Catholic history research resources in the Clarke

a page from [Officium beate Marie virginis] or Book of Hours, 1490s

After His Holiness Pope Benedict died, I thought it would be interesting to note the breadth of research resources we have in the Clarke documenting the history of Catholics and Catholicism. Most of our resources focus or have a connection to Michigan and the Northwest Territories, but some are broader in scope.

We have primary and secondary sources in multiple languages, predominantly English, French, Anishinaabe languages, and Latin. Catholics, Baptists and Methodist missionaries were the first to try to convert the indigenous in Michigan, so much of the early material focuses on missions and missionaries. 

While most of our material is 18th century and forward, we have earlier items, including two very early examples of Catholic publications, as our illuminated manuscript, the Officium beate Marie virginis] or Book of Hours, 1490s, and Directorum chori: introitus missarum cum canticis alleluia, iuxta graduale Romanum ad usum Monastery Sanctae Barbarae Virginis et Martyris Scriptum, a handwritten 1698 choir director's music book for Latin Mass. 

Popes primary sources:

We only have one primary source on popes, a scrapbook of Mamie Moross Oakman titled, Popes and Catholic Church, 1894-1902. The scrapbook of newspaper clippings includes, but is not limited to the Catholic topics of: Pope Leo XIII, the Catholic Church, cathedrals, American cardinals and archbishops, monks, saints, Christianity, Christian art and stories, and the visit of papal delegate Cardinal Martinelli to Detroit in 1901.   The Oakmans were a wealth Detroit couple.  

Popes secondary sources:

We have 6 books and a recording in the Clarke by or about popes and the papacy.  Some of these are specific encyclical letters of Pius XI,  orders of Pius X, about John Paul II pastoral visit, and a video about  blessed Kateri Tekakwitha beatification ceremony in July 2006. 

Catholic Church history: We have material broadly or specifically related to MI parishes, communities, or individuals, there are 202 catalog records in the Clarke. Of these 33 are primary sources. Secondary sources include books, dissertations and thesi, journals, maps, and newspapers. I am not including vertical files, MI photographs and MI postcards in this total. Here are some examples:

Catholic Church history Secondary sources: 

Books, catechisms, hymnals published, written, translated by Fr. Gabriel Richard on his press in Detroit

Books, catechisms, hymnals published, written and translated by Bishop Baraga, ex. Katolik anamie-masinaigan, a Catholic prayer book and catechism in the Otchipwe Indian language, 1880

Chaldeans in Michigan, 2005

Children left behind: dark legacy of Indian mission boarding schools, 2006

Gabriel Richard digital project collection, 2018 

History and development of the Catholic secondary school system in the Archdiocese of Detroit, 1701-1961

History of St. Joseph Catholic Church, White Cloud, MI 1891-1992-our first 100 years

An index to Detroit's Polonia in the Michigan Catholic, 1872-1900

ikwe enamiad mino-gagikimind, Religious material in Ojibwa from Holy Childhood, Harbor Springs.

Integration, the "New Negro", and community building: Black Catholic life in four Catholic churches in Detroit, 1911-1945

Inventory of the church archives of MI: The Roman Catholic church, archdiocese of Detroit, MI Historical Records survey 1941

Jesuit Relations And Allied Documents 

Peninsula heritage: UP Catholic Historical Association, newsletters, 1987-1988

Voyageurs, robes noires, et coureurs de bois; stories from the French exploration of North America, 1934

Fr. Gabriel Richard publications (top shelf), Bishop Baraga publications (lower shelf)

Catholic Church history Primary sources:

Catholic Church. Diocese of Saginaw (MI) collection, 1980-1984, publications re: Bishop Untener

Catholic Daughters of America. Sacred Heart Court No. 1332 Organizational records, 1951-2009

And of course, digital MI newspapers cover a wide range of Catholic topics

Church and cemetery records:

 We have 11 secondary sources, mostly transcribed and published records. Here are some examples:

St. Mary's Church funeral records, Alpena, MI, 1887-1925

Detroit's Mount Elliott cemetery, 2006

St. Cecilia Catholic Church (Clare, MI) Membership Directory

Tombstone recordings of the cemeteries on Mackinac Island, MI, 1982

We  have primary sources of the following Catholic churches.

Catholic Church. Diocese of Bardstown (Ky.) Collection, 1763-1890, From 1808-1827 Detroit diocese was part of Bardstown.

St. Anne's Church (Detroit, Mich.) Collection, 1701-1836, this includes the accounts of Fr. Gabriel Richard and notes his death from cholera

St. Patrick's Catholic Church (Grattan, Michigan, 1855-1873)

Catholic families:

We have collections that feature information and images of Catholic families and individuals. Many of these have images of religious sisters who were relatives. One ex of such a collection is that of Catholic nurse Grace Kelly (1915-1977) from Adrian, MI. She served as a first lieutenant, surgical nurse, in WWII, and worked the rest of her life as a nurse, attaining the rank of Captain. The Francisco Photographic Collection, 1910-1990, and the Eugene F. Collins Photographs collections 1942-1952, both photographers, documents many children dressed for the First Holy Communion. 

                                                        Title page of choir director's book, 1698

Children's catechisms: 

Agneau de Deiu...prayer by Gabriel Richard, 1802?

St. Joseph First Communion catechism, 1963

Communion: parent and child, 1973.

Religious sisters:

We have 5 books, including histories of religious communities or related publications by them, and a historical research book entitled, Nuns of the battlefield, 1927, about religious communities who nursed soldiers during the Civil War. 

We also have a fiction book about a nun who ran a meals-on-wheels program entitled, In blacker moments: a Kate and Ray Fredrick mystery, 1994.

Priests:

We have 13 books by and about Catholic priests, most of which are biographical, or describe their responsibilities, work, or life challenges. Here are some examples: 

Priest primary sources:

Fr. Solanus Casey Beatification Mass collection, 2018

Rev. Raymond Champion, Papers, 1872-1935 

Rev. Joseph D. Erkens, Papers, 1928-1932

Rev. Francis Pierz, Papers, 1837-1873

Rev. Fr. Sylvestre O. Obwaka Newspaper articles (copies) collection, 2017

Others:

Catholics are also documented in the American Fur Company Records, mostly on microfilm. 

We have a book on Catholics in Montana entitled Indian and White in the Northwest: or, a history of Catholicity in Montana,1894.  While our indigenous focus in Michigan, we do have resources on indigenous in the US and Canada.

Anti-Catholic sentiment is documented in a number of collections, including by early MI clergy of other faiths, and organizations that hated Catholics, such as the Ku Klux Klan. 

                                                        And that's the end: Amen (Book of Hours)