Special Collections

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Strishock Print Collection
This digital collection displays an eclectic mix of etchings, paintings, and wood block prints acquired through collecting clubs and subscription groups and purchased by Daniel and Joan M. Strishock. The Strishocks donated this collection to The Catholic University of American in 1968 and it features a variety of subjects, themes, and artists., Mr. and Mrs. Strishock donated the collection of over 200 original prints and engravings to CUA in 1968 to strengthen the Department of Art.
Student Army Training Corps (SATC) at Catholic University Collections
The Student Army Training Corps (SATC) was the World War I incarnation of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), whose college campus training programs included The Catholic University of America (CUA). Records include correspondence, memoranda, announcements, pamphlets, surveys, syllabi, a certificate of appreciation from the War Department to CUA, and a mix of 4 x 6 and 8.5 x 9.5 inch index cards related to student courses and grades.
Terence Vincent Powderly Photographic Prints
Terence Vincent Powderly, the son of Irish immigrants, was born in 1849 in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Employed at a young age as a railroad switchman, he later apprenticed as a machinist. Powderly joined the International Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths in 1871, eventually becoming local president, then joined a local Scranton, Pennsylvania, Knights of Labor in 1876 and rose steadily until assuming the national leadership from 1879-1893. In addition to his labor connections, Powderly served as a progressive mayor of Scranton from 1878-1884, practiced law, and became a political operative with the Republican Party. From 1897-1901, he served as Commissioner General of Immigration, following these duties with a position as Chief of the Immigration Division of Information, 1907-1921, then Labor Department Commissioner of Conciliation, 1921-1924. Beyond these professional positions, Powderly was a world traveler, photographer, and author of Thirty Years Of Labor (1889) and his memoirs, The Path I Trod (1921). In 1999, Powderly was honored as the newest inductee into the U.S. Department of Labor's Hall of Fame, joining figures such as Samuel Gompers, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, and Philip Murray. Powderly, a photography enthusiast, took and collected thousands of photographs, nearly 1300 of which are reproduced in this digital collection., Terence Vincent Powderly (1849-1924) led the Knights of Labor at the peak of its power as Grand Master Workman (1879-1893), and later held important posts with the Bureau of Immigration (1897-1921).He was also an avid and talented amateur photographer, and several thousand of his photographic images produced in the first decades of this century (ca. 1902-1921) have survived in the form of glass and nitrate-base negatives (the nitrate has since been converted to safety film) and as glass lantern slides. In addition to his own work, Powderly collected prints produced by other photographers. This digital collection currently contains over 300 images selected from the collection.
Thomas Edward Shields Collection
Professor of psychology and education at Catholic University, 1909-1921, Shields was perhaps the foremost Catholic educator in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Present are: a draft M.A. thesis (author unknown), Dr. Thomas E. Shields and his Educational Theories; twenty-five lessons from a correspondence course in the psychology of education begun by Shields in 1905; a pamphlet containing his 1895 doctoral dissertation, The Effect of Vapours upon the Blood Flow; and a lighthearted article in which he discusses coeducation., As historical objects, these objects can reflect the customs and perspectives of their times. Some of the texts in this collection may be offensive to contemporary viewers. We have chosen to leave all of the digitized contents intact as part of the historical record, though as with other records and objects in our archive, we do not endorse the views depicted in the archival materials we make available to the public.
Thomas J. Bouquillon Papers
Rev. Thomas Bouquillon was born at Warenton, Belgium on May 16, 1842. He studied philosophy and theology at Roulers and Bruges. In 1865 he was ordained in Rome. Two years later, Bouquillon received his doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University. In that same year he was appointed Professor of Moral Theology in the Seminary of Bruges. Bouquillon was appointed to the Catholic University of Lille, France in 1877 and remained there for the next decade. He came to The Catholic University of America as one of the original faculty members. From 1889 until 1902, the year of his death, he served as Professor of Moral Theology. The collection contains biographical information, general correspondence, miscellaneous lectures and notes, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous publications.
Thomas Whelan Scrapbooks
Thomas J. Whelan, Sr. was born in 1911 to Irish immigrant parents in New York City. An excellent athlete, Whelan arrived at Catholic University in August 1929 on a football scholarship, playing on the team all four years. Whelan partnered first with Dutch Bergman and then Ben Zola in operating taverns in Brookland, near Catholic University. In 1960, Whelan, who was active in the Democratic National Committee, became an advance man for John F. Kennedy in his campaign for President of the United States. In 1963, he was assigned to the Congressional Liaison Office of the Department of Commerce, and retired from the Federal Government in 1972. The collection contains an oversize photograph and digitized images from two scrapbooks. The images from these scrapbooks are from Whelan's high school, college, post-college career, showcasing his accomplishments in athletics, especially football.
