Browse Exhibits (25 total)
James and Nan McKinnell Pottery 1946-1990s
James and Nan McKinnell, husband and wife team gifted in the art of ceramics, teaching, and innovation in the pottery world, spent their adult lives exploring the world and the act of creating art. The work and experiences of these highly prolific and nomadic artists offers us a snapshot into the post World War II arts movement in America.
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- "The kind of clay, the degree of heat at which it is baked, the decoration or glaze, the shape of the vessel, the thickness of its wall, are all elements the potter's style and all contribute to the expressive form.” Barnet, S. (2008)
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Enjoy exploring the McKinnells' life, art, and passion for pottery.
Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities
The 1950s and 1960s were a turbulent time for civil rights in the United States. Organizations, both secular and religious, were working to secure equal rights for minorities. One such organization was the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities (CICTC), “an organization of Catholic men and women of St. Paul and Minneapolis who are striving to apply Catholic principles on racial matters to the very real racial problems our two communities face” (Branches, August 1959). The CICTC collection consists of newsletters and other documents dated from 1958 to 1966 that were donated to the St. Catherine University Archives & Special Collections by a founding member of the organization and alumnus of St. Catherine University. In the letter included with the documents she writes, “We thought we could change the world, and there has been quite a bit of change, but not nearly enough.”
This exhibit includes documents and newsletters selected from the CICTC collection that highlight the organization’s activities, volunteers, and reactions to local and national civil rights events of the time. The majority of the organization’s activism took place in the St. Paul and Minneapolis area. However, as recorded in the newsletters, members were also willing to travel to Chicago, Selma, Alabama, and Washington D.C. to take part in national civil rights events.
We hope this look into a time when the struggle for civil rights was front and center - both locally and nationally - will provide an opportunity for today’s human rights activists to learn from the human rights activists of the past.
Can you add to our collection?
Do you have information about the Catholic Interracial Council of the Twin Cities? A piece of literature, notes from a CICTC sponsored event, a story to share? If so, please consider contributing it to this collection by contacting the St. Catherine University Archives & Special Collections at archives@stkate.edu. Thank you.
Story of a Storyteller: Celebrating 140 Years of Ruth Sawyer
A digital exhibit of a portion of the Ruth Sawyer Papers—a collection of manuscripts, letters, photographs, awards, and other kept materials gifted to Saint Catherine University after Sawyer’s death in 1970. The accolades, letters from admirers, and rare photographs featured in this exhibit illustrate Sawyer’s lasting impact as an author and proponent of children’s literature.
Making a Musical Contribution
The St. Catherine University Music Department is one of the oldest and most influential departments within the university and has had a significant impact on its history. This exhibit includes a series of performances, programs, and moments that showcase not only the excellence of this department, but also how they embody the ideals of the entire St. Kate's community.
When viewing each event page, click on an item’s image to view documents and images at full size.
1967 - The Silent Stage
The St. Catherine Music Department hosted the The Salomon Yakima Pantomime Theatre at the St. Paul Auditorium. The company performed a series of sketches depicting aspects of life through wordless short vignettes.
1967 - Love Songs for Sabbath
Love Songs for Sabbath was the first musical event in a planned program series by the College of St. Catherine to help students experience the liturgies of other faiths through music.
1972 - Cassettes 100
St. Catherine partnered with The University of the Philippines to present a musical "happening" by Filipino composer José Maceda, involving 100 performers with cassette tape recorders.
1971-1974 - Minnesota Chamber Soloists
The Minnesota Chamber Soloist, twelve string players from the Minnesota Orchestra, join St Kate's community to teach and perform.
1985 / 1998 - A Young People's Magic Flute by Mozart
Faculty member Marguerite Hedges directs A Young People's Magic Flute as her final opera at St Kate's.
1987- CSC/CST Litergical Choir Meet Pope John Paul II
Students from the St Catherine and St Thomas Litergical Choir meet Pope John Paul II during the Vatican's 1987 Christmas Eve mass.
1996 - The Dragon
Professor Al Biales created an opera that was performed by the students of St Catherine University, St Thomas University and members of the North Star Opera to honor the 25th anniversary of the O'Shaughnessy auditorium.
1995-2000 - Javanese Gamelan
The St Catherine Music Department partnered with The Schubert Club to host a number of events and classes about a Javanese style of music known as Gamelan.
