University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2017 Southern veils : the sisters of Loretto in early national Kentucky. Hannah O'Daniel University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at:https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of theAfrican American Studies Commons,American Studies Commons,Catholic Studies Commons,Cultural History Commons,Gender and Sexuality Commons,History of Christianity Commons,History of Gender Commons,History of Religion Commons,History of Religions of Western Origin Commons,Missions and World Christianity Commons,Race and Ethnicity Commons,Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons,Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons,Social History Commons,United States History Commons,Women's History Commons, and theWomen's Studies Commons Recommended Citation O'Daniel, Hannah, "Southern veils : the sisters of Loretto in early national Kentucky." (2017).Electronic Theses and Dissertations.Paper 2859. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2859 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please [email protected]. SOUTHERN VEILS: THE SISTERS OF LORETTO IN EARLY NATIONAL KENTUCKY By Hannah O’Daniel B.A., Murray State University, 2014 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History Department of History University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky December 2017 Copyright 2017 by Hannah O’Daniel All rights reserved. SOUTHERN VEILS: THE SISTERS OF LORETTO IN EARLY NATIONAL KENTUCKY By Hannah O’Daniel B.A., Murray State University, 2014 A Thesis Approved on November 20, 2017 By the following Thesis Committee: __________________________________ Dr. A. Glenn Crothers __________________________________ Dr. Thomas C. Mackey __________________________________ Dr. Susan Ryan ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In early May 2015, I drove to Nerinx, Kentucky, for a fateful internship interview with Loretto Community Archivist Sister Eleanor Craig. My ensuing internship projects researching the order’s slaveholding and reviewing Sister Joan Campbell’s book on the antebellum history of the Sisters of Loretto kindled my desire to dig more into the early decades of the community. I am deeply grateful to Sister Eleanor, the archives staff, and the many members of the Loretto Community who welcomed me into their home, trusted me with their collections, and supported me as I presented my findings that contradicted the life-work of some of their fellow Sisters on the topics of race, slavery, and the history of their predecessors. In addition to the hospitable Loretto Community, archivists and librarians at numerous institutions provided crucial assistance with my thesis and graduate coursework research. In particular, I am indebted to Walter Bowman, Derek Clark, and Kari May at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives; Brenda Smith, Cheri Daniels, and Pam Reaves at the Kentucky Historical Society; and Joseph Smith at the University of Notre Dame. University of Louisville Ekstrom Library staff and circulation desk student workers provided camaraderie and reference and interlibrary loan assistance throughout my graduate studies. I specifically thank David, Angela Kennedy, Bethany Poston, Andy Huff, and Christopher Poché. My thesis committee members supported my initial research interests and the altered project that materialized. I am grateful for Susan Ryan’s enthusiasm, patience, iii and insightful comments. I am indebted to Thomas C. Mackey for his encouragement throughout the research and writing process. We may not agree on much, but his history seminars and office hours have made me a better scholar, sharper critical-thinker, and stronger speaker. I have been fortunate to work with many talented and student-oriented professors, among whom my thesis advisor, A. Glenn Crothers, stands out as the greatest influence on my academic success. I am thankful for the time my mentor invested to improve my writing, talk through interpretative difficulties, listen to my excessive worries, and write countless letters of recommendation. I’ve valued his guidance, friendship, and humor in our wide-ranging conversations on mental health, careers, and life in general. I am honored that the University of Louisville History Department financially supported my graduate studies through a Public History Program assistantship, teaching assistantship, and travel funding for my research at the University of Notre Dame. I enjoyed learning from my Public History Program supervisors, Daniel J. Vivian and Lara Kelland, and appreciate their continued collegiality and confidence in my work. I am grateful for Christine Ehrick’s and Blake Beattie’s patient guidance during my teaching assistantship. History Department staff—particularly Lee Keeling and Robin Carroll— masterfully answered my questions, solved issues, and kept the department in line. I am indebted to Lee for her selfless emotion work, especially her compassion after the deaths of two of my family members. My prospective meeting with Director of Graduate Studies Daniel Krebs solidified my decision to attend UofL. I am thankful for his efficient administration and continued encouragement even after Jennifer Westerfeld ably took up iv his reins. UofL History graduate students are lucky to have had such administrators who care about the holistic needs and long-term success of students. My colleagues in the graduate program made the workload more bearable and offered much needed respites from the academic grind. In my incoming cohort, Carl Creason and Eric Brumf[i]eld provided welcome companionship as we bonded over our similar backgrounds, civilly discussed our differing political views, and chatted about our interests in nineteenth century southern and American Catholic history. I am grateful that my assistantships also brought me into regular contact with Jacob Burress, Sarah Dunn, Francisco Javier Bonilla, Wes Cunningham, and Alex Covington. In my final year, Sarah, Jacob, Javi, Elle Rich, and Mary K. Marlatt kept me somewhat sane with their encouragement, humor, and breaks for trivia. Thanks (and apologies) to all those on the first floor of Gottschalk Hall who tolerated our distracting chatter. I am inspired by the community of public historians and archivists I have been fortunate to work with during my graduate career. Their mentorship has been decisive in altering how I approach my scholarship and motivating me to pursue a career in public history. In particular, I am indebted to my professors Daniel Vivian and Lara Kelland; Heather Fox and Carrie Daniels at the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections; Brenda Smith, Louise Jones, Allison Tracy, Patrick Lewis, Tony Curtis, Whitney Smith, Mandy Higgins, Cheri Daniels, Stuart Sanders, and Sara Elliot at the Kentucky Historical Society; and Jana Meyer, Aaron Rosenblum, Jennie Cole, Abby Glogower, Maureen Lane, Heather Potter, and Johna L. Ebling at the Filson Historical Society. v Beyond my graduate program and internships, I am lucky to have a wide network of people who care about my well-being and future. All those in my “Murray Honors family”—including Brittany Logsdon, Rebecca Cunningham, Lori Rogers, Warren “War Dawg” Edminister, and Kenny Martin—have been dear friends. Murray State University History and Honors College faculty Kathy Callahan, Duane Bolin, William Mulligan, and Danielle Nielsen continue to cheer me from affair. I am grateful for my and my fiancé’s family members who supported my graduate studies. I normally did not describe adequately what I was doing, but they faithfully stood by while I chugged through this degree and a slew of internships. Thanks in particular to my sister, Heather Evans, and brother-in-law, Jamie Evans, for their empathy with the stress of academia. My fiancé, James McCallon, deserves the most credit for the completion of this project. For eight and a half years, he has supported my ambition, listened to my ramblings on history, and let me push him far out of his comfort zone. His unmatched selflessness inspires me to be a better person. I cannot imagine going through this program—or life—without you, my best friend. vi ABSTRACT SOUTHERN VEILS: THE SISTERS OF LORETTO IN EARLY NATIONAL KENTUCKY Hannah O’Daniel November 20, 2017 This thesis analyzes the experiences of Roman Catholic women who joined the Sisters of Loretto, a community of women religious in rural Washington and Nelson Counties, Kentucky, between the 1790s and 1826. It argues that the Sisters of Loretto used faith to interpret and respond to unfolding events in the early nation. The women sought to combat moral slippage and restore providential favor in the face of local Catholic institutional instability, global Protestant evangelical movements, war and economic crisis, and a tuberculosis outbreak. The Lorettines faced financial, social, and cultural pressures—including an economic depression, a culture that celebrated family formation and reproduction, and race-based slavery—that shaped how they executed their benevolent and educational missions over time. The Sisters pursued benevolent and educational missions to serve God and uphold the economic, racial, and gendered social order of the Border South. vii