TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive
Summary
Historical
Note
Scope
and Contents
Arrangement
Administrative
Information
Related
Material
Selected
Search Terms
Selected
Bibliography
Detailed
Description of the Collection
Series
1: Correspondence, 1834-1836, n.d.
Series
2: Handwritten Notebook, n.d.
Series
3: Printed Matter, 1832 - 1903
Series
4: Photograph and Sketch, 1872
Series
5: Scrapbook History, 1834 - 1894 |
An inventory of the Ursuline Convent,
Charlestown, MA Papers at The American Catholic History Research Center
and University Archives
Contact Information:
Mailing Address: The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
20064
Telephone: 202-319-5065
Email: archives@mail.lib.cua.edu
URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/index.html
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| Repository: |
American Catholic History Research Center and University
Archives |
| Creator: |
Arthur T. Connelly |
| Title: |
The Ursuline Convent, Charlestown, MA Papers |
| Dates |
1833 - 1903 |
| Extent: |
1 box |
| Abstract: |
The collection spans the years 1832 - 1903 and includes
correspondence, a hand-written copy of an eyewitness report of the
convent's burning, a scrapbook history, printed items including
journals, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings, and a photo and sketch
of the convent. It documents the ministry of the Ursulines of Quebec
in Boston during the early 1800s and demonstrates the strong
anti-Catholic sentiment that existed in New England. |
| Collection number |
Smanu c. 6 |
The Ursuline convent on Mount Benedict in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, was the realization of a dream of the Rev.
John Thayer (1758 - 1815), a Protestant who converted to Catholicism and
served as a priest in Boston from 1788 until 1792. The final years of his
life were spent in Ireland, where he procured funds for establishing a
convent in Boston. The funds that Thayer collected were remitted to the
care of the Rev. Dr. Francis Anthony Matignon (1753 - 1818), who
encouraged his parishioners in Boston to contribute to the project. The
convent, however, did not become a reality until 1817, when the Rev. John
Lefebvre de Cheverus (1768 - 1836), Bishop of Boston, got behind the
effort. The Ursulines soon outgrew their original quarters and removed to
a new edifice on Mount Benedict in July 1828.
The original members of the religious
community were recruited by Thayer during his fundraising campaign in
Limerick, Ireland. There he inspired two of the original founders, Mary
and Catherine Ryan, to make their novitiate under the Ursulines of Three
Rivers, Canada, which was a branch of the Ursulines of Quebec. Soon the
convent consisted of ten sisters, the majority of them coming to Boston
from Quebec including the Superior, Mother Mary Edmond St. George.
The Ursuline community's principal mission
was to administer a boarding school for girls aged six to fourteen. The
number of students rose to 55, a few of whom were French-Canadian, while
the greater number were children of New England Protestants. The education
was comprehensive, covering religion, classics, music, and social
graces.
Public opinion soon was to rise against the
Ursulines and their school. The revival of evangelical Protestantism in
the early 1800s, plus disdain for working-class Irish immigrants, gave
rise to militant anti-Catholicism and reemphasis on traditional nativism.
The convent was an obvious target, and rumors spread that the Ursulines
were mistreating their students. When the townspeople gathered at the
gates of the building on August 11, 1834, they proceeded to burn down the
convent without interference from authorities.
After the fire the Ursulines attempted to
continue their work in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Once again they were
harrassed. As a result, some of the religious decided to return to Quebec,
and others joined the Ursulines of New Orleans. In 1838, an attempt was
made to restore the Ursuline community in Boston, but there were no
accessions to their ranks. Two years later, their Bostonian ministry was
disbanded.
Return
to the Table of Contents
The collection spans the years 1832 - 1903
and includes correspondence, a hand-written copy of an eyewitness report
of the convent's burning, a scrapbook history, printed items including
journals, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings, and a photo and sketch of
the convent. It documents the ministry of the Ursulines of Quebec in
Boston during the early 1800s and demonstrates the strong anti-Catholic
sentiment that existed in New England.
The scattered correspondence (1834 - 1836)
consists of communications to and from the Superior of the convent, Mary
Edmond St. George. Topics of concern are the recruitment of children to
attend the convent school, attendance at court proceedings after the fire,
plans for the Ursulines to return to Quebec, and the safety of children
attending the school after the attack by the mob.
The eyewitness report of the burning of the
convent, recorded in a notebook, is an excerpt from a larger work on the
Ursulines of Boston and comes from the Ursuline archives in Three Rivers,
Quebec, Canada.
A scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1834 -
1894) documents the burning of the convent by mob action on August 11,
1834, and the continuing anti-Catholic sentiment in Boston. Included is a
detailed history of the Ursuline community, before and after the burning,
written by Dr. B.F. De Costa, an Episcopalian minister and nephew of one
of the Ursulines, Sister Mary St. Claire De Costa, the first novice
received into the convent.
Assorted publications and clippings, dated
immediately before and running to 50 years after the fire, describe the
founding of the convent, its destruction, the legal proceedings
afterwards, and subsequent acts of violence against Roman Catholics in
Boston. Found here is a novella, The Nun of St. Ursula, by Harry Hazel.
Giving a fictional account of the burning of the convent, its view of
religious life is distorted, and it could be considered an anti-Catholic
tract.
Two loose pictures round out the collection.
One is a photograph of an engraving of the convent as it looked in 1832.
The other is a sketch of the ruins after the fire and is attributed to Dr.
B.F. De Costa.
Note: See Oversize Collection for a cartoon
lampooning the convent investigating committee.
Return
to the Table of Contents
Return
to the Table of Contents
Due to the fragile nature of the original
documents, access to some materials may be restricted.
Return
to the Table of Contents
There is no acquisition information for this
collection.
Processing completed in 1998 by William Guy.
Data entry completed in 1999 by Jennifer Jukes. Data entry revision
completed by Rebecca Hurley in 2001. EAD markup and digitization completed
by Washington Research Library Consortium in February 2003. Additional EAD
markup completed by Jordan Patty in 2006.
Return
to the Table of Contents
Ursuline
Convent Digital Collection
Return
to the Table of Contents
Selected Search Terms
Anti-Catholicism -- Massachusetts -- Boston
-- History -- 19th century
Austin, James T.
Canada -- Quebec
Corcoran, Hannah
Fay, Richard S. (Richard Sullivan),
1806-1865
Fenwick, Benedict J., Bishop of
Boston
Hill, Milton
Hughes, John, 1797-1864
Ireland
Mary Benedict
Mary Edmond Saint George
Mary Joseph Ryan
Meagher, Thomas Francis, 1823-1867
Otis, Lucinda Smith
Riot -- History -- Massachusetts -- Boston
-- 19th century
Russell, Lydia Smith
Tandy, James Napper, 1740-1803
United States -- Massachusetts --
Boston
United States -- Massachusetts -- Boston --
Charlestown
United States -- Massachusetts --
Newburyport
United States -- Pennsylvania --
Philadelphia
United States -- Vermont -- Saint
Johnsbury
Ursuline Convent (Charlestown, Boston,
Mass.)
Return
to the Table of Contents
Schultz, Nancy
Lusignan. "Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834."
NY: The Free Press, 2000.
Somerville Museum. "Lifting the Veil:
Remembering the Burning of the Ursuline Convent." Boston, MA, 1997.
Return
to the Table of Contents
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| Series 1: Correspondence,
1834-1836, n.d. (4 folders) |
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| The scattered letters, organized chronologically, are
communications from and to Superior Mary Edmond St. George. The
letters touch on such subjects as student attendance and safety,
legal proceedings after the fire, and plans for removal to Quebec.
There is a letter to the second Bishop of Boston, the Rev. Benedict
J. Fenwick, from Lydia Smith Russell urging him not to close the
convent and defending the ministry of the Ursulines against the
Protestant charges. |
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1 |
April 1834-December 17, 1834 |
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1. Letter to Ursuline Convent from Milton
Hill - 2 letters from Mrs. Russell which speak of her difficulties
and lack of influence on her children, April 1834 |
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Letter
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Letter
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2. Letter to Sister Superior from Mrs.
Russell - regret at not being able to influence children to return
willingly to school, June 1834 |
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Letter
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Note
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3. Letter to Mrs. Russell from Rich S. Fay
- a letter asking the sentiments of the parents and guardians of the
children who were placed at the Ursuline school, September 1, 1834
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Letter
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4. Letter to Hon. J.T. Austin from The
Superior - letter of gratitude for hospitality shown on the occasion
of a court appearance in Concord, Mass., September 12, 1834 |
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Letter
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5. Letter to Hon. J.T. Austin from The
Superior - she asks for an exemption from appearing in court in
Cambridge, Mass., November 15, 1834 |
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Letter
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6. Letter to Hon. J.T. Austin from The
Superior - she suggests the manner of her interrogation and notes
some valuable losses to the looters of the Convent, November 30,
1834 |
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Letter
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7. Letter to Hon. J.T. Austin from The
Superior - apology for a misunderstanding, December 4, 1834 |
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Letter
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8. Letter to Hon. J.T. Austin from The
Superior - this letter was accompanied by an engraving of the ruins
of the convent which she asks him to accept. She once again asks to
be exempt for a court appearance. December 17, 1834 |
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Letter
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2 |
March 12, 1835-June 11, 1835 |
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1. Letter to Sister Superior from Mrs.
