GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 2: Midwest United States
Oklahoma: OK-37

Benedictines. St. Gregory’s Archabbey
1900 West MacArthur Street
Shawnee, OK 74804

Phone: 405-878-5491

 

Hours: By appointment only

Access: Some restrictions apply

Copying facilities: Yes

 

History: Benedictines self-identify with the post-nominal initials, “O.S.B.” The Benedictines of St. Gregory's Abbey/ Sacred Heart Abbey, Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, have administered the following Native American missions and parishes in Oklahoma.

1875-1892 (no longer Native)	St. Patrick Church (Choctaw), Atoka, Atoka County, Choctaw Nation
1877-present	Sacred Heart Church (Potawatomi) Konawa/ Sacred Heart, Seminole County
1884-1887 (no longer Native)	Our Lady of Good Counsel Mission (Choctaw), Lehigh, Coal County, Choctaw Nation
1886-1888 (no longer Native)	St. John Mission (Choctaw), McAlester, Pittsburg County, Choctaw Nation
1886-1905 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Our Lady of Victory/ St. Elizabeth Church (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Purcell, McClain County, Chickasaw Nation
1887-1893 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Immaculate Conception Church (Osage), Pawhuska, Osage Nation
1887-1898 (closed)	Sacred Heart Mission (Choctaw), Boggy Depot, Atoka County, Choctaw Nation
1889-1895 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	St. John Church (Osage), Gray Horse, Osage Nation
1889-1905 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	St. John the Baptist Mission (Choctaw, Chickasaw), Lexington, Cleveland County
1891-1895 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Assumption Church (Creek), Muskogee, Muskogee County, Cherokee and Muskogee (Creek) Nations
1891-1902 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Blessed Sacrament Mission (Choctaw), Coalgate, Coal County, Choctaw Nation
1891-1974 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	St. Patrick Church (Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo, Wichita, Delaware), Anadarko, Caddo County
1893-1925 (closed)	Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Mission (Shawnee), Tecumseh, Pottawatomie County
1896-1925 (closed)	St. Gregory Mission (Potawatomi), Eason, Pottawatomie County
1896-present	St. Benedict Church (Shawnee, Potawatomi), Shawnee, Pottawatomie County
1897-present	St. Mary/ Our Lady of Grace Mission (Potawatomi), Wanette, Pottawatomie County
1898-1902 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Holy Name Mission (Chickasaw), Chickasha, Grady County, Chickasaw Nation
1913-1915 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Sacred Heart Mission (Osage), Fairfax, Osage Nation
1928-1949 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Immaculate Conception Mission (Apache, Caddo), Cyril, Caddo County
1930-1949 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	St. Joseph Mission (Osage), Hominy, Osage Nation
1931-1949 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary/ St. Margaret Mary Mission (Caddo), Binger, Caddo County
1940-1953 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	Our Lady of Victory Mission (Kiowa), Carnegie, Caddo County
1942-1945 (transferred to Oklahoma City Diocese)	St. Catherine Mission (Choctaw), Durant, Bryan County

 

Holdings of Catholic records about Native Americans:

Inclusive dates: 1876-ongoing, undated

Volume: Ca. 5.3 cubic feet

Description: The records at St. Gregory's Abbey were not organized according to a classification scheme when reviewed by a Marquette University archivist, 1980. Consequently, the description is by record type.

 

/1 "Annals of Sacred Heart Abbey, 1876-1933”

Inclusive dates: Written ca. 1909-1933

Volume: 161 pages

Description: By Rev. Adalbert Haffner, O.S.B. and Rev. Leo Gariador, O.S.B.; include month by month descriptions of major events, arrivals of new recruits and distinguished visitors, deaths, celebrations; entries before ca. 1909 were created from memory or from other records.

 

/2 Chronicles, St. Gregory's Abbey

Inclusive dates: 1948-1959

Volume: 300 handwritten pages

 

/3 Minutes of Chapter meetings of Sacred Heart Abbey and St. Gregory's Abbey

Inclusive dates: 1901-1940

Volume: 1 folder

Description: Accounts of discussions, ballotings, and official decisions relating to Native American missions.

 

/4 Diaries and journals

Inclusive dates: 1882-1938, undated

Volume: .2 cubic foot

Description:

A. "Recollections of Missionary Trips in 1885," undated, 26 typed pages: written by Rev. Hilary Cassal, O.S.B.

B. "Reminiscences of Brother John Laracy," 1933, 13 handwritten pages: begins in 1879

C. "Journey to Sacred Heart from Belloc, 1888-1889," undated, 8 handwritten pages: written by Rev. Blaise Haritchabalet, O.S.B.

