By Elizabeth B. Scott
Title: Southern Missions, 1937-2009
Predominant Dates:1940-1970
Extent: 27.0 Linear Feet
Arrangement: This collection has been arranged into series: I. Campus Ministry. II. Clippings. III. Convocations. IV. Correspondence. V. Financial. VI. Houses. VII. Missions Office. VIII. Parishes. IX. Scrapbooks/Albums. X. Sisters. XI. Southern Missions, Inc. XII. Southern Region. XIII. Spiritual reports. XIV. Sponsored Works. XV. Subjects.
Subjects: Dauphin Island (Ala.), Elizabeth City (N.C.), Mobile (Ala.), Mon Luis (Ala.), Selma (Ala.), Wake Forest (N.C.)
In the 1930’s, after moving their general administrative offices from England to Vermont, the Society of Saint Edmund began to seek ways in which it could meet the call of Pope Pius X’s 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.” By July 1937, three Edmundites were serving in Selma. Within a month, they began publishing Your Edmundite Missions Newsletter (now the Edmundite Missions Newsletter) to solicit funds for the new mission.
Over the years, the work of the Edmundites expanded to include:
Work in parishes and schools throughout Alabama, (especially in Selma, Anniston, Gadsden, Mobile and the Gulf Coast), in Elizabeth City and Wake Forest, NC, in Apalachicola FL, 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 Sponsorship of the Good Samaritan School of Practical Nursing, the first school of practical nursing for black students in Alabama. Additionally, 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. Through the years they worked very closely with many Religious orders of women through the South, including the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Rochester and the Daughters of the Holy Ghost.
The work of the Society in the South included entrusted parishes, sponsored works, campus ministry programs, educational endeavors and a number of chaplaincies. Sponsored works were often run by the society or a women’s religious order affiliated with the society. Much of the funding was through the Edmundite Missions Office, which quickly became an entity distinct from the Southern Missions as a whole, (although the office of Mission Director and Superior was held by the same person in the earliest years). In 1952, the local superior and mission director were held by different men for the first time, with the mission director given responsibility for the work outside of Selma or “the missions.” In 1991, another office was established to oversee the sponsored works of the southern missions, that of Program director. The Mission Director was responsible for raising funds, the Program Director was responsible for administering the works themselves, and the Superior took responsibility for the house, house members, and the work in parishes. An entity known as Fathers of Saint Edmund, Southern Missions, inc. was established in Alabama in1943 as the non-profit corporation.
The Society members were often the only whites regularly engaging with the African American population in their chosen locations. Administering and sponsoring institutions that were a part of the social fabric of the community allowed them to witness events integral to twentieth century America. As the civil rights movement took hold, the Edmundites continued to manage their insitutions while the communities they served radically changed. A few individuals became deeply involved in the movement.
Dauphin Island (Ala.)
Elizabeth City (N.C.)
Mobile (Ala.)
Mon Luis (Ala.)
Selma (Ala.)
Wake Forest (N.C.)
Repository: Saint Michael's College Archives & Special Collections
Acquisition Source: Edmundite Missions Office
Acquisition Method: Transfer
Related Materials:
SSE 6.8 Local Administration/ South
SSE 2 Superior General Record Group
SSE Photograph Collection
Processing Information: This Record Group parallels the Local Administration/South record subgroup. Materials which accumulated in the Generalate offices prior to 2003 make up the Local Administration/South record subgroup. (It does not necessarily include correspondence written directly to the Superior General—those are kept with Superior General correspondence series.) The provenance of that record subgroup is unknown, although it is likely a combination of materials collected in the Generalate and some material transferred from the Southern Missions offices at an earlier time. It is possible that some material is duplicated. For a comprehensive view of the Society’s work in the South it may be necessary to explore all three collections.
Missions Office 1941-2005
The missions office is the primary administrative wing of the southern missions. Soon after the establishment of the mission in 1937, the first newsletter went out. As the entire endeavor expanded, the work required an office with lay personnel. The Mission Director was responsible for the office. The work initially involved both fundraising (primarily through the newsletter) and administrative work related to the services offered through the missions. The fundraising work was monumental, and the procedures for opening mail, sending out appeals and the files of the appeals themselves are incredibly complex. Grant writing also involved a great deal of time, but was primarily done by the missions director himself. In 1989, Superior General McLaughlin established a program director to oversee the sponsored works of the missions, and a separate office with staff followed. The office employed a sizeable number of lay people and over the years a number of priests and brothers worked in one of the two offices. The missions office series includes administrative records from the missions office, the primary fundraising wing of the southern missions. Records also include personnel files, reports, office procedures and fundraising files.
Box 14
Director Crowley Faculties 1941-1946
Director Crowley Path to Peace in Selma
Crowley St. Patrick’s Day Speeches
Intercommunity Instruction 1948-1950
Intercommunity Instruction 1951-1959
Intercommunity Instruction May 1954-July 1956
Intercommunity Instruction 1956-1961
Intercommunity Instruction 1962-1967
Edmundite Missions Newsletter Index 1942-1971
Newsletters 1937-1946
Personnel Dorothy McKenna
Personnel Gallerani
Sisters-Pastoral Assistance
Publicity (Early)
Publications Brochures
“Black Perspectives”(1981) Office of Black Ministry Research, SSE
Brophy Report Folder 1
Brophy Report Folder 2
Report (ARA 1975)
Report Cheswick Center Study 1990
Report Closing Anniston and Gadsden
Reports Mixed
Report Priest Perspectives on Selma, Mission (Pt. 1) 1984
Staff Meeting Minutes 2000-2005
Staff Meeting Minutes 1997-1999
Staff Meeting Minutes 1994-1999
Box 15
Bookkeeping Procedures 1961
Dir. Daily Mail 1951-1957
Daily Mail 1958-1961
Box 16
Fundraising Appeal: “A Missionary Endeavor” 1963
Fundraising Appeals Letters 1937-1947
Fundraising Edmundite Spiritual Association Folder 1 1983-85
Fundraising Edmundite Spiritual Association Folder 2 1986-89
Fundraising Fenske Donor Profile 2004
Fundraising Foundations 1907 Foundation Inc (UPS)
Fundraising Foundation Vivian B. Allen Inc.
