Dec. 12, 2013
The University Archives recently launched two online finding aids for collections related to Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charities, who was beatified in 2003 as a step toward possible sainthood.
The first finding aid details items from the American Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, an affiliate of the Missionaries of Charity founded in New York City in 1971.
The items in the 41-box collection were donated primarily by Violet Collins, who worked for the Co-Workers. The collection consists of correspondence, financial ledgers, meetings materials, the Co-Worker Newsletter, newspaper clippings, photographs, audio tapes, and film reels accumulated during the Co-Workers' 40-year association with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity.
The second collection contains material from Eileen Egan, author of the award-winning biography Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa, The Spirit and the Work. Egan worked for Catholic Relief Services, assisted the National Council of Catholic Women, and edited the international newsletter of the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa.
The 21-box collection features correspondence to and from Mother Teresa, audio cassettes of her lectures, press releases and newspaper clippings, photographs, and numerous books. Many of the books are in Spanish, German, Dutch, Japanese, and French.
"The two Mother Teresa related collections at CUA are documentary examples of the way this saintly nun working half a world away in India to aid the sick and the poor inspired many American Catholic women to join and support this great charitable and ecumenical work," says John Shepherd, associate archivist.
The finding aids were created by Shane MacDonald, a graduate student in history.
For a list of other finding aids, visit http://archives.lib.cua.edu/findingaid/ . To find out more about accessing collections in the archives, visit http://archives.lib.cua.edu/archacc.cfm.