Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, January 11, 2001
Mews
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Another archival mystery: an album from Atlanta
mm
Rita H.
DeLorme
T he old photo album came from
the Georgia Department of Ar
chives and History in
Atlanta, along with a
plea for any infor
mation the
(W-. Savannah Dioce-
■r san Archives
might have on the
girls, the nuns and
the academy pic
tured in it.
Like an orphan
needing a home it
had been left on
the doorstep at the Atlanta Archives
several years earlier without so much
as an explanatory note. The
researchers in Atlanta knew a little
about one of the young women pic
tured in the album: her name was
Marguerite Brown and her father had
owned Brown’s Water Mill near
Atlanta. Her parents were Frances
(Fanny) Brown Kimball (later Chase)
and J. Walter Kimball.
Other archivists at the Department
of Archives and History studied the
clothing the young lady and her
friends, posing lightheartedly and
mimicking the stances of statues
behind them, had worn when their
photos were taken. The consensus as
to the styles of the period zoomed in
on the circa 1910 Gibson Girl-era,
which featured high-topped shoes
and pompadoured hair styles..
Throughout the album are photo
graphs of nuns posing with their
young charges. Pictures in the book
frequently include background
shrubs on the campus, among them
warm-climate palmettoes. There is
also a snapshot of Brown’s Water
Mill, its identity attested to by a sign
Advertising in
The Southern Cross
is easy and pays off.
Call 912-238-2320.
on the building in the photo. A fad
ing photograph of the school is im
pressive. Classical front columns and
a sculpted lawn are fitting for what
must have been a private school for
girls that emphasized cultural studies
and prepared students for social
activities.
A statue of what appears to be an
angel, arm encircling a young child,
centers the drive leading to the
boarding school. In another photo, a
memorial—a stone crucifix—stands
alone in a bucolic setting. At the
base of the statue is a plaque which
begins In Memoriam and ends R.I.P.
The inscription between these two
phrases is too faint to bring up, even
when the photo is enlarged via com
puter imaging.,
Questions about the old album,
which the Georgia Archives has co
pied and sent to Savannah for identi
fication, multiply. Was Marguerite
Brown Catholic? Was the girls’
boarding or finishing school she was
attending located on the east coast,
as would be likely given the palmet-
ifftSSHKilji :ft«p
Left: A nun in the mysterious habit (center).
Above: The building in question.
toes visible in the pictures? What
order of nuns staffed the institution?
Sisters in the photos wear black
habits with straight-fronted wimples.
The inside of their black veils is
lined in white. They are not Sisters
of Mercy, as confirmed by members
of that order who have been contact
ed. Nor are they members of any of
several other Catholic orders re
searched. Are they, possibly, mem
bers of an Episcopal order of nuns?
Internet research yields little more
information. A 152-year-old girls’
school named Saint Mary’s continues
to operate today in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Could this now thoroughly
modem school have been the board
ing school and grounds in the back
ground of the photographs in the
album sent to Savannah’s Catholic
Archives by the perplexed archivists
in Atlanta? Online descriptions of
Episcopal or Anglican orders of nuns
do not provide answers. Sisters of
the Episcopal Order of Saint Anne,
found in one reference volume, did
wear a habit similar to the ones worn
by nuns shown in the photo album,
although the resemblance is not con
clusive.
At present, the album from Atlanta
remains unidentified. The Catholic
Archives of Savannah will not aban
don it and neither will its surrogate
parents, researchers at the Georgia
Department of History and Archives.
An archivist there said that this is
just the kind of mystery she likes to
unravel. Researchers in Atlanta will
keep on looking for the school, the
nuns, the Brown family et al.
Pages of the album of photos taken
almost a century ago fall into place
as the album is closed for now. Its
images and the lives it records will
not soon go away.
Anyone recognizing either the
building or religious habit pictured
above is asked to contact the Dio
cesan Archives at 601 East Liberty
Street, Savannah, GA 31401, 912-
238-2320.
Rita H. DeLorme is a volunteer
in the Diocesan Archives.
Urgent information about
immigration bill
By Sister Patricia Brown, SSMN
A bill approved by Congress on December 15, 2000 and signed by Presi
dent Clinton on December 21 contains several immigration-related pro
visions, including the partial reinstatement of Section 245(1), which allows
eligible people to apply for green cards from within the U.S.
This provision means they do not have to leave the country and risk being
barred from re-entering for up to ten years. Eligible persons or their rela
tives must file an immigrant petition with the Immigration and Naturaliza
tion Service or a labor certification with the Department of Labor by April
30, 2001. They must show they were physically present in the United States
on December 21, 2000. Filing this petition, however, does not grant them
work authorization or provide protection from deportation.
People who want to take advantage of Section 245(1) are strongly advised
to remain in the United States and to discuss their potential eligibility with
an immigration attorney. The American Immigration Lawyers Association’s
Lawyer Referral Service at 800-954-0254 can provide more information and
a referral to an immigration attorney.
Sister Patricia Brown, SSMN, is Diocesan Director of Family Life.
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