#SSND175

On September 1, 1948, in Strasburg and Mantador, North Dakota, an interesting side note in the history of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) began. A new school year was about to begin, and the teachers at the schools in those towns (Sisters Celine Koktan, Lucida Kunz, Thomas Caven, Isabel Kathrein, Josepha Forster, Kathleen Rother, Richard Anthony Schutte, Thomas...Read more

By Michele Levandoski, Archivist Let’s begin 2023 by celebrating trailblazing School Sisters of Notre Dame. This month we highlight sisters who were the first or the only in the congregation who held certain distinctions, such as earning a Ph.D., serving as a college president or getting a chauffer’s license. Note: Every attempt has been made to correctly identify the “first”...Read more

This article is part of the School Sisters of Notre Dame North American Archives’ 175th anniversary celebration of SSND arriving in North America. For the next year, the staff at the North American Archives will celebrate this milestone by highlighting SSND “firsts.” Each month will focus on a particular sister, event or mission that has a unique place in the congregation’s history...Read more

By Tim Cary, Archivist School Sisters of Notre Dame – it’s in the name. The congregation is well known for the excellence of its teachers. That remains true however, the sisters are also known for the breadth of their gifts. Vatican II urged religious to open their windows to a changing world and to examine ministries that engaged in activities...Read more

The School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) have opened academies, institutes, high schools and colleges which have offered a high-quality education to thousands of young women. This month, the 175th celebration of SSND in North America highlights some of the unique traditions, sports and celebrations at several of these schools in the United States and Canada. This is a small...Read more

By Grace Avila, Assistant Archivist Beginnings are not without their challenges. When School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) founded missions at parish schools, they would never know what type of situation they were getting into. The sisters could be warmly received by the community, met with open hostility or every other possibility in between. Opening missions in states with an...Read more

By Tim Cary, Processing Archivist Transforming the world through education. The ministry of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) is meaningful to the people they teach. The words are also important to the sisters themselves. Prior to the early 1950s, teaching sisters got relatively little formal training before being placed into the classroom. They met the same standards that...Read more

“Yesterday, Friday, July 30 [1847], at five in the evening, we set foot on solid ground for the first time in America – in New York.” Blessed Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger wrote these words at the end of the long and arduous trip from Munich to New York. She left Bavaria with the intention of establishing a motherhouse in a...Read more