D. "Experience in Indian Territory Just Before The Close of the 19th Century," 1898, 14 handwritten pages: written by Rev. Hippolyte Topet, O.S.B.

E. Rev. Leo Gariador, O.S.B., diaries, journals, notebooks, 1882-1938, undated, 13 volumes; various topics including Native American missions and schools

 

/5 Correspondence

Inclusive dates: 1876-1932, undated

Volume: .1 cubic foot

Description:

A. Letters (copies) of Rev. Thomas Bergh, O.S.B., Sacred Heart Mission, to Rev. Swithbert Breiken, O.S.B., St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate, England, 1885-1886, 1 folder

B. "Robot, Rt. Rev. Isidore, O.S.B., First Prefect Apostolic of Indian Territory, 1876-1886," 1876-1877, 1882, 1885-1886, 9 letters (all but 1 are copies)

C. Rev. Mother (Saint) Katharine Drexel, S.B.S., to Rev. Isidore Ricklin at St. Patrick's Mission, Anadarko, Oklahoma, 1903, 1905, undated, 3 letters

D. Incoming letters to Rev. Thomas Duperou, 1897-1905, undated, 1 volume

E. "Jean, Rt. Rev. Ignatius, O.S.B., Second Prefect Apostolic of Indian Territory," 1886-1890, 1 folder

F. Rev. Leo Gariador, O.S.B., letters, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1920-1922, 1930-1932, 1 folder

 

/6 School records

Inclusive dates: 1881-1958

Volume: .45 cubic foot

Description:

A. "St. Benedict Industrial School and Sacred Heart College Boarding School," 1881-1927, .35 cubic foot:

1. Lists of students, 1881-1887, 1890, 1898-1918, 1 folder

2. School reports, 1901-1927, .1 cubic foot: quarterly reports submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs

3. Catalogs, 1907-1918, 1924-1925, .2 cubic foot

4. Grades, 1906-1908, 1 folder

B. St. Patrick School, Anadarko, 1893-1958, .1 cubic foot: student enrollment books listing name, age, tribe, date entered, and grade

 

/7 Financial reports

Inclusive dates: 1923-1949

Volume: 3 folders

Description:

A. Sacred Heart Church, Sacred Heart, 1923-1925, 1928-1929, 1933-1949, 1 folder

B. St. Agnes Church, Antlers, 1926, 1929, 1 folder

C. St. Patrick Church, Anadarko, 1924-1929, 1 folder

 

/8 Deeds and leases

Inclusive dates: 1891-1892, 1898-1914, 1916, 1922

Volume: 2 folders  

 

/9 Indian Advocate

Inclusive dates: 1888-1910

Volume: 21 volumes

Description: Publication of Sacred Heart Abbey; contains substantial information on Native American mission and school activity; first volume, 1888, entitled “Prospectus” 

 

/10 Histories and historical notes

Inclusive dates: 1928-1970s, undated

Volume: ca. 2.15 cubic feet

Description:

A. The Foundation of Oklahoma's Sacred Heart by Abbot Denys Huerre, 1965, 50 typed pages

B. Rev. Joseph F. Murphy, O.S.B., research files, 1930s-1970s, approximately 2 cubic feet: research notes and correspondence (copies) created or compiled for Rev. Murphy's publications, particularly Tenacious Monks; major repositories of original records include St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate, England; St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota; the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records, Marquette University Archives, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Abbot General's Office, Rome, Italy; and the Oklahoma Archdiocesan Archives, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

C. Rev. Urban de Hasque's histories and historical notes, 1928, undated, .1 cubic foot: regarding St. Patrick Mission, Anadarko, and Sacred Heart Mission, Sacred Heart

 

/11 Photographs

Inclusive dates: 1890s-1940s, undated

Volume: 375 prints

Description:

A. "Sacred Heart Mission," 1890s-1910, undated, 155 prints

B. "Sacred Heart College and Abbey," 1910-1940s, 165 prints

C. "St. Patrick's Church, Anadarko," 1890s-1920s, 55 prints

 

 

Unless noted otherwise, the repository named above holds (or held) the records described and not the Marquette University Archives. However, Marquette’s holdings, e.g. Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records, include related records about these Native and Catholic groups and places.

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