On May 22, 1897, a group of women met in the library of the Academy of Our Lady (AOL), Chicago, Illinois, with the purpose of forming an alumnae association. The School Sisters of Notre Dame North American Archives (NAA) holds a book titled, “Alumnae Association of the Academy of Our Lady, Longwood, Ill, Rules and Minutes.” In it we learn that the purpose of the association was to “establish and maintain among the students of the school, a permanent interest in one another and in their Alma Mater.”
For 128 years, the AOL Alumnae Association raised money to support school programs, promoted the school, and gathered alumnae for reunions. After the school closed in 1999, the alumnae association continued to host reunions and promote the legacy of the school and the sisters.
In October 2025, Margaret Carroll, Class of 1954, and president of the alumnae association resigned from office and announced that the organization was no longer active. The decision was also made to transfer the records from the association’s office at St. Margaret of Scotland Elementary School to the NAA. On October 2, 2025, staff from the archives met with five alumnae to pack up the van and bring the materials back to Milwaukee.
The collection is a welcomed addition to the AOL archives already housed at the NAA. The alumnae association archives include yearbooks, copies of Longwood News, administrative records from the association and reunion programs. Probably the most important part of the collection are the thousands of “registration cards.” The cards include the name of the graduate, her married name or religious name and year of graduation. The NAA does not have a complete list of graduates from the school, so these cards are an invaluable source of information.
Even better still, Irene Burke, mother of four AOL alumnae, agreed to enter the cards into a database as a post-retirement project. She began the 30-year project in 1995, moving her work from the school office to the AOL convent after the school closed and eventually to her home. The cards are an incredible resource, made even better by the fact that they are now in a searchable database.
To celebrate the legacy of the Academy of Our Lady and its alumnae association, the NAA has put together an online display based on a scrapbook kept by Sarah Byrne, Class of 1913. Images and information about the scrapbook can be seen here.