Thomas Nast Anti-Irish Cartoons

Among the recently digitized images added to our online collection are a number of drawings by cartoonist Thomas Nast. In 1846 at the age of six, Nast immigrated with his mother to the United States and by age 15 he had begun drawing for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News.[1] He joined

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Archbishop Ryan

...s also active in expanding ministry work for the marginalized. He opened a number of institutions, including, St. Joseph’s House for Homeless Industrious Boys and the Philadelphia Protectory for Boys (now St. Gabriel’s Hall) in 1888 and 1895, respectively.[10] Ryan was also active in labor relations, working on a number

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Philadelphia’s First Bishop

...n Jesuit, Reverend Joseph Greaton, lived in Maryland as early as 1720, and traveled to Philadelphia to offer Mass and administer the sacraments. By 1729, Father Greaton had taken up residence in Philadelphia, discreetly celebrating Mass in private homes. In 1733 he established the first parish in Philadelphia, Saint Joseph’s

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American Federation of Catholic Societies

...that the Church had experienced in the mid-1800s. Despite these concerns a number of archbishops and bishops supported the new organization and it slowly started to expend. In 1903, the Pennsylvania Federation was founded with the goal of “cementing the bonds of fraternal union among the Catholic laity and the

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