DePaul second president, Fr. John Martin, had a brief but eventful tenure. His term began in January 1909 and lasted until June 1910. Martin was born in LaSalle, Illinois in 1877, and was ordained in 1900. He was only 32 when he began his presidency. While President, Fr. Martin focused on managing the mounting debt brought on by a 1907 depression and the building of Byrne Hall, the College Theater and the Lyceum. He was instrumental in the development of the School of Engineering, a subject he held close to his heart as he was mechanically-minded himself. After his time at DePaul, Fr. Martin became President of St. Vincent's College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and served as a chaplain for the U.S. Army during WWI. 

Join us next Wednesday for an evening with Dr. Joe Schwieterman, as we celebrate and discuss the recent release of his latest book, Beyond Burnham: An Illustrated History of Planning for the Chicago Region. Dr. Schwieterman, the director of the Chaddick Institute of Metropolitan Development here at DePaul, is a noted authority on transportation and a long-standing contributor to the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a unit of the National Academy of Sciences. A book signing and reception will following the reading, as well as the chance to explore the current exhibit in Special Collections & Archives, "The City that Works: Burnham and the Chicago Plan," which features an original copy of the Burnham Plan.

Wednesday, November 4th
Richardson Library, Special Collections & Archives
room 314
5:00pm  

Thirteenth in a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.

In 1906, the original St. Vincent’s College building, located at Webster and Osgood (now Kenmore) Ave, was razed to make way for bigger and better facilities. President Rev. Peter V. Byrne saw that the University was expanding rapidly after its establishment in 1898 (over 200 students were enrolled at that time), and he wanted to ensure sufficient classroom space was available. In addition to St. Vincent’s College, the DePaul Academy (also founded in 1898, as a preparatory school for St. Vincent’s College) and the DePaul High School for Girls were also growing and were quartered in the same buildings. Byrne began three ambitious building projects; the Lyceum, the College Theater, and the “Administration-College Building”. 

The Administration-College building was built in two phases. The Administration part was erected in 1905 directly next to the soon-to-be-razed St. Vincent’s College. While that building was razed and the Lyceum and College Theater were still being built, classes were held in the Administration building. The construction of the new College building took longer than first planned; the original architects, Murphy and Camp, were unaware of Chicago building codes regarding the use of wooden supports in buildings (created after the Great Fire), and the building could not get approval from the city. President Byrne hired a new architect, J. E. O. Pridmore, who also made the plans for the College Theater and Lyceum. Steel supports were added, as well as a dome on the top to allow for an observatory and telescope. The building was six stories and contained lecture halls, study rooms, laboratories, museums and a large gymnasium on the top floor.

The College building was used by DePaul for classes until 1924. At this point, DePaul Academy, which had also been located in the College building, grew large enough to need the entire edifice. The DePaul High School for Girls had also been located in the College building but closed in 1922. The College building shortly became known as the Academy building. In 1950, the Academy and the University discussed the formal separation of the two, because faculty members no longer taught at both institutions and there was no common use of facilities. The separation occurred in 1960. DePaul Academy continued to hold classes until 1968, when the financial burdens caused by the separation grew to be too much and the Academy closed after 70 years of instruction. The Academy building was turned over to DePaul University, and renamed Byrne Hall.

By: Pat Olsen

Those who have visited Special Collections are likely familiar with the exhaustive material on Charles Dickens and Napoleon Bonaparte.  But how many know about the impressive collection of early printed books that has been lying in waiting for the last few decades?  Over the summer, Special Collections undertook an ambitious six-week cataloging project that finally has made these rarities available in the online catalog.

In the course of cataloging these books—which included two manuscripts, sixteen incunabula (books printed before 1501), and more than one hundred other early printed books—a number of important details have come to light.  Uncertain publication information, labyrinthine histories of former ownership, and critical copy-specific attributes have been investigated and documented.      

