The Daughters of Charity have had histories with many United States Presidents, but perhaps no stranger one is reflected in the Archives than the one with President Teddy Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt first became acquainted with the Daughters at Montauk Point Camp on Long Island. Colonel Roosevelt, a New Yorker from the New York City-Long Island area, passed through on his way to the Spanish-American War, with the Daughters nursing at stateside camps in 1898.
In 1902, President Roosevelt was visiting Indianapolis, when he suffered from an abscess in his leg. Sister Regina Purtell, then director of St. Vincent’s Hospital, met the President and would serve as his private nurse.
In the several years afterward that he occupied the White House, President Roosevelt seems to have recognized Sister Regina’s fellow Daughters of Charity at Providence Hospital. During his second term, from 1905-1908, the Daughters and the President exchanged Christmas cards every year, with the President sending a nice thank you for their prayers and their work. Although they are not handwritten, they are all unique, which indicates that they were not a form letter but dictated by the President to a secretary. He did then personally sign the letters on official White House stationery.
His primary point-of-contact seems to have been Sister Regis Biller, another veteran of Montauk Point.
Some of the letters do have the unfortunate mar of some out-of-date archival practice, when a stamp by the holding institution was used to show ownership of an item and prove authenticity. While none of the stamps obscure the text, they tend to take the reader out of the moment with an intrusion of later 20th century practices.
The year 2023 marks 60 years since the assassination of the nation’s first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy. The Daughters of Charity Provincial Archive contains several references to this day and to the late President.
Most directly, the Daughters of Charity taught at Holy Trinity School in Dallas during that time period, a longtime parish of the Vincentian Fathers, the brother community to the Daughters. Inside the boundaries of that parish was Parkland Hospital, where the President was rushed after the shots rang out. Father Oscar Huber, C.M., the pastor at Holy Trinity, provided the Last Rites for President Kennedy.
Image Courtesy the Vincentian Provincial Archive at DePaul University – ritual book used by Father Oscar Huber for President Kennedy’s Last Rites
A tradition of the Daughters Schools at the time was the Children of Mary groups, several of which sent condolence cards to Jacqueline. Two of Mrs. Kennedy’s polite responses survive, once from Holy Trinity School in Dallas and the other from Utica Catholic Academy in Upstate New York.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, the President’s gravesite in Arlington Cemetery became a pilgrimage site. When the Superioress General, Mother Suzanne Guillemin, visited the United States from France, the Daughters arranged a trip to the gravesite in the midst of her full travel schedule.
The Daughters maintained relationships with members of the Kennedy family in the subsequent years. Perhaps most notably, Jacqueline hand-wrote a personal thank-you letter to Sister Helen Kelly at Carney Hospital, Boston, in 1969 thanking Sister for favoring her preferred site of the future Kennedy Presidential Library, a controversial site choice at the time. The Daughters also worked with Jean Kennedy Smith, the President’s sister and their brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, in the governance of the Kennedy Child Study Center in New York City.
Director of the Center Sister Mary Patricia Finneran; Archbishop Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York; Rabbi Samuel Belkin, President of Yeshiva University; Sargent Shriver; and Jean Kennedy Smith
Although not strictly part of the collection scope, several Sisters over the years have donated their JFK memorabilia to the Archives, reflecting the deep scar that the assassination left across the Daughters, the American Catholic community, and the nation. Even 60 years on, this remains a deep emotional wound in the American psyche.
Photo of the motorcade with the President, First Lady, and Governor Connally, taken by Sister Angela Fitzgibbon, D.C., November 22, 1963
For about a month now, the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives’ exhibit on the history, symbolism, and eventual change of the Daughters habit has been open. We wanted to use this opportunity to discuss some of the background that led us to the finished product of the exhibit.
The origin of the exhibit came, of course, with the planning of the renovation of the Seton Shrine Museum, when the Daughters Archive secured their own exhibit gallery, open to the public alongside the Shrine. As we thought about what would be our first opening to a large crowd, we turned to our own statistics and the number of questions we receive about the Daughters traditional habit. With the number of requests we receive on this subject, we saw an opening to appeal and educate on a popular subject. With the number of habits, rosaries, and chaplets in the artefactual collections, we saw a chance for a very material heavy exhibit.
From here, we saw five key things to focus on: the origins in the times of St. Louise, the habits and chaplets and their symbolism, making a cornette, and the change of the habit.
When it came to creating the mannequins, the showpiece and centerpieces of the exhibit, we did have to acquire a few more mannequins, but also now faced the challenge of how to prepare them for a museum-going audience. Thankfully, we were able to draw upon our colleagues at Heritage Frederick, the Historical Society of Frederick County, to teach us how to dress them properly. Their curator, Amy Hunt, had just finished leading the creation of their “Women’s Work from Farm to Fashion” exhibit, and taught us what she knew about displaying textiles and clothing.
We realized early on that we wanted something of a ‘workshop closet’ feel, both as an aesthetic and as a way to establish some separation between the visitor and the habits – hence the platform and barrier. We realized the chaplets and rosaries could easily be displayed in exhibit cases that we already had, and we already had a pulled cornette on display in our old exhibit space in a perfectly sized case. The cornette-making equipment also provided a nice show piece, and we had already digitized an instructional video of a Daughter explaining how to make a cornette into its iconic shape and image.
We also realized that something in the artifact collections, which we had in abundance but which got very little actual use could give the exhibit a much-needed feeling of fun and spontaneity – the dolls. These not only illustrated the different habits over time, even when we did not have room for more mannequins, but also provided a resonance point for guests and particularly something relatable for children.
With the big showpieces and themes covered, we could then take steps to fill the rest of the space. One staff member realized that artwork depicting the habits could entice visitors. Another realized that guests could have a personal connection with a Daughter if they were allowed to touch and handle her chaplet. All of these things helped create our first exhibit truly open to the public without restriction. We invite you in to explore the truly iconic apparel of the Daughters of Charity!
Getting in the Habit: Iconic Apparel of the Daughters of Charity is open at the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Monday through Saturday 10AM-5PM, except Wednesday when it is open until 7:30PM. Private tours can be arranged by contacting archives@doc.org or calling 301-447-6067. The exhibit will be open through the end of 2024.
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