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St. Mary’s Smackdown

December 11, 2018 by Jillian Sandy

Founded as St. Mary’s Female Seminary, St. Mary’s College of Maryland shares its name with many other “Mary” schools across the country.  Though SMCM was founded as a non-sectarian boarding school to memorialize religious tolerance in colonial times, its name was very close to the Catholic school formerly known as St. Mary’s School for Boys, aka the University of Dayton.  We want this post to go viral, so we have no time for supporting each other as institutions of higher learning with stories and aspirations in common. Instead, it’s Mary vs. Mary, boys vs. girls, seminary vs. school, it’s…

St. Mary’s Smackdown 2018

4 images are displayed side by side: the exterior of Roesch Library, a doll dressed as a nun, a doll dressed in a colonial era gray dress, and the exterior of the Library at St. Mary's College of Maryland

Competitor 1:  St. Mary’s College of Maryland (formerly St. Mary’s Female Seminary)

Fighting out of the navy blue (and white) corner is the national public honors college of Maryland.  Coming in strong with 1,533 students, SMCM offers Bachelor’s degrees in the liberal arts and a Master of Arts in Teaching, ready to school its rivals.

Competitor 2:  University of Dayton (formerly St. Mary’s School for Boys)

Currently in the red (and blue) corner, a private Catholic Marianist university in Ohio.  With 10,899 students, Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate programs, and a law school, will UD crush the opposition beyond a reasonable doubt?


Round 1:  1840 vs. 1850

SMCM:  founded in 1840, SMCM is the older (and wiser?) competitor.

UD:  clocking in at 1850, UD is the younger (and reckless?) contender.

Results:  As they say, age before beauty.  Another cool fact about 1840: it was the year Claude Monet was born.

On the other hand, 1850 was the year the London Zoo brought in its first hippopotamus (following a complex chain of events, ultimately leading to the birth of adorable Fiona the hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo!).  Hmmmm…Monet vs. hippos. I can guess who would win in a fight, but I’ve never seen a hippo paint a pond filled with water lilies.


Round 2: Doll vs. Dolls

SMCM:  The Library, Archives, and Media Center is home to Margaret Brent–that is, the doll version.  Brent was credited with keeping the young but full of drama St. Mary’s City alive (it was in its tween years) with her savvy as executor of the governor’s estate.  An unmarried woman who immigrated to colonial Maryland in the late 1630s, she was also the first woman to petition the court for the right to vote, though she was denied (see “History — patriarchy” for more information).  Fun fact: Margaret Brent (the person, not the doll) has a building on campus, the college’s De Soura Brent Scholars program, and a local middle school named after her.

UD:  Roesch Library houses the (in)famous Pauline A. Money nun doll collection.  Representing habits of religious orders around the world, the nun dolls also serve as a reminder that the 6th floor silent policy will be enforced…by library staff who may politely suggest a different floor for your group work.  They are strongly suspected to move on their own late at night.

Results:  Strength in numbers falls in the nun dolls’ favor; however, their commitment to non-violence may hold them back (in mortal if not spiritual matters).  Either way, I wouldn’t want to meet any of these dolls down a dark alley.


Round 3:  Fire vs. Explosion

SMCM:  in 1924, a fire destroyed the Main Building on campus and most of the college’s records.  The fire started after an overfilled boiler exploded; as far as we know, this is the school’s only connection to the events in The Shining.  The students of SMCM lived in temporary housing until 1925, when a new building–now known as Calvert Hall–was finished.

UD:  throughout the 1920s, UD experienced attacks from members of the KKK who targeted Catholics in the Dayton area, many of them immigrants.  One of the most serious incidents occurred in 1923, when members of the Klan set off bombs on campus and set a large cross alight. Students and neighbors banded together to drive off the attackers.*

Results:  The loss of historically important records, damage to property, and fear yield no real winners here.  The 1920s were challenging years on both campuses, yet the communities endured, demonstrating their resilience through hardship.

*SMCM also experienced a great deal of anti-Catholic sentiments as the Know Nothing party gained popularity in the 1850s.  During this period, a principal and teacher were fired for selling an anti-Catholic book, The School-girl in France, or, The Snares of Popery.


Round 4:  Mascots — Man vs. Nature

SMCM mascot:  Solomon the Seahawk, osprey.  Locally, Solomons is a tourist spot in Maryland named for Isaac Solomon, cannery owner/operator and inventor of a speedy method for canning food.

UD mascot:  Rudy Flyer, human.  Adopted as the school’s mascot in honor of the Wright B. Flyer, invented in the First in Flight city of Dayton (don’t @ me, North Carolina).

