Special Collections and Archives announces the launch of a new digital resource, the Slavery Acknowledgement Project. The Slavery Acknowledgement Project improves access to 19th-century handwritten documents that present evidence of slaveholding and the use of enslaved labor in the foundation and early operation of Vincentian educational institutions in Missouri from 1819 to 1865. The Congregation of the Mission, also known as Vincentians, later founded St. Vincent’s College in Chicago in 1898, renaming the college DePaul University in 1907. DePaul remains a Catholic, Vincentian institution to this day.
Italian priests Felix de Andreis and Joseph Rosati established the Congregation of the Mission in the United States and founded the Congregation’s first seminary at St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri, in 1818. Financial records and correspondence show that priests held enslaved people in bondage as well as used the labor of enslaved individuals held by nearby families in the building and continuing operations of the Seminary. When the Vincentians founded St. Vincent’s Male Academy (later renamed as a Seminary and College) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1838, they held people in bondage as well as used the labor of enslaved individuals for the ongoing operations at St. Vincent’s.
These facts are known to us today because Vincentian priests and seminarians collected and indexed materials in an archival collection at St. Mary’s of the Barrens. In 2001, these archives were transferred to DePaul University to preserve and maintain to professional standards and to provide access to researchers. These archives, known as the DeAndreis-Rosati Memorial Archives, were renamed as the Vincentian Archives in August 2021 when Rosati’s name was removed from honorific use on campus. Soon after, the DePaul University Task Force to Address the Vincentians’ Relationship to Slavery was commissioned to create educational resources, rename campus spaces, raise public awareness, and partner in Black equity initiatives underway at DePaul. This digital project is an extension of that work, and was made possible through a partnership of the Congregation of the Mission Western Province, the Vincentian Endowment Fund and the Vincentian Studies Institute within the Division of Mission and Ministry at DePaul University, and DePaul University Special Collections and Archives.
The records included in this digital project were selected for their likelihood of containing evidence of slaveholding. Each page included in this project has a computer-generated searchable transcript, though these are imperfect and may contain misspellings. Records with references to enslaved or free persons were also transcribed and corrected by Special Collections and Archives staff to improve search accuracy and access. These records have additional transcription in the Item Details field of the record. Information about individual people and family groups can be found under the People tab of the project. The indexing required to trace and link individuals throughout these records was performed by Dr. Margaret Storey, Professor of History; Claire Marshall, Digital Archivist; Morgen MacIntosh Hodgetts, Senior Archivist and Coordinator of Archival Operations; and students Stephanie Crean, Hannah Kornblut, Isabella Melani, and Tess Wells.
The materials included in this online project as well as records from additional years and other Vincentian institutions, are open for in-person research use in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room on the 3rd floor of the Richardson Library. Everyone is welcome. For additional information, please submit an email inquiry.
For further reading, the resources below are available online. Additional materials are available in print.
Vincentian History:
- Vincentians in America – Digital Exhibit
- The American Vincentians: A Popular History of the Congregation of the Mission in the United States 1815-1987 (PDF)
- The Congregation of the Mission in the United States: An Historical Survey (PDF)
- Joseph Rosati, C.M. (1789-1843): Pioneer American Bishop (PDF)
- Vincentian Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley (1818-1900) (PDF)
Additional Context:
Jamie, What a massive and significant project this is. Congratulations to all staff who worked so hard on this. I stand in awe of the effort and dedication this required of all participants. Thank you for your continuing leadership of the department.