One of the most fascinating books (and certainly one of the most valuable) is a first-edition copy of the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent, Canones et decreta sacrosancti oecumenici et generalis Concilii Tridentini, published in Rome in 1564 by the famous Venetian printer Paolo Manuzio.  Not only is DePaul’s copy in a binding crafted by one of France’s greatest binders, it is one of just a handful that bear the authenticating inscriptions of Bishop Angelo Massarelli, the general secretary of the Council responsible for preparing the text, and Marcantonio Pellegrini and Cynthius Pamphilus, the Council’s two official notaries.  

As if these original inscriptions were not enough, the list of individuals that DePaul’s copy has passed through reads like a Who’s Who of famous book collectors.  Not long after its publication, it wound up in the house of Noailles, one of France’s oldest and most influential families.  In 1835, the book finally relinquished its ties to the Noailles family, when Antonin-Claude-Dominique-Juste, Comte de Noailles, oversaw the dispersal of the collection at auction in London.  From there, it soon entered the collection of Antoine Augustin Renouard, whose bibliography of books printed by the Manuzio family remains a standard reference work.  It then passed to George John Warren Vernon, who sold a large part of his collection, likely including the Canones et decreta, to Robert Stayner Holford.  Holford’s son, George Lindsay Holford, inherited his father’s collection, which was eventually sold at auction in 1927.  Bernard Quaritch, one of the oldest rare book businesses still operating, purchased the Canones and later sold it to Raphael Esmerian, a noted collector of fine bindings.  The copy next went to Francis A. Kettaneh before being purchased, presumably at the 1980 Kettaneh auction, by the Chicago collector Abel Berland, who generously donated the book to DePaul.

To learn more, come see it for yourself in Special Collections on the third floor of the library.

Seventh in a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.

During the Roaring '20's, the Chicago Loop underwent a huge building boom. By this point, DePaul University was already a presence downtown because the Law School and the School of Commerce were at 84 E. Randolph, which DePaul rented. Due to the high real estate prices and the success of downtown classes, DePaul decided that building its own skyscraper in the area would be a wise investment.

An organization called the DePaul Educational Aid Society was created in order to lease three lots at Lake Street between Michigan and Wabash: 64, 66, and 68 E. Lake Street. The lease for this land was priced at $56,000 annually ($697,735 when adjusted for inflation to 2009 dollars). The buildings currently on these lots were razed, and in 1928 a new 17 story building was erected. The 1st and 8th- 12th floors were rented out to help defray costs for the University; the 2nd-7th floors were used by DePaul for a theater hall, administrative offices, a Secretarial School, and liberal arts classes; the 13th-16th floors were used for commerce and law, and a social lounge was created on the 17th floor. At this point, DePaul had significantly more classroom and office space in the Loop than in Lincoln Park, and served many more students there.

64 E. Lake Street was a social nexus for DePaul University students from the time it was built. Pixley and Ehlers, the restaurant that rented the 1st floor, was considered by many to be DePaul’s cafeteria. Sock-hops were held monthly on the 4th floor, and there was a healthy fraternity and sorority life at the downtown campus. The lounge (complete with jukebox!) on the 17th floor and the unused classrooms, as well as hallways and stairwells, all functioned as socializing space.

Unfortunately in 1929, the year after the building was completed, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. DePaul had trouble renting the 8th-12th floors, and soon went into debt paying the lease. The classrooms were furnished with “barely adequate equipment,” and debt haunted DePaul throughout its ownership of the building. The lease was allowed to expire and the building sold in 1963 after the Lewis Center was acquired as a gift from Frank J. Lewis. The address of the building has since changed to 70 E. Lake Street. Although DePaul no longer owns the building and its address has changed, 64 E. Lake Street still carries a piece of its history in the “DPU” medallions adorning its stone façade. 

Have you ever walked past that large "cape" near the O’Neil reading room on the third floor of the Richardson Library? Have you ever wondered what it was? Well, in fact, it is an example of priestly vestments. It was woven by hand with gold and silk brocade on silk in Lyon, France in 1925.  Why do we have it? After being purchased for the 50th Anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul parish, it was worn by a priest who represented the Vincentian order at the 1926 Eucharistic Congress in Chicago.  