Results:  Based on punning alone, I don’t know of any mascot that beats rUDy Flyer.  However, I have to wonder whether Rudy’s ever-present aviator goggles hide a sinister secret.

Both mascots are creatures frequently found in the sky, and I like to believe they would coexist peacefully.  Solomon could share his fish catches with Rudy, and Rudy could provide a perch on the Wright B. Flyer when Solomon’s wings get tired.


As you may have suspected by now, we think both SMCM and UD are great, whether they are “St. Mary’s” schools today or in the past.  Let us be united in the ways our histories parallel and enjoy that somehow the libraries at both schools have doll collections.

Of course, we’re more than willing to hear dissenting opinions on this topic.  Who do you think wins St. Mary’s Smackdown 2018?

Our friendly rivals at the University of Dayton Libraries have posted this piece on their blog here.


Find more information about the history of St. Mary’s College of Maryland in the following resources:

    • About St. Mary’s: History of the College.  http://www.smcm.edu/about/history4/history-of-the-college
    • Archives of St. Mary’s College of Maryland
  • Haugaard, J.B., Wilkinson, S.G., and King, J.A. St. Mary’s: A “When-Did?” Timeline (2007). http://library.smcm.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/editedWhenDid-Timeline1.pdf


Find more information about the history of the University of Dayton in the following resources:

    • About the University of Dayton:  History. https://udayton.edu/about/history.php
  • Trollinger, W.V. “Hearing the Silence: The University of Dayton, the Ku Klux Klan, and Catholic Universities and Colleges in the 1920s” (2013). History Faculty Publications. Paper 11. http://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/11

Filed Under: Archives, Musings Tagged With: featured, history

Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation

March 2, 2015 by Amanda VerMeulen

Flappers Cover ArtContinuing with our collection features on Women’s History, the library brings you Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell. This collective biography focuses on the lives of the following women in the 1920s:

  • Diana Cooper, socialite extraordinaire
  • Nancy Cunard, writer and political activist
  • Tallulah Bankhead, actress
  • Zelda Fitzgerald, novelist
  • Josephine Baker, famed singer, dancer and actress
  • Tamara de Lempicka, artist

Read Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell for a well-researched, addictive 1920s history fix.

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: books, history, in the collection, Women's History Month

Celebrate Women’s History Month

March 1, 2015 by Amanda VerMeulen

Penn[sylvania] on the picket line-- 1917.

Penn[sylvania] on the picket line– 1917. From the Records of the National Woman’s Party at the Library of Congress

Happy Women’s History Month! This March 2015 marks the 35th anniversary of Women’s History Month, and this year’s theme is Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives, a nod to the power of narrative and storytelling in American history and importance of the stories of individual women.

To celebrate this month, the St. Mary’s Library will be featuring different women’s history resources on the In the Collection portion of the Library’s website. We’ll also have a series of posts about research materials related to women’s history, as well as amazing information you can access online through various archival collections.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: history, Women's History Month

Black in Latin America

February 23, 2015 by Melissa Rushing

HT-66-resized

For the last in our series of “In the Collection” features related to Black History Month, the Library brings you Black in Latin America, a 2-disc, 4-episode series on DVD that explores the intersections of race, identity, and Latin American history. Narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this series examines the legacy of slavery and colonialism in Latin America by specifically looking at Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. I first caught Black in Latin America on PBS a few years ago and was hooked. It’s a fascinating glimpse of racial politics and identity in the larger “America.”

You’ll find this engaging series in our open DVD collection on the first floor of the library, call number F1419.N4 B533 2011. There is also a book to accompany the DVD, which is located on the 2nd floor of our library in the stacks (call number: F1419.N4 G38 2011) You can find out more about Black in Latin America by checking out the accompanying PBS website and the preview video below.

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: AADS, anthropology, Black History Month, dvds, history, in the collection, PBS

Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice

February 23, 2015 by Melissa Rushing

Opening page of 'The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano

Opening page of ‘The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano’
© The British Library, London

Historical researchers, be they students or faculty, are always interested in primary source materials–original photos, essays, letters, legislation, newspapers, etc.–that may open a door to the past. Among the St. Mary’s Library’s digital primary source collections is Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice, a database that brings together documents from archives and libraries around the Atlantic world.

Included in this online resource are documents covering the following themes:

  • Slavery in the Early Americas
  • The African Coast
  • The Middle Passage
  • Slavery and Agriculture
  • Urban & Domestic Slavery
  • Slave Testimony
  • Resistance & Revolt
  • The Underground Railroad
  • The Abolition Movement
  • The Legacy of Slavery

This is just a sampling of the various topics covered in this truly amazing collection. Take a few minutes to explore.

