Topic: American Indians / Physical Format: Black-and-white photographs / Location: Beltrami

Date Created:: 1889?
Description:: St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Nation). Sisters and students pose on the porch of the convent/school. In 1889, with a donation received from the Drexel sisters, a convent/boarding school was built. Upstairs were sleeping quarters for the sisters and girls; downstairs contained the kitchen, recreation room, and refectory for serving meals. At the time there were five sisters, 35 boarding students of ages six to eighteen, and 25 day students. It proved to be so successful that it had to be enlarged within two years. A house was purchased to be the dormitory for boys and the temporary church (built in 1891) served as the dormitory for boys after a new church was completed in 1893. [SBMA; Lindblad, pp. 41-43]
Contributing Institution:: Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:: Still Image
Format:: Black-and-white photographs

Date Created:: 1905
Description:: St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Nation). In 1904, fire destroyed the temporary church that had been converted to a boys' dormitory. A year later, the sisters' and girls' first house was also destroyed by fire (see photo). The wood-burning stoves were a constant hazard for the early pioneers. In one of his letters, Father Thomas Borgerding, OSB, describes the agony of not being able to save the building because of the intense wind. Father Thomas wrote to Katherine Drexel requesting funds and she responded with an $800 donation. Using 30,000 feet of lumber stored at the mission, a new building was built by 1905 which housed the boys' residence on the upper level and the sisters and girls on the lower level. By 1906, construction was begun for the sisters and girls' residence and was completed after many summers. [SBMA Lindblad, p. 54-58]
Contributing Institution:: Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:: Still Image
Format:: Black-and-white photographs

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