| Linking the past, to the present, for the future

July 29, 2015 · 9:55 am

Invasion of the Mother House, 1871 (Part 1)

(Text used with permission of the Provincial Archives and the Province of St. Louise)

The Mother House of the Daughters of Charity, located in Paris, has been a witness to many important historical events. Recently, we found in our collection a first-hand account of the events of the Paris Commune of 1871, in a document titled Details Regarding the Invasion of the Mother-House and Our Miraculous Deliverance. . Our next few posts will consist of text from this unique account. In the account, “St. Lazare” refers to the Mother House of the Congregation of the Mission.

For more information about the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune see this page from the British Library.

We had witnessed the departure of almost all of our Sisters from the Houses of Charity in Paris; and notwithstanding our confidence in the Most Holy Virgin we were not without fears respecting our dear Mother House, when on Monday May 15, our Most Honored Mother was officially informed that the seal was to be placed on the papers and archives of the community. Accordingly we were obliged to take the most essential and hasty precautions possible; for some time previous no packages had been allowed to go out of Paris without the closest examination.

From this day our worthy Father Director, who for so long a time had resided among us … fearing to compromise the community, resolved to return to St. Lazare today spend the night and the greater portion of the day. However a week passed in the painful suspense. We learned successively the dismissal of various communities and every morning we offered our acts of thanksgiving to God, through the hands of Immaculate Mary for the special protection he had vouchsafed us … On Saturday May 20th about ten o’clock at night, there was a loud ring at the door. The Sister opened the window and perceived a number of armed men who presented themselves n the name of the Commune demanding admission. According to the order she had received, the Sister inquired if it would be possible for them to wait till next morning: “Our family is very numerous”, said she, “and we would be much obliged to you could you wait a few hours”. One of them replied that he would repair to headquarters to ascertain, many followed him.

Our Most Honored Mother and Sister Assistant being immediately informed, repaired to the dormitory fronting the street to await their return. During this interval a dense crowd pressed around the door, doubtless with the expectation of sharing in the riches which they hoped to find in the House. The Sisters in charge, having risen in the meantime, went to their respective offices …

Presently a delegate of the commune presented himself and gave orders to open the door; he entered, accompanied by twelve national guards, a Captain, and a Sergeant. Their first address was: “Do not fear my Sister, we have not come to do you any harm, but only to protect you. Then the delegate announcing his intention to take up his quarters there, asked to see the place they were willing to assign him for that purpose; our mother led him to the parlor which he found very convenient; he gave orders to his men to enter, after which he expressed a desire to visit the basement of the Seminary. Our Mother surmising his intention, which the next day clearly revealed, said to him, “Sir, if you intend to send us away, I wish to know it some time in advance, for you understand very well that a House of three hundred persons cannot be vacuated in a moment; we have in this number one hundred and twenty young persons and many infirm Sisters. It was easy to discover by the smile of the delegate, that he was perfectly acquainted with the projects of the Commune, but he contented himself with answering, “That does not concern me.” It was evident that they wished to convert our House into a kind of Citadel from whence they could fire upon our army. Our Mother immediately saw the necessity of abandoning the House.

(to be continued in our next post)

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Digital Exhibit: Photographs of William H. Tipton

Last week, for #Throwback Thursday, we shared two images of William H. Tipton, a prominent Gettysburg photographer whose images show up in our records of St. Joseph Academy. The Academy records contain a total of five Tipton photographs, showing both campus and students. We present them here. All images are used with the permission of the Provincial Archives. The images in this online exhibit are 150 dpi; high-resolution images are available for study in the Provincial Archives.

Oratory at St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, MD (Photo by William H. Tipton)

Music room at St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, MD (Photo by William H. Tipton)

Group of St. Joseph's Academy students, 1900 (Photo by William H. Tipton)

Group of students, St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, MD, 1900 (Photo by William H. Tipton)

St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, MD, class of 1903 (Photo by William H. Tipton)

St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, MD, class of 1894 (Photo by William H. Tipton)

William H. Tipton photos in the Provincial Archives

(Images used with permission of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives. Text is based on an article which appeared online in PACivilWar150.com)

St. Joseph’s Academy class of 1894 (photo by William H. Tipton)

Art classroom at St. Joseph’s Academy (photo by William H. Tipton)

Seen here are two images from the early 1890s at St. Joseph’s Academy in Emmitsburg. One is the group image of the Class of 1894; the other is an art classroom. They are, of course, a window into the lives of the young women who were educated in Emmitsburg over 100 years ago; however, they have a second interesting feature. They, along with other images in our St. Joseph’s Academy collection, are the work of a well-known Civil War photographer, William H. Tipton.

At the time of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the only local commercial studio in the town was operated by Charles J. (1838-1906) and Isaac G. Tyson (1833-1913). The studio was founded in 1859. Tipton (1850-1929) was a native of Gettysburg who began working there as an apprentice at the age of twelve. Following the battle, the studio distributed images documenting the battlefield area and Gettysburg itself taken before and after the battle.

In 1866 Tipton and one of his employees, Robert A. Myers, purchased the studio from the Tysons and renamed it Tipton and Myers Excelsior Gallery. In 1880 Tipton became sole owner and the firm became known as W. H. Tipton and Company. Tipton’s business flourished, and he continued to photograph Civil War battlefields, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Spotsylvania, and Chancellorsville. He served on the Gettysburg Town Council and was elected to the state legislature, and worked on President Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign.

An indication of the scope of Tipton’s business can be seen on the back of the 1894 class picture, which contains this note:

… I have many thousands of plates taken from battle to present time, from which I can furnish photographs or lantern slides.
Headquarters for souvenir albums, guide book, and tourists novelties.
W.H. Tipton
3 Main Street
Gettysburg, PA”

Today, Tipton’s Civil War photography resides at the National Archives, as part of the records of the National Park Service.
Included in that collection are people and scenes used by Paul Philippoteaux as the basis for his Gettysburg Cyclorama. The cyclorama, now restored, can be seen today in the Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. It is not clear how much of Tipton’s non-Civil-War photography has survived. The Provincial Archives has none of Tipton’s business records, nor do we have images of Tipton’s connected with Gettysburg or the Civil War. The images of his that we have are from work he did for the Daughters of Charity at St. Joseph’s Academy. However, we were pleased to find that our collections can add, in a small way, to the record of this important local photographer.