2010 - Saint Catherine String Chamber Orchestra
A faculty member from the String Chamber Orchestra reflects on St Kate's, music, and community.
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Exhibit developed by:
Rebecca Brown, Alyssa Costopoulos, Victoria Johnson
Created for:
St. Catherine University -- LIS 7590 -- Spring 2020
Welcoming the Dear Neighbor?
Welcoming the Dear Neighbor? is a project running in parallel with the larger Mapping Prejudice project out of the University of Minnesota. Mapping Prejudice created an interactive map of racial covenants in Hennepin County, and the project is currently in the process of expanding this map into Ramsey County.
The goal of Welcoming the Dear Neighbor? is to provide additional context to these covenants by highlighting the stories of affected individuals and families within Ramsey County, painting a collective picture of how the use of these covenants shaped the race and ethnicity of Ramsey County neighborhoods in ways that are still visible today. As part of this project, St. Kate’s hopes to acquire primary source materials that will help illustrate the issues surrounding housing discrimination, steering, and redlining.
Explore the 1960's using an interactive timeline of national events related to race and housing to put the exhibit materials into a broader context.
Examine the history notable events impacting state and local housing with an interactive timeline.
Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) Map
This series of maps shows how the racial patterns of the Twin Cities from the early 1900's onward persist through to the present, and how the redlining of the 1930s reflects current inequalities.
Documents and writings from the family of a local realtor whose career suddenly went into decline after publicly advocating for open occupancy.
A collection of A.P. Weigel's newspaper column about local real estate issues, a few of which address race.
Southwest Native American Pottery
Explore the pottery of Southwest Native American tribes in the St. Catherine Fine Art collection. Every piece tells a story, from finding the clay to its retrieval from the kiln.
The menu items (accessible on the right hand side of the site) are described below:
The Storytellers of the Southwest: discover information about the legends, artists, techniques, and characteristics of the pottery, and key examples from each tribe (Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblos).
Locations: view an interactive map to discover the geographic locations of each pot in the collection.
Pottery Collection: view all of the pieces together in a gallery view.
Exhibit Team:
- Heather Baker: hmbaker200@stkate.edu
- Laura Chandler: lachandler043@stkate.edu
- Annie Taylor: amtaylor613@stkate.edu
If you have any questions about the exhibit, feel free to contact us.
Credits: St. Catherine University Catherine G. Murphy Fine Art Collection
Corita Kent and Her Students
This exhibit features digitized serigraphs created by Corita and her students. Most of the prints fall within two artistic movements of the twentieth century: abstract expressionism and pop art. The abstract expressionist prints are religious in theme, with a particular focus on images of Jesus and the Christ figure. The pop art prints focus on text-based images, with a focus on social justice themes. The student work included in the collection is comprised of serigraphs by students of Corita Kent. Most of these items are of unknown date and creator, but many are religious in theme, similar in structure and tone to Corita’s abstract expressionist prints. Corita’s works are dated circa 1952 to 1966.
Ade Bethune: Symbols of the Spirit
Ade Bethune's narrative is an indispensable chapter of our cultural history. As an artist, writer, and liturgical consultant, she made significant contributions to sacred art and architecture as well as social justice spanning over a half-century. This collection embodies Ade Bethune’s Symbols of the Spirit article, which was previously published in the Catholic Art Quarterly in 1954. The exhibition contains two manuscripts of the article and explores the different symbols Sister Ade uses to represent Spirit, the third aspect of the Holy Trinity.
Sister Ade's leadership and vast collections of works make her an important figure in twentieth-century American liturgical art. Starting in 1984 until the time of her death in 2002, many of her papers and artwork were donated to St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The full collection occupies some 400 linear feet consisting of manuscript and printed materials, as well as 75 cubic feet of nontextual materials (graphic, sound, and artifacts).
Minnesota Streetcars
Welcome. This exhibit showcases the vibrant history of streetcars in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Our collection hightlights 84 years of streetcar use from their local introduction in 1870 to their removal in 1954.
We would like to thank the Minnesota Streetcar Museum and Historian Aaron Issacs for their collaboration on this project and their work to preserve and digitize local streetcar history. Over 2,500 objects from the Minnesota Streetcar Museum have been digitized and are available to view in the Minnesota Digital Library.
Created by Minnesota Streetcar Museum Historian, Aaron Isaacs, this video showcases the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line which connected St. Paul and Minneapolis.