SJU History

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Resources on SJU history

Documents on the History of CSB and SJU Cooperation

A Visual History of Saint Benedict’s and Saint John’s [PowerPoint]
A pictorial history of the two communities, emphasizing the first one hundred years.  Compiled by Br. Alan Reed, OSB, using the resources of the Archives of St. Benedict’s Monastery and those of St. John’s Abbey and University.

Faith and Learning at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, a chapter by Emmanuel Renner, OSB, and Hilary Thimmesh, OSB, in Hughes, Richard T. and William B. Adrian, editors, Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Success in the Twenty-First Century.  Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, p. 24-46. 

 
See also Books about St. John’s 

Those available online are included in the list below:

Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota:
A Sketch of Its History, 1857-1907
by Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B. (Collegeville: Record Press, 1907)
The entire book is online.
See also his Natural History Appendices, which include sections on Our Neighbors, Railroads, and Institutions in Stearns Co.

Worship and Work: Saint John’s Abbey and University 1856-1992
by Colman Barry, O.S.B. 603 pages.
The entire work is online.

The Earliest Years of Saint John’s Abbey, 1856-1862
by Fr. Bruno Riss, OSB (1829-1900).
Originally published in 1889-1890 as a series of 16 articles in The Record. A 17th, supplemental article was later published in the 1895 issue of Scriptorium, p, 197-205. 

College Life: A Manual for Students
by Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B. (Collegeville, 1898). 161 pages.
Rules of behavior for students at St. John’s.
The entire book is online.

Index for History of Saint John’s Abbey, University, Missions, 1856-1931  [ pdf index] [ Xcel index] 
by Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B. 
NOTE: This is only the index to a 5-volume print work that is available in the SJU or the Abbey Archives.

St. John’s Preparatory 125th Anniversary Souvenir: A Pictorial History, 1857-1982
by Paul J. Goossens, SJP Class of 1979. 30 pages.

History of Stearns County, Minnesota, vols. 1 & 2
by William Bell Mitchell. 1536 pages in 2 volumes. Chicago: H.C. Cooper, Jr., 1915.
The entire work is online.
Also available in the SJU and CSB Archives and Libraries: F 612 .S75 M58 1915.

Music at St. John’s from 1867 to 1900
by Fr. John B. Katzner, 1917.

Monte Cassino, Metten, and Minnesota – on the European roots of St. John’s
by August C. Krey.  Reprinted from Minnesota History vol. 8 no. 3, September 1927.  15 pages. 
The entire work is online.

Natural History of Collegeville, Minnesota
by Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B. (originally written in 1926, finished in 1934).  38 pages, plus its Appendices.
The entire work is online. 
Also online: Ornithological Notes by Father Lambert Thelen, O.S.B. from 1894-98.  48 p.
Also online: A Study of the Vegetation in the Upland Forest of St. John’s Abbey and University (1977) by Lorraine Westrup Cofell.84p.

One Co-Operative Venture: The CSB and SJU Academic Exchange Program
This 1967 article documents the early stages of the cooperation between CSB and SJU.
For a look at the two campuses as they were beginning to implement greater cooperation, see their separate Institutional Profiles, published in 1968 for St. John’s and in 1969 for St. Ben’s.

Saint John’s in the Late 1960s/Early 1970s: The “Protest Years”
Three short compilations concerning the SJU campus in those days:
The War in Vietnam / The Sexual Revolution / Civil Rights Activism

Stones and Hills / Steine und Huegel
Reflections: St. John the Baptist Parish, 1875-1975
A history of the Collegeville Parish, published for its centennial in 1975.
Copyright St. John the Baptist Parish, Collegeville, 1975.
The entire book is online, in a series of pdfs.Includes black and white illustrations.

History paper The War Protest Movement at St. John’s During the Vietnam Conflict
by Jeffrey Hagen, SJU class of 1977
The entire paper is online.

Scoreboard: A History of Athletics at Saint John’s University
written and compiled by Dunstan Tucker, O.S.B. and Martin Schirber, O.S.B.
(Copyright 1979 by the Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.)
The entire work is online. Also available in PDF.

Abbey and University Church of Saint John the Baptist, 5th ed.
by Ronald Roloff, O.S.B.  36 pages. (North Central Pub. Co., St. Paul, Minn., 1980)
The entire booklet is online. 

Thesis A Management Plan for the Conifer Plantations at St. John’s Collegeville, Minnesota
by Paul Schwietz, O.S.B., 1985.
The entire paper is online.

Land Management Plan for St. John’s, Collegeville, Minnesota
by Don Peterson & Paul Schwietz, OSB. 2000 and subsequent updates.
Available on the Saint John’s Outdoor University website. 

History paperA Stone House Amongst the Maples:  Forestry, Stability and Benedictinism at St. John’s, 1866-1960
by Franz Young, SJU class of 2002
The entire paper is online.

History paper‘If It Can Be Done . . .’: St. John’s Abbey and Agricultural Self-Sufficiency from 1857–1954
by Andrew Brever, SJU class of 2008
The entire paper is online.

“‘We Are Brave Men’: Baseball and the St. John’s Industrial School, 1884-1896”
Chapter 2 of Indian Summers: Baseball at Native American Boarding Schools in Minnesota
by David J. Laliberte, SJU class of 2000 (MA thesis: St. Cloud State University, 2008).
NOTE: This work is protected by copyright and registered with the US Copyright Office, no. TXu001612136. 
This chapter is online ; the entire thesis is available in the SJU Archives.

Thesis Ordinary doing the extraordinary: An examination of John Gagliardi and the winning football tradition at Saint John’s University
by Ryan Klinkner, SJU class of 2004. 2009.
The entire work is online.
Also available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV958.S697 K55 2009 

Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church: A Monastic Memoir
by Hilary Thimmesh, O.S.B.; illustrations by Renée Cheng. SJU Press, 2011.  126 pages.
The entire work is online; CSB and SJU login required.

A History of St. John’s University’s Legendary 1965 National Championship Football Team
by James Shiely. Self-published, 2015, with 2017, 2019, 2021, & 2022 addenda.
The entire work is online.  

The Land, the Forest, and the Place of Agriculture at Saint John’s – a 2017 “Sunday at the Abbey”
presentation by Land Manager Tom Kroll.
View the video or just the slides.

The tables of contents of two literary magazines, Sketchbook (1949-1966) and  Lower Stumpf Lake Review (1966-1984), are available via Vivarium.  The full text is NOT online.