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: Black History Month, history, in the collection, primary sources

19th Century African American Newspapers

February 23, 2015 by Melissa Rushing

Frederick Douglass greeting

The Library has a great collection of 19th century African American Newspapers that you can access online through Accessible Archives. Primary source research has never been this easy! Included in this collection are the following historical newspapers:

  • The Christian Recorder
  • The Colored American/Weekly Advocate
  • Frederick Douglass Paper
  • Freedom’s Journal
  • The National Era
  • The North Star
  • Provincial Freeman

Take a few minutes, explore the collection, and learn more about this amazing collection of first-hand reports from the 1800s.

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: Black History Month, history, in the collection, newspapers, primary sources

Access to History

January 21, 2013 by Melissa Rushing

Martin Luther King, Jr.

photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Today we commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and what better way to do so than to take a look at some of the words and photos that tell his story. The King Library and Archives in Atlanta has a fascinating digital collection of Dr. King’s writings, as well as photographs and documents associated with him. As stated on the Digital Collection homepage, “There are nearly a million documents associated with the life of Martin Luther King Jr.” so what’s online is just a snippet, albeit a fascinating one.

Being able to access a fascinating primary sources online is a result of the hard work of diligent archivists, librarians, interns and technicians who not only preserve historical documents but ensure that they are accessible to the public. Our own St. Mary’s Archives include several digital collections like the Historic Campus Photographs Collection and the St. Mary’s Student Newspaper Archive. The library also provides access to historical documents and primary source materials through online databases like Everyday Life and Women in America, the Picture Post Historical Archive, Victorian Popular Culture, and Historic Documents Online.

So the next time you feel like accessing a piece of history, why not at a library?

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: database, history, MLK Day, onlineresource, primarysources

Online now, the Point News (etc.)

September 5, 2012 by Melissa Rushing

When was the Point News not the Point News?

For most of the 1940s and ’50s the St. Mary’s student newspaper was called “The Signal News.”

Signal News 1953

Tom Barrett plans orientation

It first became “The Point News” in 1959.

Point News 1961

A recurring theme

Then for most of the 1970s and into the ’80s it was “The Empath.”

Empath 1973

Another recurring theme

Empath 1979

Uncharted territory

Empath 1984

Not to be confused with the mac lab

Much to the dismay of some 1970s and early ’80s alumni, the name “The Point News” returned in 1985.

Point News 1989

Witnesses to history

Point News 1998

First report on the storied Riot of ’98

Point News 2000

Going green in 2000

Whatever the name, St. Mary’s student newspapers  from 1952 through 2002 have been digitized and are now available online, fully word-searchable, via the Archives web site!

And because we take our duty to preserve our historical record seriously, physical copies of all these papers (as well as those from the 1940s and from 2002 to date) are safely tucked away in the College Archives.  Hard copies of issues from 2002 to date are also available in the Library.

Happy reading!

Filed Under: Archives, Library Collection Tagged With: history, newspapers

New Online Resources from Gale

May 31, 2012 by Melissa Rushing

Three new archival collections from Gale are now available to St. Mary’s students, faculty and staff:

Picture PostPicture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957
This collection is a searchable archive of the British photojournalism newspaper (think England’s version of Life magazine). If you’re looking for photos or stories to give you a sense of British culture and popular sentiment from the pre-WWII years to first years of the Cold War, this is a great resource for you.

19th Century U.S. Newspapers19th Century U.S. Newspapers
This online resource contains over 1.7 million pages of U.S. newspapers from the 19th century. Major newspapers along with regional and special interest papers are all represented. Take a break from the microfilm reader and click on over to this collection.

The Times The Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-1985
The access provided by this online collection is amazing! I think the product description from the Gale site says it best: “Every complete page of every issue of The Times (London) from 1785 to 1985. Every headline, article and image. Every front page, editorial, birth and death notice, advertisement and classified ad”

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: database, history

Victorian Popular Culture

May 30, 2012 by Melissa Rushing

Victorian Popular Culture

There’s a new archival collection in town, and its name is Victorian Popular Culture by Adam Matthew. This online resource is full of primary source documents perfect for History, English, or Women and Gender Studies students and faculty interested in this time period.

Major topics covered in this collection:

  • Spiritualism, Sensation & Magic
  • Circuses, Sideshows & Freaks
  • Music Hall, Theatre & Popular Entertainment

Documents include posters, playbills, postcards, photos, illustrations, rare books, periodicals and so much more! Take a few minutes and explore Victorian Popular Culture. For more information, visit the Adam Matthew site or talk to a reference librarian about how to use and incorporate this resource into your class or research.

Filed Under: Library Collection Tagged With: database, english, history, primary sources, victorian, wgsx

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