What’s in a name?: Working on the LUCIR photographs

There was something not quite right about the working title for this folder. The first letters of the student organization’s full name, “Latins United for Our Cultural Heritage”, were not lining up with its acronym, LUCIR. This thought continued to bug me as I scanned the folder of pictures, leading me to pursue a fascinating trail through a published book, several other folders in the Women and Leadership Archives’ (WLA) collection and a yearbook.

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Dancing at Mundelein

Dance has a large impact on my life. I grew up dancing, starting at the age of three. I went through my life, even graduating with a Dance Complementary major. When I stumbled onto dance records working at the Women and Leadership Archives, I became very excited.

I began research on dance at Mundelein College*, combing through files and student newspapers. I came across several photos of co-ed dances as well as finding some photos and articles of Mundelein dance performances. Overall, I noticed three main genres of dances at Mundelein: company dance performances, students in dance, and social dances.

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Digitizing Mundelein

Our unassuming file cabinets

There is a lot of history stored here in the Women and Leadership Archives, so it would be easy to overlook the three black filing cabinets tucked away in a corner of our reading room. That would be a mistake, though, since those drawers contain the Mundelein College Photograph Collection.* In other words, they hold an estimated 40,000 photographs and slides (yes, you read that correctly) captured during Mundelein College’s more than sixty-year history.

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Saving Sister Jean

The amazing run of the Loyola Men’s Basketball team in the 2018 March Madness made national news. The Ramblers’ last-second upsets over Miami in the first round and Tennessee in round two brought the team to its first Sweet Sixteen since 1985. All of the success brought new attention, not only to the team, but to the adorable 98-year-old team chaplain, Sr. Jean Dolores Schimdt, BVM (Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) who quickly became a national star. Continue reading