What is the most interesting thing you’ve discovered in your collection?
#AskAnArchivist Day – October 16, 2024
For #AskAnArchivist Day, we asked some of our member archivists “What is the most interesting thing you’ve discovered in your collection?” Here is what they had to say:
Sister Joanne Gardner, HM • Sisters of the Humility of Mary
Two hair art paintings and authentication of the “Landing of Columbus”
In the early 1890s one of the sister artists in the Congregation had perfected her skill doing “hair art.” She requested and obtained locks of human hair from known persons that she used in creating a scene. This unnamed sister is assumed to be Mother Odile Philbert. She contacted Pope Pius IX and various prelates in the United States at the time and created the “Landing of Columbus.” This piece was entered in the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago which celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus.
Archivist Sr. Joanne Gardner, HM is shown holding Mother Odile’s hair art created for this event. An extensive document with the autographs of the prelates along with the location of their hair in the “painting” also exists. Their signatures and titles are captured on a separate document done in calligraphy which is also framed. The second hair painting shows a nature scene and is unnamed.
Laurel Wilson • Ursuline Sisters of Louisville
To me, the most fascinating object in our collection is this Shadowbox Hair Art. Sisters created this piece using strands of hair collected by the mother of Sister Liboria Greive (1884-1928), Anna Mary Theis Greive. Anna saved hair from more than a dozen family members and gave them to the Ursuline Sisters when her daughter was invested in 1901. Once the sisters finished the hair art, they presented it to Sister Liboria’s parents. In 1977, a family member donated the piece to the Ursuline Archives.
Marissa Ortosky-Dorantes • Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine
One of the most interesting artifacts currently in our collection is a small statue of St. Joseph. It formerly resided inside the smokestack at St. Vincent Charity Hospital. It was placed in the original boiler room stack c. 1875, to watch over and protect the grounds. I’m including a photo of the statue, as well as another image that depicts Sr. Mary Ursula, CSA, handing the statue to Julmary Morrison, RN, to be placed in the new boiler plant stack in 1962. According to the caption in the SVCMC’s 150th Anniversary booklet, Morrison’s grandfather, an architect, had placed the statue in the original stack. Despite decades of exposure to soot and grime, the statue’s face remained untouched!
The other interesting thing that I’ve discovered were two scrapbooks and many loose family photographs, some as old as the 1870’s. They even included snapshots taken by a WWI soldier stationed in France. These photos were found when some of our Sisters were moving out of their local house, in a box in the attic, buried underneath a novelty post card collection. We eventually determined that the soldier was a cousin of one of our deceased Sisters. Through a lot of Find-A-Grave searches, Ancestry rabbit holes, and Facebook stalking, we eventually tracked down a few living members of that Sister’s family, and we were able to reunite them with these photographs. It was such a rewarding experience getting to show the photos to the family—they recognized many of the faces right away!
Sister Debra Weina • Sisters of St. Joseph, TOSF
The object is a holy card that I found among a deceased sister’s file. The paper is super thin and has lattice work around its edges. Initially when I saw it I thought that it was on a piece of cloth since it resembles a fine lace and is very delicate. It’s the most beautiful and detailed holy card that I have seen thus far. I have attached 3 photos of it. The front and the inscription of it on the back. I’m not sure the photos do it much justice in showing the delicacy of this object. The card was signed on the back in Polish by one of our two founders, Mother Mary Felicia noting the year noted of 1916.
