History
The largest single collection in the archives is the Edmundite Southern House records. This collection includes the records from the work of the Society of Saint Edmund in the Southern United States. The Society of Saint Edmund is a clerical religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church founded in France in 1843. They first settled in America in 1891, and moved their general administrative offices to Vermont in the 1930’s. Soon after, the Society began to seek ways in which it could meet the call of the church to serve the “Negro and Indian populations of North America.” In January 1937, Bishop Thomas Toolen of Mobile (AL) invited the Society to “establish a mission among the colored population in Selma.” The Society responded quickly. By July 1937, three Edmundites were serving in Selma. Over the years, the work of the Edmundites expanded to include:
- Work in parishes and schools throughout Alabama, (especially in Selma, Anniston, Mobile and the Gulf coast), in Elizabeth City and Wake Forest, NC, in New Orleans, LA and in Caracas, Venezuela.
- Sponsorship of the Good Samaritan Nursing Home and Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma from the 1940s until their closure in the 1980s
- The Don Bosco Boys Club
- The Good Samaritan School of Practical Nursing, the first school of practical nursing for black students in Alabama
More recently, the Edmundites have sponsored learning centers, health clinics, nutrition centers, and other social service organizations in Dallas, Wilcox, Monroe, and Lowndes Counties in Alabama, and have maintained parishes and a school in Louisiana.
The Society members were often the only whites regularly engaging with the African American population in their chosen locations. As the civil rights movement took hold, the Edmundites had a unique role, especially as their institutions were an established part of the social fabric of the community. Members of the Society were eyewitnesses to events integral to twentieth century America. Other members of the Society were deeply involved in the civil rights movement.
Collections of Note
Edmundite Publications (Available in the Archives)
- Edmundite Newsletter Vol. 4, no. 2 Feb. 1963-[v.8,n.4 June/July 1966)
- Your Newsletter Selma, AL Easter 1944 not first issue]-Aug. 1957
- Your Edmundite Missions Newsletter Oct. 1957-200
- Southern Lights : A Newsletter for the Edmundite Southern Region
Selected Books
- Davis, Cyprian, Jamie Phelps, eds. Stamped with the image of God : African Americans as God's image in Black . Maryknoll, N.Y. : Orbis Books, c2003. BX1407.N4 S73 2003
- Harvey, Paul. Freedom's coming : religious culture and the shaping of the South from the Civil War through the civil rights era / Paul Harvey. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press 2005 BR535.H38 2005
- Hite, Gregory Nelson. The hottest places in hell : the Catholic Church, the Alabama voting rights campaign and Selma, Alabama, 1937-1965. 2002. ARCH BX1415.A3 H58 2002
- Lovett, Rose Gibbons. Catholic Church in the Deep South : the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama, 1540-1976 / by Rose Gibbons Lovett. 1980 BX1415.A3L68 1981
- Moore, Andrew S. The South's tolerable alien : Roman Catholics in Alabama and Georgia, 1945-1970. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, c2007 F335.C3M66 2007
- Powers, William F . Tar Heel Catholics : a history of Catholicism in North Carolina / William F. Powers. Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 2003 BX1415.N8P694 2003
- Schweiger, Beth Barton and Donald G. Mathews, eds. Religion in the American South : Protestants and others in history and culture. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press. 2004 BR535.R42 2004
- Woods, James M., History of the Catholic Church in the American South [electronic resource] : 1513-1900 / James M. Woods. Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2011 ONLINE BX1410.W66 2011eb
DVD
Sample Searches
African American Catholics
Catholic Church Alabama
Catholic Church North Carolina
Civil Rights Alabama
Civil Rights North Carolina