“This guide doesn’t just teach research methods; it opens the door to the real joy of encountering a Catholic sister in one’s family history.” — .Casey Bowser, Archivist, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES — One day a pathologist started thinking about the nun who taught her 11th-grade biology and pointed her in her career direction. Later, two men shared a hospital room; one had been in a car accident, the other was suffering from hepatitis. Years later both of them realized that they had failed to properly thank the gentle sister who nursed them back to health. Across town, a genealogist was hoping to complete his family tree. He had one stumbling block–great-great-aunt Silvia. He needed to discover what had become of her after she entered the convent.
The fact is that most families know precious little about women who joined religious life. Historians, too, have overlooked the estimated 350,000 Catholic women religious (nuns and sisters) in the United States between 1790 and 1990—despite their enormous collective contributions to the nation’s humanitarian, educational, and social services infrastructure. Instead, the stories of nuns and sisters are forgotten, hidden in scattered archives, obscured by name changes and frequent relocations, and fading from family and community memory with each passing generation.
The new book, Searching for Sisters, from Genealogical.com is a guide to finding them.
Nationally recognized expert Sunny Jane Morton provides a roadmap for researching Catholic women religious in the United States. Readers will learn:
● Why women religious can be so elusive
● How to identify a woman’s religious order and locate its archives
● What rich historical and genealogical records may be in the archives
● How to find women religious in other kinds of records (censuses, etc.)
● How to find other people (e.g., students) in records kept by women religious
● How to conduct research using case studies prepared by experts
Searching for Sisters can help readers discover more about the women who devoted their lives in this unique kind of service. It can also help them learn more about the students, communities, or other populations associated with the sisters.
Their stories are all worth telling. This book shows readers how to find them.
For more information about Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the U.S., or its author, please contact Joe Garonzik, Marketing Director, at jgaronzi@genealogical.com, or 410-804-1558 (cell phone).
Joe Garonzik
Genealogical.com
+1 410-804-1558
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