On this Veteran’s Day, which marks 100 years after the Armistice was declared for the First World War, it is fitting to reflect on the role St. Thomas played in the war.  Nearly 900 students, faculty, staff and alumni of the College of St. Thomas and St. Thomas Military Academy served during the conflict.   Many took up commissions as officers in the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.  Others served in the the fledgling aviation corps, the ambulance corps or as members of Canadian and British military units.   At least 20 men with connections to St. Thomas lost their lives during while serving their country — some on the battlefield and some from the Spanish Influenza outbreak.

 A group of St. Thomas alums who served during WWI, Kaydet, 1918.

During the autumn of 1918, the College of St. Thomas served as a site for one of the United States War Department’s units of the Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.).  The S.A.T.C utilized the facilities, equipment, and faculty of colleges and universities across the country to select and train officer candidates and provide technical and vocational training for recruits.

The St. Thomas Student Army Training Corps, 1918.

A barracks building was built on campus (near the site of the current Anderson Student Center) in the fall of 1918 to house the 250 men in the program.  The building was occupied for only a short time as the S.A.T.C. unit was demobilized in December 1918 after the armistice was declared.

Armory and S.A.T.C. barracks, 1918.

For more information on the history of St. Thomas during this period, search the Kaydet yearbooks and Purple and Gray magazine in the Historic University Publications database.

Quantecong a Chinese Deity

In the early decades of the 18th century, Bernard Picart and Jean Frederic Bernard collaborated on a project which became a “best-seller” of its time.   Picart, a noted engraver, and  Bernard, a Huguenot bookseller and publisher, created a text which captured the ritual and ceremonial life of all the known religions of the world.   The first volume of this monumental nine volume work was published as Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieues de tous les Peuples du Monde in 1723.

The authors’ aim was to present all religions (including those practiced by “idolatrous peoples”) as objectively as possible — highlighting what common between religions more than how the religions differed from one another.  Marriage and funeral customs, for example, are described in detail for nearly every religion.   Picart’s lavish illustrations accompany many of the most important rituals.

This work  was translated into French, German, English and Dutch and published in numerous editions over the next 100 years. The University of St. Thomas Libraries Rare Book collection holds two early versions of this influential title – one written in English and another written in French.

Adoration of Fire by the Natives of Virginia

For more information on the UST Libraries rare books and manuscripts collections see our website.

One of my favorite Winter Olympic sports is speed skating.  I love watching the athletes sprint around the oval on their narrow blades where one false move will find them spinning out on the ice.   But it wasn’t until I was exploring the University Archives collection the other day that I realized how many St. Thomas alums were noted speed skaters.

Everett McGowan, 1920

A multitalented athlete, Everett McGowan lettered in football and baseball as a student at St. Thomas from 1919 to 1920. But he is best known for his speed-skating prowess. McGowan won the national and international speed skating championships in 1920 as an amateur. His success continued during a professional career in which he beat veteran speed skaters such as Norval Baptie in the 1921 Northwest Championship.

Leo Freisinger, 1937

Leo Freisinger attended the College of St. Thomas from 1937 – 1938.  Prior to enrolling at St. Thomas he won a bronze medal in the 500m race at the 1936 Winter Olympic games.  He continued to compete in national and international speed skating events after that, wearing the St. Thomas colors in the 1938 International Speed Skating Championships in Oslo, Norway.

Bob Fitzgerald, 1946

Bobby Fitzgerald won several indoor, outdoor and North American speed skating championships as a teenager.  But, his skating career was interrupted by World War II and a injury he suffered while in the Army.  After returning to civilian life,  he finished his college degree (graduating from the College of St. Thomas in 1946) and resumed his speed skating career.  He later won the silver medal in 500m the 1948 Winter Olympics and was a member of the 1952 Olympic speed skating team.

To explore more of the history of the University of St. Thomas, visit the University Archives webpage.

(This post was first published on February 3, 2014. )