Russell - a letter giving the reasons for her daughter Rosalind not
returning to school hinging upon the mother's fear that the
"organized mob of fanatics" would once again attack. March 12, 1835
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Letter
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2. Letter to Hon. James T. Austin from The
Superior - this letter speaks of the advice of the Bishop that the
Sisters should leave the area for a year or eighteen months and the
advice of others that it would be better to stay. She asks for the
advice of Austin. March 21, 1835 |
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Letter
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3. Letter to Hon. James T. Austin from The
Superior - The Bishop of Quebec urged the Sisters to return to
Canada and they would depart in two weeks time. April 15, 1835
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Letter
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4. Letter to The Right Reverend Bishop
Fenwick from Lydia Smith Russell - This letter entreats the Bishop
not to allow the Ursuline Community to depart from Boston. The
letter is a long presentation of the value of the type of education
offered by the Ursulines. The refutation of charges brought by
Protestants against the Sisters. May 10, 1835 |
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Letter
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5. Letter to Mrs. Jonathan Russell from
The Superior - Expresses regret that an invitation cannot be
accepted and telling of her return to Quebec where she had lived for
fourteen years and that she will never return to the United States.
May 17, 1835 |
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Letter
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6. Letter to The Superior of the Ursuline
Convent from Mrs. Jonathan Russell - This letter praises the Sisters
on many accounts, her sorrow at the departure of the Sisters and her
regret at not confiding her daughter to their care. June 11, 1835
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Letter
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January 22, 1836 |
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1. Letter to Mrs. J. Russell from The
Superior - Ursuline Convent, Quebec - An account of the order of
exercises in the school. The letter speaks of a visit to the school
by members of Parliament and a description of the program of
entertainment for the event as published in the newspapers. January
22, 1836 |
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Letter
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4 |
n.d. |
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1. Fragment - Account of Miss Reed and the
circumstances surrounding her acceptance as novice of the Ursuline
Community, n.d. |
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Letter
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2. The Coadjuteur (in French), n.d. |
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Letter
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3. Letter to Mrs. Lydia Smith Russell from
Lucinda Smith Otis (?) - Request to attend a funeral and at the same
time sign a petition to the legislature, n.d. |
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Letter
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4. Letter to Sr. Superior from Mrs.
Russell - Providence Spring, n.d. |
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Letter
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5. Letter to Hon. James T. Austin from the
Superior - An account of articles returned and articles missing,
n.d. |
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Letter
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6. Fragment - list of articles belonging
to Miss Russell destroyed at the burning, n.d. |
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Letter
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| Series 2: Handwritten Notebook,
n.d. (1 folder) |
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| A 15-page handwritten notebook copied from a larger
work, The Ursulines of Boston, and kept in the Ursuline archives of
Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada, is an eyewitness account of the fire.
It is titled, "Ursuline Report of the Burning of the Convent, August
11, 1834." |
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5 |
"Ursuline Report of the Burning of the
Convent August 11, 1834" n.d. |
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Notebook
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| Series 3: Printed Matter, 1832 -
1903 (15 folders) |
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| Journals, pamphlets, and a short novel present
discussion on the efforts to start the convent, its burning, and the
acquittal of the rioters, along with anti-Catholic sentiment
continuing in Boston throughout the 1800s. |
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6 |
"Attkinsons' Casket", March 1833 |
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Journal
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7 |
"The Gleaner", August 16, 1834 |
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Journal
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8 |
"The Boston Observer", January 15, 1835
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Journal
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9 |
"The Nun of St. Ursula", 1845 |
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Novel
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10 |
Pamphlet: "An Account of the Conflagration
of the Ursurline Convent" by a Friend of Religious Toleration, 1834
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Pamphlet
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11 |
Pamphlet: "Six Hours in a Convent: or The
Stolen Nuns. A Tale of Charlestown in 1834" by Charles W.
