Syllabus – Fall

Fall 2015 Course Schedule

Orientation and Situation

Wed, Aug 26: Catholicism, Chicago Style

  • Review syllabus
  • Reading:
    • Ellen Skerrett, Edward R. Kantowicz, and Steven M. Avella, Catholicism, Chicago Style (1993) Introduction (“What has made Chicago Catholicism Distinctive?”), xvii-xxii.

Fri, Aug 28: Urban Religion

  • Reading:
    • Robert Orsi, Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape (1999), chapter 1 (“Introduction: Crossing the City Line”), 1-77.
    • Optional: Thomas Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion (2007), chapter 3 (“Confluences: Toward a Theory of Religion”), 54-79

Required Project: Set up your blog. Write an initial blog post in which you introduce yourself and situate yourself in relation to our subject of study this semester. In the same post, identify and describe an example of urban religion in Chicago. It can be evidence of a past practice or a contemporary instance. Look to the Orsi chapter if you need inspiration. Try to include images. Due Sunday, Aug 30, 10 pm.

European Origins

Wed, Sept 2: Changing Europe, through the lens of Italy

  • Readings:
    • Anthony Cardoza, draft chapters from forthcoming history of Italy: chapter 1 (“The Italian Peninsula in the Late Eighteenth Century”), 2 (“Birth of a National Ideal, 1796-1850”), and 3 (“A Perfect Storm: Italian Unification, 1850-71”)

Fri, Sept 4: Field Trip

  • Mapping the Young Metropolis: The Chicago School of Sociology, 1915-1940 and for a talk by curator Dr. Harvey Choldin, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
  • Logistics: Meet at 1 pm at the plaza in front of the Loyola Red Line stop, or meet at the Special Collections Research Center Gallery, The University of Chicago Library, 1100 East 57th Street Chicago Illinois 60637.

Blog post: Books often contain evidence of their past ownership and histories inscribed on their pages that does not survive elsewhere. There will several books with evidence of their past on a book cart in Special Collections. Select one book and write a blog post about what the material text tells you about its history. You might read Robert Darnton, “What is the History of Books?” Daedalus 3:3 (1982), 65-83, for inspiration. Make sure you include a discussion of your process. Due Sunday, Sept 6, 10 pm.

Wed, Sept 9: Catholicism and European Society

  • Readings:
    • Raymond Grew, “Liberty and the Catholic Church in Nineteenth-Century Europe” in Richard Helmstadter, ed. Freedom and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (1997), 196-232.
    • Emmett Larkin, “The Devotional Revolution in Ireland, 1850-75,” The American Historical Review 77:3 (June 1972): 625-652.

Fri, Sept 11: Urbanization, Industrialization, and Migration

  • Readings:
    • Leslie Page Moch, Moving Europeans: Migration in Western Europe Since 1650 (1992), chapter 4: “Migration in an Age of Urbanization and Industrialization,” 102-160.
    • Patrick Fitzgerald and Brian Lambkin, Migration in Irish History, 1607-2007 (2007), chapter 2 (“A Three-Stage Process: Leaving, Crossing, Arriving”), 16-33, and chapter 10 (“Irish Migration, 1845-1855”), 165-181.

Blog post: Paintings provide valuable clues about the past but oftentimes scholars are either hesitant or forget to use them as evidence. Thinking about the changes happening within European society on the eve of many immigrants’ journey to North America, select one of the images from the archive of nineteenth-century Irish paintings and analyze it. What themes from our readings and discussion do you see within the painting? How does the painting’s metadata – its painter, its title, the location and date when it was created – help us better understand its message? Due Sunday, Sept 13, 10 pm.

Early North America

Wed, Sept 16: Scarcity and Innovation

  • Readings:
    • James O’Toole, The Faithful, chapters 1 (“Priestless Church”), 11-49, and 2 (“Church in the Democratic Republic”), 54-93

Thurs, Sept 17: Catherine O’Donnell (Arizona State University), “A Convert in New York City: Elizabeth Seton and St. Peter’s Parish, 1805-1806,” 6 pm, Palm Court, 4th floor, Mundelein Center.

  • Reading:
    • A chapter from Dr. O’Donnell’s forthcoming book will be circulated in advance.

Blog post: What are the opportunities and challenges of writing a biography of a historic figure like Elizabeth Seton? What kinds of sources are available for doing this work? What can an individual tell us about a larger historical moment? Due Sunday, Sept 20, 10 pm.

Wed, Sept 23: American Conundrums

  • Readings:
    • John Gjerde, Catholicism and the Shaping of Nineteenth-Century America, chapters 1 (“The Protestant Conundrum”), 20-60, and 2 (“The Catholic Conundrum”), 61-95.

