MN, and a school in Bismarck. ND. She was an experienced teacher who had been in charge of several schools, including the large school in St. Joseph's Parish in Minneapolis. Mother Aloysia's greatest efforts were spent staffing schools in the face of school controversies and in developing a teacher-training program in the community so that young sisters would be sent out as certified teachers. Her contemplative spirit inspired the sisters to work for a balance in their work and prayer (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 73-78, 89).
Drama held a significant role in the curriculum of the academy. Performances drew large audiences, not only from the surrounding areas, but from as far as Milwaukee, WI. The Delsarle Tableaux performance, honoring Bishop Otto Zardetti, was presented at the Village Hall in St. Joseph on February 10, 1893 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Group of potato buyers in Anoka County in 1905. Left to right: Charles Galup, Charles Larkin, George Porter, Fred Larkin, George Morrill, James Mahaney, Albert Pratt, Mascot George Ehlen.
Shown standing left to right are Captain Charles Ahlers, John Fisher, and Goodwin Esterly. Shown seated are Charles Fisher, referee Carl Reckner, and Michael Kappel. The manager, E.P. Neill, is shown in the left corner.
First 50 years of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) The performances Sister Dominica Borgerding directed would cram this hall and the two adjoining classrooms with seculars paying for tickets three Sundays in a row - from as far as the Twin Cities, Duluth and Milwaukee. She did not offer "milk for babes." Instead she challenged the Dramatics Club and the audiences with the "Merchant of Venice" (with a brilliant Shylock and a magnificent Portia) and with biblical plays of a Queen Esther and a Judith of Bethulia. Women took men's parts and managed very convincingly. If Shakespeare could make-do with men to take women's parts, Sister Dominica turned her women into men for their parts. The costumes were magnificent. They are still among the richest and most beautiful now in that amazing collection in the Benedicts Arts Center.
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). The Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, who were teaching in Moorhead in 1883, are identified as follows (left to right): Sisters Paula Bechtold, Alphonsa O'Donnell, Euphrasia Hirtenberger (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Some of the sisters teaching in Duluth before the separation of the Duluth sisters from St. Benedict's in St. Joseph are identified as follows. Top Row - left to right: S. Catherine Siefner, Clementine Jastrzenska, Florentine Cannon, Augustine Terhaar, Margaret Dellwo (Delleveaux); (Bottom Row - left to right): S. Bertha Cherrier, Regina Otto, Cornelia Berg, Anastasia Gerard, Magdalen Walker. Duluth was first settled because of a short-lived rumor in 1854 that copper and ore were found on the North Shore. It was not until 1869, when Duluth was connected to St. Paul by railroad, that the population began to grow. Though Duluth experienced a five-year set back in 1873 when Jay Cooke's (financier of the railroad-to-the-Pacific) financial empire collapsed, it became the ore capital and the grain and lumber harbor of the Northwest. Parish communities and schools began to flourish and the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, responded to invitations to teach there: in 1881, five sisters from St. Joseph opened Sacred Heart School for over 200 children in an old carriage shop, but the pastor closed that school; in 1883, seven sisters returned to Sacred Heart Parish and taught in a public school building until a new school (St. Thomas Aquinas) was built; in 1885 sisters began teaching in St. Stanislaus School in the Polish parish, St. Mary Star of the Sea; in 1887 they opened St. Clement School and also the Store-Front School on Garfield Avenue for the French parish; in 1891 the sisters opened St. Anthony's School. All of these mission schools, as well as St. Mary's Hospital, were transferred to St. Benedict's new daughterhouse which was established in Duluth in 1892. Prompted by her deposition as prioress in St. Joseph, it was the energy and the independent pioneer spirit of Mother Scholastica Kerst that effected the separation of the sisters in Duluth from the motherhouse in St. Joseph. While only 20 of the 43 sisters in Duluth opted to join the newly-formed community, Villa Sancta Scholastica, the separation strained the resources of both communities. However, both rallied and flourished in Minnesota. The Benedictines in Duluth today conduct the College of St. Scholastica and a Benedictine Health Care System (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; Olsenius, pages 23-24).
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909). Some students of the class of 1908-1909 at St. Benedict's Academy are identified. Top row: 1. Nellie McCarthy, 2. Theresa Kohl, 3. Winnifred Stevens. Second row: 1. Mary Germain, 4. Eleanor Hilger (Sister Inez), 5. Hildegard Heck, 7. Aurelia Oster. Third row: 1. Donalda LaGrandeur, 3. Agnes Kalscheuer, 5. Agnes Engler, 7. Josie McCarthy. Seated: 2. Carola Bernick, 3. Alice Thomas, 4. Nanita Wimmer, 5. Katie Kierserling. Commencement day was always celebrated in great style. For example, the "Annual Catalogue" of 1883-84 and 1889-1900 record that a graduate might wear a "white Swiss, French Lawn, or Nun's veiling dress neatly and plainly made with a high neck and long sleeves . . . black or white boots and white kid gloves." Commencement guests traveled by wagon, carriage, and railroad from many parts of the West; the bishop of St. Cloud, the abbot of St. John's, and as many as twenty clergymen were present for the occasion. The auditorium was decorated with ferns, flowers and wreaths. There were lengthy orations; occasionally the commencement address was given by a prominent layman. For example, in 1884 the speaker was Honorable John Arctander of Willmar, District Attorney and author. The ceremony, together with the distribution of gold medals for excellence in studies and for lady-like conduct (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 105-108).
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909); St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. While the sisters stressed simplicity in the matter of dress for St. Benedict's Academy students, school dresses could be of any style or color, but black sateen aprons were worn over them during school hours. On Sunday a plain black uniform (with a brooch for the collar) and earrings were to be worn. These regulations made occasions for dressing up something special (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, page 105)
Group portrait of the residents of Gridley Hall dormitory during 1887/88, including students and resident college staff. People involved: Lucia Elizabeth Danforth; Emma Lincoln; Charlotte R. Willard; Frances Cousens Gage; Dora Elizabeth Fishback; Mary E. Beach; Nellie Comelia Clark; Linnie Lewis; Mabel Rebecca Colwell; Mary Rebecca Hart
Second of a pair of posed images showing the board of the Class of 1893 Algol (Carleton yearbook) in a tidy, energetic "before" stage, and in an exhausted, worn-out "after" stage. Pictured are: Elmer Lanpher Coffeen; Katherine L. Donaldson; Alice E. Andrews; Robert D. Taylor; Elizabeth M. Bissell; Gertrude Woodruff; Luella Turrell; and Albert Lewis Sperry.
First of a pair of posed images showing the board of the Class of 1893 Algol (Carleton yearbook) in a tidy, energetic "before" stage, and in an exhausted, worn-out "after" stage. Pictured are: Elmer Lanpher Coffeen; Katherine L. Donaldson; Alice E. Andrews; Robert D. Taylor; Elizabeth M. Bissell; Gertrude Woodruff; Luella Turrell; and Albert Lewis Sperry.