Curator Susanna Pyatt, Archivist Ayla Toussaint and I laugh as we inspect the space beneath our building; above the crawl space, Heritage Center Assistant Marcia Mohin enjoys the less dusty pleasures of relocating boxes on our new movable shelves. Welcoming…
Last June the Archivists at the Loretto Heritage Center noticed buckling in the hardwood floor beneath the racks of documents. At least one sensitive nose also smelled musty, moldy smells. Investigation in the dark crawl space beneath the building revealed…
On the grounds of Loretto Motherhouse, in an area of central Kentucky which is today still quite rural, two imposing brick buildings stand as witnesses to more than 175 years of Loretto’s education of young women. First there was Rhodes…
Loretto Academy at Loretto Motherhouse, opened in 1834 in today’s “Rhodes Hall,” steadily pursued its mission of education, through times of financial boom and bust, through the fire of 1858 which destroyed most of the Motherhouse, and despite the turmoil…
Two buildings on the grounds of Loretto Motherhouse are in the midst of significant anniversaries. The buildings that today we call “Rhodes Hall” and the “Novitiate/Academy Building” together mark 175 years of young ladies’ education at the Sisters of Loretto…
Using high-flying drones, video and still cameras, interviews, photos and documents from the Loretto Heritage Center, Neil Tucker and I have been making movies about the closings of three well-loved Loretto places: the St. Louis Loretto Center, Nazareth Hall in…
The late August numbers of the Taos newspapers in 1913 carried the following, in Spanish and in English: GOLDEN JUBILEEThe Sisters of Loretto Spend Half a Century in Taos, New MexicoEarly in 1863, Rev. Father Gabriel Usell, the then parish…
Virginia Ann Driscoll arrived at Loretto in October 1940, and with several Webster classmates was received on April 25, 1941. She made her first vows on the same date in 1943 and her final vows on Aug. 15, 1946. Virginia…
JoAnn Gates and Susan Classen celebrated their vows to God in the Loretto Community at Loretto Motherhouse Nov. 4. The celebration lasted all day, incorporating elements intimately warm and solemn, familiar and fresh. It was Loretto doing something entirely new,…
“To find mold in an archives building is like facing a tsunami, a hurricane and an earthquake all rolled into one disaster. When Archivist Eleanor Craig was summoned to the scene, she had to take to her chair in a…