Eucharistic Congress? On the wall near the vestment is a poster in a Celtic/art deco style in gold, maroons, blues, and oranges; it shows the symbols of the four evangelists above the Chicago skyline. This poster was for the 1926 Eucharistic Congress.  A Eucharistic Congress is like an Olympics or a World’s Fair for Catholics.  It is an opportunity for Catholics from all around the world, holy men and women and the faithful alike, to come together to share in the celebration of their faith and the Eucharist.  In June 1926, more than a million people came to Chicago for the first Eucharistic Congress in the United States for sacred services and conferences. Services were celebrated in Holy Name Cathedral and Soldier Field as well as on the campus of St. Mary’s Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. A reported ten tons of hot dogs were consumed during the Congress.
    
The Congress was important for elevating the image and spirit of the city of Chicago, which at the time, was riddled with gangster activity, tension produced by Prohibition, and questions about the place for immigrants (specifically Catholic immigrants) in the city’s social structure.  The congress put Chicago on the map for millions of Catholics around the world as a city that was powerful, determined, spiritual, and capable.

For more information on the Eucharistic Congress come visit Special Collections and ask to browse our Chicago collection.  Also, stop by and check out the vestment on the 3rd floor of the John T. Richardson Library near Special Collections, room 314!

Ex Libris: Stuyvesant Peabody

Fourth in a series highlighting the book collectors whose subject expertise, passion, and resources have contributed to DePaul’s Special Collections

As the quarter ends and summer approaches, we are all thinking about how to spend time outside, get some sun, and spend time with our friends. We will play frisbee, swim, play volleyball, basketball, and tennis...How about foxhunting? Any plans? Perhaps we are a few hundred years too late – foxhunting was an important sport for the English aristocracy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This sport was so important in fact that prized books and periodicals were written about it.  Stuyvesant Peabody collected such things.  

Chicagoan Stuyvesant Peabody was a wealthy man who headed several coal firms such as the Peabody Coal Company, founded by his father. Although his work was in the coal industry, his passion was for sports. He owned his own horse stable and was active in many riding clubs and associations in the Chicago area. In addition to being an athlete himself, Stuyvesant Peabody collected materials from the nineteenth century on a range of sports.  His extensive assembly included periodicals, novels, and books on the history of a variety of sports and competitive leisure activities such as foxhunting, horseracing, and gambling.  

After his death in 1946, Mr. Peabody’s widow, Anita, donated the Stuyvesant Peabody Sports Collection to DePaul University. This collection of more than 900 items includes books and periodicals printed in England in the nineteenth century on a variety of sports-related topics, and specifically caters to those interested in materials on foxhunting and horseracing – activities that were representative of the daily lives of the upper classes. Many of the materials are richly illustrated by Victorian artists such as Robert Seymour and H.K. Browne (“Phiz”), whose work are also featured in DePaul’s Dicken’s Collection. Currently, a selection of these illustrations are on exhibit in Special Collections and Archives through August 2009.

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Many book collectors paste bookplates inside the front covers of their books and the Latin words ex libris, meaning “from the library of,” were often used.

Fifth in a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.

DePaul University did not start out life with this name; instead, it was founded as Saint Vincent’s College in 1898. When the current Saint Vincent DePaul Church was built at the corner of Webster and Sheffield in 1895, the old Saint Vincent’s Church, originally built in 1875 and located at the corner of Webster Ave. and Osgood St. (now Kenmore Ave.), was converted into a classroom space for the soon-to-be incorporated Saint Vincent’s College. This building, along with a five acre plot of land called, “Father Smith’s Farm,” after the Vincentian who founded the parish, made up the original campus. The students and Vincentians used this land to play baseball between and after classes. And while the title “College” implies a certain type and age of student body, Saint Vincent’s College actually served a mixture of secondary (high school) and collegiate students. 

