Sister Mary Alma Sullivan, BVM, Interview with Sandra LaBlance, 2000
Item
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan, 1951. (WLA, Mundelein College 1951 Class Photograph)
Interview Audio Side A
Interview Audio Side B
Interview Transcript
Title
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan, BVM, Interview with Sandra LaBlance, 2000
Summary
A member of the Mundelein 1951 class, Sister Mary Alma Sullivan, BVM returned after graduation to teach English for over two decades. Sister Mary Alma recounts memories of her childhood in Chicago and her extended family gatherings in Freeport, Illinois where her grandfather played fiddle. Sister Mary Alma discusses the “double sided” nature of Mundelein College training in which the students were taught both to become both housewives and rigorous burgeoning academics. Sister Mary Alma describes the interior of the skyscraper in detail, particularly her recollections of working on the Skyscraper student newspaper on the fifth floor.
Date Created
2000
Biography
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan was born in January of 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. Sister Mary Alma graduated from Mundelein College in 1951, majoring in English and went on to earn two master's degrees, the first in English at Loyola University Chicago and the second in speech from Northwestern University. She returned to Mundelein to teach from 1970 until the time of its affiliation with Loyola. As a member of the Mundelein faculty, Sister Mary Alma was particularly interested in social justice issues. She continued her association with Mundelein long after its affiliation through her books and videos celebrating its history.
Time Log
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan, BVM
Interview with Sandra LaBlance, October 20, 2000
Chicago, IL
Time Log
Side A
0-5 minutes
Sandra LaBlance Interviewer
Introduction:
Born in Chicago on the southeast side in the St. Phillip Mary Parish.
Family background; Irish immigration and the importance of close family ties.
Family spent weekends in Freeport, Illinois.
5-10 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan relays the story of her Grandfather and his fiddle.
When she was young, her family lived in an apartment at 79th and Jeffrey. Lived later in a home in the Edgebrook area of Chicago.
10-15 minutes
Had been a “tomboy.”
Was treated no differently as a girl.
Parents had the expectation that all of the children complete college.
Had no thought as a college student that she would become a BVM.
Acknowledges the influence of Mundelein for modeling women’s leadership.
15-20 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan’s memories of World War II as a high school student at Immaculata.
Knitted afghans for, and wrote to service men.
Father had an air raid warden helmet. Occasionally tested the air raid system.
Remembers the death of FDR.
20-25 minutes
Remembers the return of soldiers after the war.
Never knew of the Manzanar or internment of Americans of Japanese descent.
The Civil Rights movement was Sister Mary Alma’s first exposure to how other people really lived.
Majority of Mundelein fellows were the first in their families to attend college.
25-30 minutes
Immigrant parents.
Mundelein was not cliquish.
Wasn’t astute enough to raise the question about my friends’ backgrounds.
30-35 minutes
The students merged somehow.
Many Mundelein students went to Mundelein because it would buttress our families’ Roman Catholic tradition. Students went to a women’s college because their families felt that we were safe there.
The founders of Mundelein would have said that they wanted their young women to be in the image of Mary, Mother of God.
Parents were devout. However, Sullivan’s father was close to anti-cleric in his opinions.
Left Ireland at the age of 20 and had a strong contempt for the Catholic clergy.
35-40 minutes
Had nothing to do with faith, it was because of the Irish priests failure to speak out on behalf of the Irish people. .
Her parents were upset when Sullivan expressed her intentions to enter the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)
Sullivan describes the double sided nature of Mundelein training: 1: training students to be housewives 2: Training with a rigorous academic curriculum modeled on that of the University of Illinois.
Most students became housewives. Some entered more political fields, most did not.
40-45 minutes
Student Life: We would go to our classes. Would be conscience stricken if we cut a class.
Had formal dances, college dances, father daughter breakfasts.
Sullivan worked for the Mundelein Review and a bi-annual poetry anthology.
Visitors: Graham Green, Robert Oppenheimer, Cornelia Skinner.
Message that was coming just in seeing those people. Go in the west door.
45-50 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan recollects that the lower level of the skyscraper was a lounge and a big bookstore.
Sister Irma Corcoran was always to be found in Room 506
Sister Mary Alma commuted from home. Mundelein had few residents.
Side B
0-5 minutes
One exception when Sullivan was a junior. European scene after WWII was a mess.
Two students from Eastern Europe, maybe Poland came because of the persecution of Catholics.
Sister’s lives in the early years of Mundelein.
Memories of Sister Irma Corcoran, BVM
5-10 minutes
Memories of working on The Review.