Fri, Sept 25: The West

  • Readings:
    • Gjerde, Catholicism and the Shaping of Nineteenth-Century America, chapter 3 (“Conversion and the West,”), 96-137
    • Michael Pasquier, “Missionary Experience and Frontier Catholicism,” in Fathers on the Frontier (2010), 57-87.

Blog post: The digitization of newspapers has made one of the most important sources of information about the nineteenth century available to scholars in unprecedented ways. Using Early American Newspapers (under “Databases” on the University Libraries website) explore what Americans were saying about Catholics before the outbreak of the Civil War. Think about the different keywords you might use to find material in these newspapers. What are some of the interesting research questions that come out of these papers? Due Sunday, Sept 27, 10 pm.

Pre-Fire Chicago

Wed, Sept 30: Early Chicago

  • Please note: class will meet in University Archives and Special Collections, second floor Cudahy Library.
  • Readings:
    • Dominic Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography, chapters 1 (“Location, Location, Location!”), 8-35 and 2 (“Emporium of the West”), 38-67

Fri, Oct 2: Early Catholic Chicago

Week 6 Mapping Project: Working in groups, students will map the growth of Catholic churches and institutions between 1840-1870, on Google Maps. Students will use the information in Garraghan’s The Catholic Church in Chicago and other sources. Assignments will be made in advance in class. Due Tuesday, Oct 6, 10 pm.

Wed, Oct 7: Parishes: National and Territorial

  • Readings:
    • O’Toole, The Faithful, chapter 3 (“The Immigrant Church”), 97-144
    • Edward R. Kantowicz, “The Ethnic Church,” in Catholicism, Chicago-Style, 1-27

Fri, Oct 9: Print and Nationalism

  • Readings:
    • Orestes Brownson, “Use and Abuse of Reading,” The Catholic World: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science 3:16 (July 1866), 463-473.
    • James Ryan, Faithful Passages, chapters 1 (“Orestes Brownson in Young America: Popular Books and Catholic Criticism”), 21-44.

Week 7 Digital Project: Working in groups, students will transcribe, visualize, and analyze in Google Fusion Tables the residents of the blocks surrounding Holy Family church in 1870 using Federal census data. Assignments will be made in advance in class. Due Sunday, Oct 11, 10 pm.

Wed, Oct 14: Race and War

  • Readings:
    • John McGreevy, Catholicism and American Freedom, chapters 2 (“Catholicism, Slavery, and the Cause of Liberty”), 43-67, and 3 (“Catholic Freedom and the Civil War”), 68-90

Thurs, Oct 15: Mick Moloney (New York University), “’If it Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews’: Exploring Irish and Jewish Historical Musical Links and Influences on Vaudeville and Early Tin Pan Alley in America,” 6 pm, Palm Court, 4th floor, Mundelein Center.

Blog post: What are the opportunities and challenges of using music as a source for studying the past? What kinds of sources are available for doing this work? What can music tell us about a larger historical moment? Due Sunday, Oct 18, 10 pm.

Wed, Oct 21: Public Schools

  • Readings:
    • Gjerde, Catholicism and the Shaping of Nineteenth-Century America, chapter 4 (“Schools and the State”), 138-175
    • Ellen Skerrett, Born in Chicago, chapter 1 (“Why we go to Chicago, 1856-1895”), 2-30.

Fri, Oct 23: Nuns and Institution Building

  • Meet in Women and Leadership Archives, Third Floor, Piper Hall
  • Readings:
    • “Exploring Our Roots: BVM History” follow the links for the timeline and snapshots as well.
    • “Mundelein College Timeline”
    • Suellen Hoy, “The Journey Out: The Recruitment and Emigration of Irish Religious Women to the United States, 1812-1914,” Journal of Women’s History 6:4 (Winter/Spring 1995), 64-98.
    • Kathleen A. Brosnan, “Public Presence, Public Silence: Nuns, Bishops and the Gendered Space of Early Chicago,” Catholic Historical Review 90:3 (July 2004), 473-496.

Week 9 Digital Project: Working in groups, students will transcribe, visualize, and analyze in Google Fusion Tables the students who attended the Holy Family Parish School, 1865-1879, using the manuscript registers in University Archives and Special Collections. Assignments will be made in advance in class. Due Sunday, Oct 25, 10 pm.

Post-Fire Chicago

Wed, Oct 28: Chaotic Gilded Age Chicago

  • Readings:
    • Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography, chapters 3 (“Era of Urban Chaos”), 70-109 and 4 (“Reacting to Chaos”), 112-147

Fri, Oct 30: St. Ignatius College

  • Readings:
    • Skerrett, Born in Chicago, chapter 1 (“Why we go to Chicago, 1856-1895”), 30-45 and chapter 2 (“Landlocked on Twelfth Street”), 46-68.

