The Art Collections at the Provincial Archives

Over the years, the Archives had acquired a number of framed materials, including paintings related to the Vincentian heritage, pieces created by Daughters of Charity, majestic portraits that hung on the walls of major ministries, or even copies of old photographs thrown into a frame.  Often, these were marked as being placed in the “art section” and then put on the to-do list. 

The problems with this system are obvious, as the art section is quite large, and eventually the time would came when something would need to be retrieved, forcing us to look far and wide, handle a larger number of artifacts, and create the potential for more damage, all while taking up more space and spreading our search over ever more items.

Eventually, we became frustrated with this, and instituted a formal project to inventory the artwork for the first time.  Every single piece was touched and examined, looking at its relevance, information that we had about how it came to the Archives, its medium, and its condition.  Some pieces were discarded as cheap copies of photographs that were placed in cheap frames and, more often, copies of photographs whose originals were in the collections already.  Other pieces required more research, as they did not obviously relate to our collection policy until we learned about the individual artist or the donor.

Thus, we present some examples of the major categories of framed artwork and some of our favorites.

Mother Seton and the Canonization Cause

The Seton family portraits (including her compatriots the Filicchi brothers), painted by Father Salvator Burgio, Vice-Postulator of her canonization cause, were created in the early 1950s to promote Mothe Seton’s canonization cause.  They include young, pre-community Mother Seton; her husband; the Filicchi brothers; her father; and her five children.

Vincentian Heritage

This pair of portraits, depicting both sides of the Miraculous Medal revealed to Saint Catherine Labouré, a Daughter of Charity in the Paris Seminary in 1830, came from the chapel at the original St. Vicnent’s Hospital – late DePaul Hospital – in Norfolk, Virginia.

Honorable Mention

Although the label by the artist is incorrect, it is still a very nice work.  This painting by Mary Eichelmann depicts the Motherhouse of the entire global community of the Daughters of Charity.  Located on the Rue du bac in Paris, it only became the Motherhouse after the deaths of Vincent and Louise and after the end of the chaos of the French Revolutionary Era.

Depictions of the Daughters

Despite not necessarily being related to the American Daughters, this print of a depiction of the Daughters nursing during the Crimean War shows the universal call to service the Daughters have had since their formation and has served as an inspiration for depictions of the Daughters in later conflicts, particularly during the era when they wore the cornette habit.

Daughters’ Artwork

Sister Maureen Beitman created this work to show the great women of the American Vincentian tradition and their unity in the heart of Jesus, St. Louise de Marillac and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  Sister Maureen titled this work Spirit into Infinity.

Honorable Mention

Sister Lucie Thai created this piece before she left Vietnam for the United States.  Taking only a few possessions with her to remind her of her homeland, she determined this to be the best example of her work and thus the one worth taking.  It was used as a model when taught girls and women in Vietnam how to craft and create, both as an artistic outlet and as a way to teach them a marketable skill.  It depicts Our Lady of La Vang.

Works from Ministries

President Eisenhower was a neighbor to the Daughters of sorts, with his Gettysburg farm being right up the road from the Daughters’ St. Joseph College.  After retiring, he took up painting, and gifted the College a self-portrait to return the favor for years of friendship and cooperation on social services in the District of Columbia. 

Honorable Mention

The Daughters’ ministry at Carville, Louisiana for those suffering from Hansen’s Disease – more commonly known as leprosy – is one of the most unique ministries the Daughters have undertaken in the history of this country.  It was a gift to Sister Dorothy Bachelot for her support of the Gillis W. Long National Hansen’s Disease Center and depicts the famous Southern Gothic architecture of the rural Louisiana hospital. 

The Emmitsburg Plant Books

In the age of Laudato Si, we are reminded of the value of knowing what our common home looks like, and part of this is knowing the level of biodiversity in our environment.  The Sisters and Daughters of Charity who ministered at St. Joseph’s Academy and at their Provincial house throughout the 19^th century did not go into extensive detail on trees, plants, and ecology around them.  Thankfully, some of their students did.

The Archives has five books, each containing a collection of pressed leaves and flowers of various plant species found in the area, along with the scientific name of each plant.  The books range in date from 1806 to 1874.

The typical page from one of these books consists of one or several samples cut and pasted into the books and its scientific name.

This page consists of Salvia Splendens and Salvia patens, or red and blue sage.

The scrapbooks provide evidence of the education Academy students were receiving, both in Latin and in plants and botany.  While many of the plants are native, several of them are not, indicating some type of cultivation.  One of the books even contains a chart of the plants, including its count, scientific, and common name, as well as more information on its taxonomical classification.

From 1807

Seeing as some of the books predate Mother Seton’s founding of her school in Emmitsburg in 1809, it is unclear exactly how some of the earliest books came to the collections.  Others, however, have clear provenance and direct connection to Emmitsburg, as the one created by Mary O’Rourke, class of 1874, sent by her husband and daughter after her passing.

We are in the process of scanning these books, first and foremost as a conservation measure.  Decaying plant matter does not typically do well for conservation and holding up well, as anyone familiar with trees, soil, gardening, or nutrients will tell you.  The plant samples are also incredibly fragile, made dry and brittle by over a century (sometimes two) of survival.  Scanning will preserve the books in the state they are in now, at least in image form, in case more and more pieces get whittled away.  Currently, three of the five books have been scanned, and we are planning to make them available publicly through our colleagues at Digital Maryland.  Eventually, we will make the others available as well, but due to their size, we will need to work with third-party vendors with capabilities that we do not have on-site.

Long Overdue Gratitude to the Oblate Sisters of Providence

The cholera epidemic of 1832 that swept through Baltimore killed 1% of the city’s population, which translated into 800 deaths.  The Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, Mother Seton’s community, received recognition and gratitude for its work and service.  Another community of sisters did not receive their gratitude for a very, very long time, purely because they were Black.

The Oblate Sisters of Providence were the first community of African American women religious in the United States.  Founded by Venerable Mother Mary Lange and counting among its first band of members Sister Theresa Maxis Duchemin, a student of Mother Seton’s school, the Oblate Sisters primarily came from and ministered to the free African American community in the Baltimore area.

The only known photo of Mother Mary Lange, c. 1870s/80s

The Calverton Almshouse was one of the great horror sites of the epidemic.  The Sisters of Charity labored in one room providing comfort to the dying, while the Oblate Sisters labored in another; segregation prevented a more efficient and effective method of care.  Yet, despite this practice, when Archbishop James Whitefield contracted the disease, he called upon the Oblate Sisters rather than the Sisters of Charity, who held the official mandate for care granted by the Archdiocese. 

Calverton Almshouse (Courtesy Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center)

Despite facing the same horrors, and each community losing Sisters to cholera in the epidemic, the accounts in the Daughters’ Archives fail to mention the work of their Oblate companions.  Only in 2023 did the city of Baltimore extend an official recognition of gratitude to the Oblate Sisters. 

While better late than never is certainly true, it is our hope that all be recognized in their own times and to see the completeness of the work of God’s Church and every soul that forms it.