The Tower
The Tower has served as the student newspaper at The Catholic University of America since the Fall of 1922. In an effort to preserve the newspaper, and to make it easily accessible to researchers, alumni, and the general public, the microfilm versions of the newspaper have been digitized and put online. As historical objects, the Tower issues can reflect the customs and perspectives of their times. Some of the images and language in these issues may be seen as offensive to contemporary viewers. We have chosen to leave all of the digitized images intact as part of the historical record, though as with other records and objects in our archive, we do not necessarily endorse the views as depicted in the archival materials we make available to the public. Dates Available: October 27, 1922 through 2018 (From Fall of 2018, Tower publishes individual articles at cuatower.com, with very few full printed publications. The digital archives of the online Tower issues from 2018 are available at https://archive-it.org/collections/10038).
Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact
The Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact was an American Catholic comic book that began publication by George Pflaum of Dayton, Ohio, with a cover date of March 12, 1946. It was a response to the undesirable comic books of that time with the intent to use the comic book format to teach tenets of both Catholic faith and American patriotism. It was generally not available for sale at newsstands but rather via distribution through the Catholic parochial school system. Publisher George Pflaum was a well-known Catholic publisher. As head of the company founded by his father in 1885, he was in charge of such titles as The Young Catholic Messenger, The Junior Catholic Messenger, and Our Little Messenger, each addressed to different age groups in the Catholic school system. Pflaum, who died in 1963, was active in the Catholic Press Association and was a founder of the Catholic Civics Clubs of America, a joint project with the Commission on American Citizenship of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The Treasure Chest had a run of 508 issues between 1946 and 1972, almost all of which are digitized here. Contributors included Frank Borth, Bob Powell, and Reed Crandall. In the 1960s the comic began to fade and by the time it ceased publication with Volume 27, No. 8, July (Fall) 1972., The digital collection contains the first eighteen volumes running from 1946 to 1963, which are in public domain. There are some issues missing from Volume 4 (1948-1949). The issues published from 1964 through 1971 are still under copyright protection, which cannot be included in the digital collection at this time. Issues published in 1972 were not copyrighted and will be added to the collection soon.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Lantern Slide Collection
The National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC), consisting of the American bishops and its working secretariat, was established in 1919, and eventually evolved into the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), as it is known today. The Archives houses the papers of the USCCB from its inception to the present day. Among the many records deposited from the organization to the Archives are the glass lantern slides that were donated in 1996. Glass lantern slides were a popular format used for both educational and entertainment purposes throughout the beginning of the twentieth century. More than 100 lantern slides are digitized here, focusing largely on USCCB activities involving service in the Second World War., The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Lantern Slide Collection consists of a series of 111 slides. They appear to have been created for use with a lecture or presentation detailing the National Catholic Welfare Conference's work with veterans of the First and Second World Wars in the United States. The slides dated ca. 1942-1946 are in black and white, the slides dated ca. 1927 are mostly in color.The slides feature photographs of social events, religious events, National Catholic Community Service and National Council of Catholic Men sponsored events, United States' Armed Forces personnel, children, and assorted National Catholic Welfare Conference organizational charts.Many of the slides prominently feature African American soldiers, children, and interracial events or groups. There are also slides of women in Armed Forces uniform and their work contributing to the war effort. Locations named in slides: Connecticut, Georgia Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada New Hampshire, New York, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, DC.Slides 1-8, 10-14, 24-26, 44-46, 49, 51-56, 65-71, and 79 appear to have been created in 1927 to highlight the efforts of the National Catholic Welfare Conference during World War One. Slides 9, 15-23, 27-44, 47, 48, 50, 57-64, 72-78, and 80-111 appear to have been created between 1942 and 1946 to highlight the efforts of the National Catholic Welfare Conference durring World War Two.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of the General Secretary
From 1919-1953, the USCCB/NCWC published The NCWC Bulletin, changing its name to The NCWC Review and then to Catholic Action in the 1930s. The publication served as the official publication of the conference for the duration of the years it was issued.
The Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, Mass., Collection
This digital collection includes scrapbook history, correspondence, a notebook, a novelle, journals, pamphlets, clippings, a photograph, and a sketch concerning the Ursuline Convent on Mount Benedict in Charlestown, Massachusetts, established in 1817. The collection documents the history and work of the Ursuline Community in the Boston area, the Convent's foundation, its destruction by an anti-Catholic mob in 1834, and the subsequent prosecution and acquittal of the rioters. Material within the collection shows the strong anti-Catholic sentiment existing in New England in the 1800s., This collection documents the ministry of the Ursulines of Quebec in the Boston area during the early 1800s, and spans the years 1833 to 1903. It demonstrates the strong anti-Catholic sentiment that existed in New England.The collection includes correspondence, a hand-written copy of an eyewitness report of the convent's burning in 1834, a scrapbook history, printed items including journals, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings, and a photo and sketch of the convent.
Young Catholic Messenger
The Young Catholic Messenger Collection digitized here was the inaugural publication of the Pflaum Publishing Company, founded in 1885 in Dayton, Ohio, by George Pflaum, Sr. Pflaum produced religious and civic themed reading materials distributed to students in the Catholic parochial schools that later included the Junior Catholic Messenger, Our Little Messenger, and the Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. In the early years the YCM issues tended to be shorter and more literary in focus, while later on the number of pages per issue increased as more news and current events were included. The YCM ceased publication in 1970.

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