Father Byrne was the first president of Saint Vincent’s College, and his grandiose plans for the future led to a building boom (and associated debt) which included the College Theater and the Lyceum, built in 1907. These new buildings along with an accompanying rise in educational programs (including a school of engineering and a pre-med program) led to the rechartering of Saint Vincent’s College as DePaul University on December 24th, 1907. Unfortunately, the Saint Vincent’s College building did not survive to see the day; it was razed in 1906 in order to make way for a “bigger and better” building- what is now Byrne Hall.

The Victorian Age in England saw an increased demand for print and pictures to accompany a growing literacy and increase of book publication.  The current exhibition in Special Collections and Archives highlights our growing collection of Victorian materials here at DePaul.

Victorian publishing merged the work of authors with artists in countless ways.  Authors like Charles Dickens used illustrations to define the plot and characters of their novels.  The artists for those novels depicted scenes in vivid detail to call the reader’s attention to minute aspects of the story.  But books dealing with all subjects were also illustrated, both through woodcuts and engravings. Those illustrations enhanced the understanding of the reading public about the expanding role of science, technology, and sociological study that blossomed during Victorian England.  

From amateur artist-scientists illustrating the worlds seen through a microscope, to travelers depicting the world they saw, illustrations provided a visual means to understand and amplify the text. The world was captured for readers who would never dissect a caterpillar or travel to India.  Illustrations also provided a way for the publishing industry to market and sell their books to new audiences, such as those riding another major invention of Victorian times, the railroad.  The illustrations communicated information about new inventions such as the velocipede, a Victorian version of today’s bicycle.

Illustrations in serious literature diminished by the end of the 19th Century, but  found new life in children’s books, magazines, and cheap popular fiction; eventually making their way into the 20th century as comic books, graphic novels, and fine press illustrated editions.

Department of Special Collections and Archives, 314 Richardson Library, Open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.  http://library.depaul.edu/Collections/SpecialCollectionArchives.aspx

In the seventeenth century, Barbary pirates were at the height of their plundering power. Whether loosely organized or state-directed by the sultan or other pashas, North African pirates engaged in raiding the Mediterranean and its neighboring seas for goods and for captives that could be sold into slavery or ransomed.

Among those negotiating the release of the captives was Pierre Dan, a French priest of the Order of the Holy Trinity and Redemption of Captives. In 1634, Dan visited North Africa where he described the despair of the slave auctions and estimated that 25,000 Christian slaves were held in Algiers alone. Wearing the cross of the Redemptionist order, Rev. Dan is featured on the frontispiece of his book, Histoire de Barbarie (1649) conversing with a turbaned Turk or Berber and pointing to the ransom coins while ragged captives are brought out in chains.

So why is a book on Barbary pirates part of the St Vincent de Paul Reading List titles being collected by Rev. Edward Udovic, C.M.? Legend has it that from 1605 to 1607 when St Vincent de Paul was a young priest he was captured by Algerian corsairs and sold to different masters before making a daring escape with one of his captors, a French renegade who wished to be reconciled with the Church. Although the account of Vincent’s captivity came from letters he wrote at the time to explain his two year disappearance, most historians today doubt the veracity of the account and speculate that the young Vincent had dropped out of sight because of his heavy debts, and the failure of his attempts to gain an ecclesiastical benefice. Nonetheless, the Vincentian (Lazarist) order also had missions in Algiers and Tunis to bring relief or freedom to captured Christians.

Fast fact: Between 1575 and 1869, there were 82 redemption missions where friars bought the freedom of an estimated 15,500 captives.

Dan, Pierre. Histoire de Barbarie, et de ses corsairs... 2nd ed. Paris : Chez Pierre Rocolet, 1649. SPC 961.023D167h1649

The entire St Vincent de Paul Reading List of books contemporary with St Vincent can be found at: http://library.depaul.edu/Collections/spcaPDF/vdp_readingList.pdf

For more information contact Special Collections & Archives, Room 314, or archives@depaul.edu