{"id":218,"date":"2018-11-27T20:58:28","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T20:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/humanities\/?p=218"},"modified":"2024-09-13T17:51:03","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T17:51:03","slug":"students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/humanities\/2018\/11\/27\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Students record Milwaukee\u2019s religious history for \u201cGathering Places\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last spring, History graduate student Ken Bartelt stood beneath the I-794 overpass, recorder in hand, talking to former parishioners on the site where the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church used to sit before it became a victim of urban renewal in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat really stood out from the interviews was the fact that the Italian community felt that they were under attack by the city of Milwaukee, and the plan to demolish the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church to build a highway punctuated that assault,\u201d Bartelt said. \u201cThe church was truly the backbone of Milwaukee\u2019s Italian community and it was a joy to see the gentlemen we interviewed recall and share those joyous parts of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those memories are just one of the discoveries uncovered by graduate students in UWM\u2019s Public History program as part of assistant professor of History Christopher Cantwell\u2019s ongoing \u201cGathering Places: Religion and Community in Milwaukee\u201d project. Cantwell, who just marked his second year at UWM, teaches the program\u2019s Research Methods in Local History class. Rather than lecture at his students, he said, he decided to show them how to research local history by pairing them up and making them do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he had the perfect project in mind. Each day on his walk to campus, Cantwell passes by at least four houses of worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a historian of religion in cities. I\u2019ve always had a fascination with how religious communities adapt to the curiosities of the urban environment,\u201d Cantwell said. \u201cSo I charged the students with partnering with a local house of worship and working with them to write their history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, Cantwell\u2019s students have investigated Plymouth Church, the Chinese Christian Church, Epikos Church, Calvary Presbyterian, Congregation Emanu-El B\u2019Ne Jeshurun, St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church, and Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the research is compiled on a website that includes an interactive map, timelines, recorded interviews with church members, old photographs, and more.
While they record the usual dates, prominent figures, and stories, Cantwell also tasked his students with studying each house of worship\u2019s \u201clived religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[They\u2019re] looking at religion as to how it\u2019s practiced, rather than as what a minister might say. If they pay attention, that should unveil some surprising things,\u201d Cantwell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, St. Casimir is one of the oldest Polish Catholic churches in Milwaukee, but it\u2019s been folded into another parish due to dwindling attendance \u2013 except when it comes to the popular parish festival, which is held each year at the historic Falcon Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t think about writing about a bowling league would be part of religion, but that is just as much as part of religion as a Sunday Mass for that community,\u201d Cantwell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to visiting community events and interviewing members of each congregation, the students had to do some old-fashioned legwork to track down church records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe spent multiple days in the Milwaukee County Historical Society archives looking at old photographs, maps, and even correspondence between city officials and a group of church members that organized to try to save the church from demolition,\u201d Bartelt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then too, students are challenged to place each congregation\u2019s story within the greater arc of American history. The Polish congregation of St. Casimir, for example, is a direct reflection of shifting immigration patterns in the 1800s as more Eastern Europeans began striking out for America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re able to situate these histories within immigration, within urban renewal, within white flight,\u201d Cantwell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The education has been invaluable for Bartelt and his classmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a greater understanding of what an incredibly rich resource the stories of everyday people can be,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone was impacted by the events of history in unique ways, and this class allowed me to sit down and hear some stories that my partner and I were privileged enough to get to share with more people through our class project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to compile these stories in one place because the history of its religious institutions is integral to the history of Milwaukee, Cantwell said. And he\u2019s only getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time I teach this class, we\u2019ll have new material to engage with and new stories to tell,\u201d he added. \u201cI want this project to contribute to our ongoing understanding of the community. They\u2019re doing interviews with people right now so that there are resources to tell these stories later on, and they\u2019re not overlooked or forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Cantwell decided to show his Research Methods in Local History students how to research local history by pairing up and partnering them with a local place of worship to study their practices and write their history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nStudents record Milwaukee\u2019s religious history for \u201cGathering Places\u201d - Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/humanities\/2018\/11\/27\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students record Milwaukee\u2019s religious history for \u201cGathering Places\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Cantwell decided to show his Research Methods in Local History students how to research local history by pairing up and partnering them with a local place of worship to study their practices and write their history\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/humanities\/2018\/11\/27\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-27T20:58:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-13T17:51:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/humanities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2019\/01\/Cantwell-Religious-History.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Students record Milwaukee\u2019s religious history for \u201cGathering Places\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-27T20:58:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-13T17:51:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":774,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/146\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/Cantwell-Religious-History.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/humanities\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/27\\\/students-record-milwaukees-religious-history-for-gathering-places\\\/\",\"name\":\"Students record Milwaukee\u2019s religious history for \u201cGathering Places\u201d - 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