Employment and Professional Activities

The personnel of Mount Saint Joseph Archives has undergone some changes over the summer. Sister Emma Cecilia Busam is back from sabbatical. Sister Vickie Cravens will be attending classes at Brescia University for 2000/2001. Sister Catherine Marie Lauterwasser will be helping part-time in the archives along with Sister Dolorita Robinson and Cathey Majors. The diocesan archives continue to receive many genealogy requests. Claudine Blandford and Jewell Brown did a nice job responding to as many as possible. Many patrons are asking for information on the early history of small and sometimes extant parishes.

Gerald Roberts, Head of Special Collections and Archives at Berea College, is retiring February 1. He has been at Berea since 1975. Gerald has a B.A. from Murray State, an M.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. from Michigan State. He studied archival and manuscript administration under Philip Mason at the Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs at Wayne State. Gerald served as KCA chairman in 1979-80, and as co-editor of The Kentucky Archivist from 1979-82. Prior to his coming to Berea, he taught at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Jeffrey Suchanek, Director of the Wendell H. Ford Research Center and Public Policy Archives, and Assistant Director of the Oral History Program, was elected Chair of the Society of American Archivists Oral History Section, and Deborah Whalen, Special Collections Archivist at Eastern Kentucky University, was elected to the Steering Committee.

Eastern Kentucky University

As a result of a librarian/faculty collaboration initiative for student success, several classes have been using historical documents in Special Collections and Archives for their research. This collaboration initiative, which involved a two-day retreat for librarians and faculty at Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, was made possible with an H.W. Professional Development Grant. EKU Libraries is the first academic library in ten years to receive this grant.

Some of the documents being used by students in introductory history classes include the following: two broadsides announcing the public sale of slaves, letters written by Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Clay, and a World War I letter. The WWI letter describes Richmond's reaction to the signing of the armistice.

Submitted by Deborah Whalen

Mount Saint Joseph Archives

We are in the midst of construction here at the Motherhouse. St. Ursula Hall has been evacuated and the residents have found temporary locations for themselves. In some cases, these new locations included offices, the craft room, the small chapel, the exercise room, and the parlors. This evacuation and relocation occurred because the five floors of St. Ursula Hall are undergoing many changes and improvements to complement the new residence hall.

The new residence hall is being constructed southeast of St. Ursula Hall, and the two buildings will be connected. The new structure, St. Joseph Villa, will occupy the area where the Bake House and the Caning House have been razed. Trees, plants, and shrines had to be relocated or removed, and there have been setbacks because of porous soil, drainage problems, and the weather. The construction is being documented with still photographs and with video. There is a projected dedication date of October 2001.

Submitted by Sr. Emma Cecilia Busam, OSU

More Other Activities and Projects
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