Week 10 Digital Project: Students will explore different sources that provide insight into the lives of students at St. Ignatius College between 1870 and 1920. Sources include the Vice President’s diary, scrapbooks, course catalogues, and photo albums. Assignments will be made in advance in class. Due Sunday, Nov 1, 10 pm.

Wed, Nov 4: Care (and Competition) for Souls

  • Readings:
    • Deborah Ann Skok, “Negotiating Chicago’s Public Culture: Guardian Angel Mission and Settlement House, 1898-1920,” Journal of Illinois History 7:2 (2004): 107-124.
    • James Gilbert, “Twin Cities/Two Chicago’s: Religious Confrontation Between 1880-1920,” European Contributions to American Studies 45 (January 2001): 29-41.

Thurs, Nov 5: Kathleen Sprows Cummings (Notre Dame University), “The Rise of the Nation-Saint: U.S. Catholics and Canonization,” 6 pm, Palm Court, 4th floor, Mundelein Center.

  • Reading:
    • A chapter from Dr. Cummings’ forthcoming book will be circulated in advance

Blog post: Why are saints embraced by some communities but not others? From the list of saints’ lives in the c.1878 library catalogue, select one saint and write about what her or his appeal might have been to Chicago Catholics. Due Sunday, Nov 8, 10 pm.

Wed, Nov 11: Respectability

  • Readings:
    • Mrs. Anna H. Dorsey, Coiana: The Rose of the Algonquins (1867)
    • Ryan, Faithful Passages, chapter 3 (“Entering the mainstream: the fiction of Jedediah Huntington and Anna Hanson Dorsey”)

Sat, Nov 14: West Side Walking Tour with Ellen Skerrett.

  • Logistics: Meet at 9 am in front of Holy Family Church, 1080 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60608 (http://www.holyfamilychicago.org/). Anyone who is unsure of how to get down there can meet Prof. Roberts in the plaza in front of the Loyola Red Line stop at 8 am to take public transportation down there. The tour will end with lunch at the Haymarket Pub and Brewery. We should be done by 2 pm.
  • Readings:
    • John McGreevy, Catholicism and American Freedom, chapter 5 (“The Social Question”), selection: 127-150.
    • Heath W. Carter, Working People and the Rise of Social Christianity in Chicago (2015), chapter 4 (“’With the Prophets of Old’ – Working People’s Challenge to the Gilded Age Church”), 73-96.
    • Ellen Skerrett, “The Irish of Chicago’s Hull-House Neighborhood,” Chicago History 30 (Summer 2001): 22-63.
    • Richard Kieckhefer, Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley (2004), chapter 6 (“Chicago: Traditional Churches in a Modern Culture), 195-211

Blog post: How does our understanding of the Catholic past change when we look at it through the lens of the sites where it unfolded? Reflect on how walking around the sites we have studied this semester reinforces or challenges your understanding of our topic of study. Due Sunday, Nov 15, 10 pm.

Wed, Nov 18: Columbian Exposition, 1893

  • Please note: class will meet in University Archives and Special Collections, second floor Cudahy Library
  • Readings:
    • John P. Burris, Exhibiting Religion: Colonialism and Spectacle at International Expositions, 1851-1893, chapters 4 (“Exhibitionism, American Style”), 86-122, and 5 (“Exhibiting Religion at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition”), 123-166
    • Dennis B. Downey, “Tradition and Acceptance of Catholics and the Columbian Exposition,” Mid-America 63:2 (1981), 79-92

Fri, Nov 20: Catholics and Nation:

  • Readings:
    • John Ireland, The Church and the Modern Age, Volume 1 chapter “The Mission of Catholics in America” (1889), 71-101 and “The Church and the Age” (1893), 105-131
    • McGreevy, Catholicism and American Freedom, chapter 4 (“The Nation”), 91-126

Week 13 Blog Post assignment: The Columbian Exposition was an important opportunity for Catholics to demonstrate their place in American life. Using one of the primary sources on reserve at University Archives and Special Collections, analyze how a Catholic group presented itself at the Fair. What was the nature of its presentation? What did it choose to emphasize? Due Sunday, November 29, 10 pm.

NO CLASS THE WEEK OF THANKSGIVING, NOV 22-28.

Entering the Twentieth Century

Wed, Dec 2: Moving Out

  • Readings:
    • Pacyga, Chicago: A Biography, chapters 5 “The Progressive and Not So Progressive City,” 150-182, and 6 (“The Immigrant Capital and World War I”), 184-213
    • Skerrett, Born in Chicago, chapter 2 (“Landlocked on Twelfth Street”), 68-88 and chapter 3 (“New Beginnings in the City,”) 90-133.

Fri, Dec 4: New Challenges

  • Readings:
    • O’Toole, The Faithful, chapter 4 (“The Church of Catholic Action”), 148-198.

FINAL PAPERS DUE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10TH BY 10 PM.