Frothingham, 1855 |
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Pamphlet
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13th edition |
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12 |
Pamphlet: "An Argument before the
Committee of the House of Representatives, upon the Petition of
Benedict Fenwick and others, with a Portion of the Documentary
Testimony" by Richard Sullivan Fay, 1835 |
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Pamphlet
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13 |
Pamphlet: "An Answer to Six Months in a
Convent Exposing its Falsehoods and Manifold Absurdities" by the
Lady Superior, Mary Anne Ursula Moffatt, 1835 |
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Pamphlet
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14 |
Pamphlet: "The Rights of Conscience and
Property; or the True Issue of the Convent Question" by George
Ticknor Curtis, 1842 |
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Pamphlet
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15 |
Pamphlet: "Documents Relating to the
Ursurline Convent in Charlestown", 1842 |
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Pamphlet
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16 |
Pamphlet: "The Convent's Doom: a Tale of
Charlestown in 1834" by Charles W. Frothingham, 1854 |
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Pamphlet
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17 |
Pamphlet: "The Charlestown Convent; Its
Destruction by a Mob, on the Night of August 11,
1834...........also, The Trial of the Rioters.........", 1870 |
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Notebook
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18 |
Pamphlet: "The Burning of the Ursurline
Convent: a Paper Read before The Worcester Society of Antiquity,
March 5th, 1889" by Ephraim Tucker, 1890 |
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Pamphlet
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19 |
Broadside - "To The Public of
Newburyport", November 25, 1875 |
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Broadside
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20 |
Newspaper clippings, ca. 1837-1903 |
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1. Education of Roman Catholics, undated
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Clipping
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2. Another missing girl, undated |
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Clipping
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3. The Sunday rioters, undated |
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Clipping
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4. Burial place of Mary Ryan : St.
Augustine's Church, South Boston, and its romantic history (The
Boston Globe), undated |
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Clipping
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5. Boston mirror, C.W. Moore, editor,
undated |
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Clipping
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6. A sketch of James Napper Tandy, Efqr.,
Captain of the Liberty Artillery, Vc., Vc., undated |
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Clipping
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7. T.F. Meagher and Bishop Hughes ; also,
Fun after fighting, undated |
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Clipping
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8. Education of Roman Catholics, undated
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Clipping
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9. Who was St. Patrick? : the facts about
Ireland's patron saint ; also, Nantucket ice-bound (Boston Evening
Transcript), undated |
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Clipping
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10. Execution of the Spanish pirates
(Boston Morning Post), Thursday, June 11, 1835 |
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Clipping
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11. Irish labor : the economic background
of Sinn Fein : the Irish labor movement by W.P. Ryan (published by
B.W. Huebsch), undated |
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Clipping
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12. Dedicated to God : impressive services
in St. Johnsbury's new Catholic church (St. Johnsbury, Vt.), January
6, no year |
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Clipping
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13. The Padre's secret (a poem) by Lucius
Harwood Foote; also, Suspected of stealing draughtsman's tools;
also, The Ninth starts for Philippines, undated |
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Clipping
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14. The Spanish pirates (Boston Evening
Transcript?), undated |
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Clipping
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15. The Manila of today : influence of
climate on habits and business ; also, The botanical calendar ;
also, Narcissus (a poem) by Henry R. Kellogg, undated |
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Clipping
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16. The Sunday rioters, undated |
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Clipping
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17. Broad Street rioters, undated |
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Clipping
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18. The Sunday riot, undated |
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Clipping
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19. Hannah Corcoran, undated |
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Clipping
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20. Communication, undated |
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Clipping
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21. Education of Roman Catholics, undated
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Clipping
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22. Education of Roman Catholics, undated
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Clipping
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23. The rioters, undated |
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Clipping
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24. The Catholic controversy by Alethia
(for the Boston Recorder), undated |
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Clipping
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| Series 4: Photograph and Sketch,
1872 (1 folder) |
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| A photo of an engraving shows the Ursuline convent as
it looked in 1832. The ruins after the fire are drawn in a sketch
attributed to Dr. B.F. De Costa, 1872. |
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21 |
Photograph and Sketch, n.d., 1872 |
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1. Photograph, n.d. |
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Image
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2. Sketch, 1872 |
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Image
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| Series 5: Scrapbook History, 1834
- 1894 (2 folders) |
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| The scrapbook is composed of newspaper clippings
giving accounts of the history of the Ursuline community in Boston,
the causes leading to the riot of 1834, the outcome of subsequent
legal proceedings, and derogatory sentiment against the Superior,
Mary Edmond St. George. Included is "The Story of Mount Benedict and
What Followed" by Dr. B.F. De Costa and a note by the donor, Arthur
T. Connolly, recounting where the sisters ended their lives. |
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| Box |
Folder |
| 1 |
22 |
Scrapbook (Acid Free Copies), 1834-1894
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Some difficult to read due to glue damage. |
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23 |
Scrapbook (Original), 1834-1894 |
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Scrapbook
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Glue has been very detrimental to
contents. |
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