Reflections on teaching.
Memories of Sister Mary Virginia who taught a Shakespeare course, the tragedies and the comedies.
10-15 minutes
Mundelein as more than adequate preparation for Loyola Graduate School.
Reflections on Sister Mary Therese, the first female astrophysicist who was always out at Mt. Palomar in California “confirming this or that.”
Mundelein’s “first faculty.”
Reads poem, Abdication, “We had a cat once, not the garbage kind.”
15-20 minutes
Memories of working in the Piper Hall Library.
20-25 minutes
Reflections on gaining a “sense of myself not so much as a woman but as a human being with a lot of potential” at Mundelein.
A Mundelein education was superior for a small college.
25-30 minutes
Regard selves as progressive?
Mundelein was the first university in the city, before Northwestern, Loyola, or University of Chicago, to have a projection booth in the auditorium that could show 35 mm films.
Granada Theater brought movies for the nuns on bicycle.
Catholic Student Association and its involvement with the Civil Rights movement which was right at the beginning.
30-35 minutes
Catherine Brothie, named later, Sister Mary Lougory graduated from DePaul Law School with Sullivan’s father.
Interview with Sandra LaBlance, October 20, 2000
Chicago, IL
Time Log
Side A
0-5 minutes
Sandra LaBlance Interviewer
Introduction:
Born in Chicago on the southeast side in the St. Phillip Mary Parish.
Family background; Irish immigration and the importance of close family ties.
Family spent weekends in Freeport, Illinois.
5-10 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan relays the story of her Grandfather and his fiddle.
When she was young, her family lived in an apartment at 79th and Jeffrey. Lived later in a home in the Edgebrook area of Chicago.
10-15 minutes
Had been a “tomboy.”
Was treated no differently as a girl.
Parents had the expectation that all of the children complete college.
Had no thought as a college student that she would become a BVM.
Acknowledges the influence of Mundelein for modeling women’s leadership.
15-20 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan’s memories of World War II as a high school student at Immaculata.
Knitted afghans for, and wrote to service men.
Father had an air raid warden helmet. Occasionally tested the air raid system.
Remembers the death of FDR.
20-25 minutes
Remembers the return of soldiers after the war.
Never knew of the Manzanar or internment of Americans of Japanese descent.
The Civil Rights movement was Sister Mary Alma’s first exposure to how other people really lived.
Majority of Mundelein fellows were the first in their families to attend college.
25-30 minutes
Immigrant parents.
Mundelein was not cliquish.
Wasn’t astute enough to raise the question about my friends’ backgrounds.
30-35 minutes
The students merged somehow.
Many Mundelein students went to Mundelein because it would buttress our families’ Roman Catholic tradition. Students went to a women’s college because their families felt that we were safe there.
The founders of Mundelein would have said that they wanted their young women to be in the image of Mary, Mother of God.
Parents were devout. However, Sullivan’s father was close to anti-cleric in his opinions.
Left Ireland at the age of 20 and had a strong contempt for the Catholic clergy.
35-40 minutes
Had nothing to do with faith, it was because of the Irish priests failure to speak out on behalf of the Irish people. .
Her parents were upset when Sullivan expressed her intentions to enter the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)
Sullivan describes the double sided nature of Mundelein training: 1: training students to be housewives 2: Training with a rigorous academic curriculum modeled on that of the University of Illinois.
Most students became housewives. Some entered more political fields, most did not.
40-45 minutes
Student Life: We would go to our classes. Would be conscience stricken if we cut a class.
Had formal dances, college dances, father daughter breakfasts.
Sullivan worked for the Mundelein Review and a bi-annual poetry anthology.
Visitors: Graham Green, Robert Oppenheimer, Cornelia Skinner.
Message that was coming just in seeing those people. Go in the west door.
45-50 minutes
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan recollects that the lower level of the skyscraper was a lounge and a big bookstore.
Sister Irma Corcoran was always to be found in Room 506
Sister Mary Alma commuted from home. Mundelein had few residents.
Side B
0-5 minutes
One exception when Sullivan was a junior. European scene after WWII was a mess.
Two students from Eastern Europe, maybe Poland came because of the persecution of Catholics.
Sister’s lives in the early years of Mundelein.
Memories of Sister Irma Corcoran, BVM
5-10 minutes
Memories of working on The Review.
Reflections on teaching.
Memories of Sister Mary Virginia who taught a Shakespeare course, the tragedies and the comedies.
10-15 minutes
Mundelein as more than adequate preparation for Loyola Graduate School.
