In this Book
- Across God's Frontiers: Catholic Sisters in the American West, 1850-1920
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
summary
Roman Catholic sisters first traveled to the American West as providers of social services, education, and medical assistance. In Across God's Frontiers, Anne M. Butler traces the ways in which sisters challenged and reconfigured contemporary ideas about women, work, religion, and the West; moreover, she demonstrates how religious life became a vehicle for increasing women's agency and power.
Moving to the West introduced significant changes for these women, including public employment and thoroughly unconventional monastic lives. As nuns and sisters adjusted to new circumstances and immersed themselves in rugged environments, Butler argues, the West shaped them; and through their labors and charities, the sisters in turn shaped the West. These female religious pioneers built institutions, brokered relationships between Indigenous peoples and encroaching settlers, and undertook varied occupations, often without organized funding or direct support from the church hierarchy. A comprehensive history of Roman Catholic nuns and sisters in the American West, Across God's Frontiers reveals Catholic sisters as dynamic and creative architects of civic and religious institutions in western communities.
Moving to the West introduced significant changes for these women, including public employment and thoroughly unconventional monastic lives. As nuns and sisters adjusted to new circumstances and immersed themselves in rugged environments, Butler argues, the West shaped them; and through their labors and charities, the sisters in turn shaped the West. These female religious pioneers built institutions, brokered relationships between Indigenous peoples and encroaching settlers, and undertook varied occupations, often without organized funding or direct support from the church hierarchy. A comprehensive history of Roman Catholic nuns and sisters in the American West, Across God's Frontiers reveals Catholic sisters as dynamic and creative architects of civic and religious institutions in western communities.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Cover and Front Matter
- pp. 1-7
- Contents and Illustrations
- pp. 8-11
- Introduction
- pp. 1-11
- CHAPTER 1. Nuns for the West
- pp. 13-42
- CHAPTER 2. Travels
- pp. 43-78
- CHAPTER 3. The Labor
- pp. 79-116
- CHAPTER 4. The Finances
- pp. 117-152
- CHAPTER 5. Contests for Control
- pp. 153-189
- CHAPTER 7. Ethnic Intersections
- pp. 231-266
- CHAPTER 8. Nuns of the West
- pp. 267-301
- CONCLUSION. Nuns and Wests: Melding
- pp. 303-313
- Bibliography
- pp. 373-393
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469601618
Related ISBN(s)
9780807835654, 9780807837542, 9781469622057
MARC Record
OCLC
868215630
Pages
448
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No