A Groundbreaking Archival Event
August 02, 2024
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Heritage and Research Center (HARC) at Saint Mary’s, which will house the rich histories and collections of nine women’s religious congregations and Saint Mary’s College, took place at 11 a.m. Friday, July 26, 2024, on Saint Mary’s campus, Notre Dame, Indiana. CSA representatives (pictured left to right) were congregational archivist Jenny Lukomski, and Sisters Sharon Pollnow, Peg Spindler, and Hertha Longo.
A vital asset to the tri-campus (Saint Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College), regional and digital communities for study, research and scholarship, the center will highlight the lives and ministries of thousands of religious sisters. These women launched and grew institutions of education, health care, and public outreach that became the standard and backbone of development within these fields in the United States. The extensive collection will highlight these efforts and institutions, many of which still thrive today, and the lasting impacts of sisters’ presence and service.
The extensive collection will shine a light on the sisters’ models of leadership and organization and their processes for growing community development and advancing social justice. These approaches to living justly can serve humanity well, and the archives will ensure that they can be shared more broadly.
“We are excited about this collaboration that will deepen and advance the continued research and stories of women religious who have brought so much to the communities in which they served,” says Sister Suzanne Brennan, CSC, general councilor and treasurer of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Though supported by each of the participating congregations, HARC will operate as an independent entity, employing an executive director, archivists and curators to manage the center’s collections, exhibits and programming. Part of the National Archives Project for Women Religious, HARC will share a technology platform with three other archival hubs—Cleveland, Ohio, Santa Clara University and Boston College—allowing users access to all four repositories.
“HARC is a significant new archives institution bringing together the historical records of nine Midwestern congregations of women religious,” says Monte Abbott, chair of HARC’s board of directors and director of archives for the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, St. Louis, Missouri. “More than just a repository, HARC will actively share the heartwarming stories of sisters in service to those in need over the past two centuries.”
HARC’s Council of Partners
Ladysmith Servite Sisters (Sister Servants of Mary), Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, Huntington, Indiana
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, Iowa
Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, Merrill, Wisconsin
Sisters of Saint Agnes, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Sisters of St. Casimir, Chicago, Illinois
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, O’Fallon, Missouri
HARC Mission
The mission of the Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s (HARC) is to preserve and honor the rich history of women religious and their sponsored ministries through partnership and collaboration of congregations of women religious and Saint Mary’s College.
HARC Vision
The life stories of thousands of Catholic sisters will now be in one place where all can come together to study, research, and apply initiatives and models to lead communities, parishes, organizations, schools and centers.
HARC will feature storytelling, artifact exhibits, archival preservation and digitization. Learning rooms, group dialogue and classes will also share the history of women religious. Together, these resources will present role models of women that can help guide others—today and in the future. The vision for the Center is that future leaders, women religious, and the public will become aware of and inspired by the work of Catholic sisters, past and present, to act on behalf of the world’s suffering.