Fundraising Allbebaum Foundation Inc.
Fundraising Foundations Aquinas
Fundraising Foundations Avalon Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Baird 1957-1969
Fundraising Foundations Baird Patrick & Co. Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Beinecke Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Bentz Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Brackin, Nelson Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Louis Calden Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Charlpeg Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Clark Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Derance Inc. Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Carrie Estelle Dohens Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Dored Doris Duke
Fundraising Foundations Drum
Fundraising Foundations Charles Englehard
Fundraising Foundations Fiduciary
Fundraising Foundations Fleischmann
Fundraising Foundations Frueauff
Fundraising Foundations Edward T. Foley
Fundraising Foundations Ford
Fundraising Foundations Eva Gabhard Gooraud
Fundraising Foundations Fedearal Foundation Book
Fundraising Foundations General Foundation Analysis
Fundraising Foundations Pending Foundations
Fundraising Foundations Proposal List to Foundations
Fundraising Foundations P&P Gerli Foundation Inc.
Fundraising Foundations Given Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Grace, Mr. Charles M. Foundation
Fundraising Foundations Grant
Fundraising Foundations Hammermill
Fundraising Foundations Harney
Fundraising Foundations Helwig AA
Fundraising Foundations Hameland
Fundraising Foundations IBM
Fundraising Foundations Kasal (Father) Charitable Trust
Fundraising Foundations Kellog
Fundraising Foundations Kelly, John F., Catherine
Fundraising Foundations Lewis, Frank J
Fundraising Foundations Kennedy, John R
Fundraising Foundations Lowenstein, Leon
Fundraising Foundations McCarthy, E.J.
Fundraising Foundations McEvoy, Mildred, H.
Fundraising Foundations McGregor
Fundraising Foundations Meritt, Chapman, Scott
Fundraising Foundations Milliken
Fundraising Foundations Miscellaneous
Fundraising Foundations Molloy
Fundraising Foundations New York
Fundraising Foundations Negro Education
Fundraising Foundations O Neill
Fundraising Foundations Pennsylvania State University
Fundraising Foundations Various
Fundraising Foundations Raskob 1967-68
Fundraising Foundations Raskob #2
Fundraising Foundations Fannie E. Rippel
Box 17
Fundraising Foundations Roberts
Fundraising Foundations Rockefeller
Fundraising Foundations Mr. Lewis Rosensteil
Fundraising Foundations St. Anthony (Mr. Fred Jackson)
Fundraising Foundations San Francisco
Fundraising Foundations Scanlan
Fundraising Foundations Mr. David H. Spiller (Eltra Corp)
Fundraising Foundations Stern Sears Roebuck
Fundraising Foundations Sealantic
Fundraising Foundations Seven Lamps
Fundraising Foundations George O. Smith (UPS)
Fundraising Foundations Mrs. Leonard M. Sperry Sr
Fundraising Foundations Stern Family
Fundraising Foundations Strake Family
Fundraising Foundations Vons Grocery
Fundraising Foundations Vans Ameringen
Fundraising Foundations William K Warren
Fundraising Foundations Edwin L., Anna K. Wiegand
Fundraising Foundations Wehrle 1958-75
Fundraising Foundations Kahr Sisters 1942-1980
Fundraising Letter Samples
Fundraising Letter Memorial Letters
Fundraising Plea Production Book 11 1971-1973
Fundraising Plea Production Book 12, 1973-74
Fundraising Plea Production Book 13, 1973-74
Fundraising Plea Production Book 14, 1974-75
Fundraising Plea Production Book 15, 1975-76
Fundraising Plea Production Book 16, 1975-76
Fundraising Plea Production Book 17, 1976-77
Fundraising Plea Production Book 18, 1976-77
Fundraising Plea Production Book 19, 1977-78
Fundraising Plea Production Book 20, 1978-79
Box 18
Fundraising Plea Production Book 21, 1979-80
Fundraising Plea Production Book 22, 1980-81
Fundraising Plea Production Book 23, 1981-82
Fundraising Plea Production Book 28, 1983-84
Fundraising Plea Production Book 29, 333-314 1985-86
Fundraising Plea Production Book 29, 334-353 1985-86
Fundraising Plea Production Book 30, 1985-86
Fundraising Plea Production Book 31, 1985-86
Fundraising Plea Production Book 32, 1986
Fundraising Plea Production Book 33, 1986-1987
Fundraising Plea Production Book 34, 1987-88
Fundraising Plea Production Book 35, 1987
Box 19
Staff Meeting Minutes 1984-1992
Staff Meeting Minutes 1980-1984
Symposium 1956
Symposium 1957
Symposium 3rd
Symposium 4th