Reflections on Sister Mary Therese, the first female astrophysicist who was always out at Mt. Palomar in California “confirming this or that.”
Mundelein’s “first faculty.”
Reads poem, Abdication, “We had a cat once, not the garbage kind.”
15-20 minutes
Memories of working in the Piper Hall Library.
20-25 minutes
Reflections on gaining a “sense of myself not so much as a woman but as a human being with a lot of potential” at Mundelein.
A Mundelein education was superior for a small college.
25-30 minutes
Regard selves as progressive?
Mundelein was the first university in the city, before Northwestern, Loyola, or University of Chicago, to have a projection booth in the auditorium that could show 35 mm films.
Granada Theater brought movies for the nuns on bicycle.
Catholic Student Association and its involvement with the Civil Rights movement which was right at the beginning.
30-35 minutes
Catherine Brothie, named later, Sister Mary Lougory graduated from DePaul Law School with Sullivan’s father.
Index
Mary Alma Sullivan 2000 Index
KEY
MAS 2000= Mary Alma Sullivan 2000 Interview
INDEX
Anti-clericalism, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Catholic Student Association, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Catholic tradition, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Civil Rights Movement, MAS 2000 A 20-25, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Cornelia Skinner, MAS 2000 A 40-45
DePaul Law School, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Eastern European students, MAS 2000 B 0-5
Edgebrook neighborhood, Chicago, MAS 2000 A 5-10
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, MAS 2000 A 15-20
Freeport, Illinois, MAS 2000 A 0-5
Graham Greene, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Granada Theater, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Immaculata High School, MAS 2000 A 15-20
Irish immigration, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Japanese-American internment, MAS 2000 A 20-25
Legal Clinic, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Loyola Graduate School, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Manzanar, MAS 2000 A 20-25
Mt. Palomar Observatory, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Mundelein projection booth, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Mundelein Review, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Mundelein skyscraper building, MAS 2000 A 45-50
Mundelein student life, MAS 2000 A 25-30, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Mundelein training, MAS 2000 A 35-40
Mundelein’s “first faculty”, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Piper Hall Library, MAS 2000 B 15-20
Robert Oppenheimer, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Sister Irma Corcoran, BVM, MAS 2000 A 45-50, BVM, MAS 2000 B 0-5
Sister Mary Lougory, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Sister Mary Therese Lamberbeck, BVM, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Sister Mary Virginia, MAS 2000 B 5-10
St. Philip Mary Parish, Chicago, MAS 2000 A 0-5
Student commuters, MAS 2000 A 45-50
The Review, MAS 2000 B 5-10
Women’s leadership, MAS 2000 A 10-15
World War II, MAS 2000 A 15-20
KEY
MAS 2000= Mary Alma Sullivan 2000 Interview
INDEX
Anti-clericalism, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Catholic Student Association, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Catholic tradition, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Civil Rights Movement, MAS 2000 A 20-25, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Cornelia Skinner, MAS 2000 A 40-45
DePaul Law School, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Eastern European students, MAS 2000 B 0-5
Edgebrook neighborhood, Chicago, MAS 2000 A 5-10
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, MAS 2000 A 15-20
Freeport, Illinois, MAS 2000 A 0-5
Graham Greene, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Granada Theater, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Immaculata High School, MAS 2000 A 15-20
Irish immigration, MAS 2000 A 30-35
Japanese-American internment, MAS 2000 A 20-25
Legal Clinic, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Loyola Graduate School, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Manzanar, MAS 2000 A 20-25
Mt. Palomar Observatory, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Mundelein projection booth, MAS 2000 B 25-30
Mundelein Review, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Mundelein skyscraper building, MAS 2000 A 45-50
Mundelein student life, MAS 2000 A 25-30, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Mundelein training, MAS 2000 A 35-40
Mundelein’s “first faculty”, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Piper Hall Library, MAS 2000 B 15-20
Robert Oppenheimer, MAS 2000 A 40-45
Sister Irma Corcoran, BVM, MAS 2000 A 45-50, BVM, MAS 2000 B 0-5
Sister Mary Lougory, MAS 2000 B 30-35
Sister Mary Therese Lamberbeck, BVM, MAS 2000 B 10-15
Sister Mary Virginia, MAS 2000 B 5-10
St. Philip Mary Parish, Chicago, MAS 2000 A 0-5
Student commuters, MAS 2000 A 45-50
The Review, MAS 2000 B 5-10
Women’s leadership, MAS 2000 A 10-15
World War II, MAS 2000 A 15-20
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