Mother Celeste Thompson scrapbook, before 1950

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Thompson, Celeste, 1885-1970
Abstract:
This scrapbook is an architectural notebook compiled by Rev. Mother Celeste Marie Thompson, RSCJ. It includes Thompson's notes on architectural history, newspaper clippings, postcards, and magazine cutouts covering a variety of architectural styles.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Folder Title], Box # Folder #, Mother Celeste Thompson scrapbook, Copley Library, University of San Diego, Archives and Special Collections.

Background

Scope and content:

This scrapbook is an architectural notebook compiled by Rev. Mother Celeste Marie Thompson titled "A Collection of Notes on Architecture." It includes Thompson's notes on architectural history, newspaper clippings, postcards, and magazine cutouts. The architectural styles she described include Grecian, Roman, Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, Saracenic, Renaissance, and Egyptian. Some postcards and magazine cutouts have been affixed to the pages of notes. Many of the postcards and newspaper clippings are interleaved between pages. The majority of these postcards include correspondence.

Biographical / historical:

Rev. Mother Celeste Marie Thompson, RSCJ was born June 13, 1875 in Saint Louis, Missouri to Macklot Thompson and Céleste de Lauréal Thompson. Céleste de Lauréal was born in Guadeloupe and moved with her family to the United States at the age of six. She appeared in the Who's Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 .

Mother Thompson joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Maryville in January 1896. She was named the Mistress General in Menlo, Chicago, and St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1941, she was named Superior of the house in St. Joseph and in 1950, the Superior of Sheridan Road in Chicago. In approximately 1954, Thompson moved to San Diego and worked with Mother Rosalie Hill and the San Diego College for Women. Thompson passed away on August 17, 1970.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Therese Whitcomb.
Custodial history:

According to an accompanying letter from Therese Truitt Whitcomb, Mother Thompson compiled the scrapbook from approximately 1923 to 1955. Whitcomb, the first graduate from the San Diego College for women in 1953, borrowed the book to conduct research for her thesis on the history of Western Domestic Architecture. Mother Thompson gave the book to Mother Mariella Bremner in 1955. In 1979, Bremner gave the book to Whitcomb, who donated it to the Archives in 2008.

Processing information:

This collection was processed by Ashley Toutain in 2020.

Arrangement:

All scrapbook materials remain in their original order.

Physical description:
1 box (9x11x1.5”)
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Preferred citation:

[Folder Title], Box # Folder #, Mother Celeste Thompson scrapbook, Copley Library, University of San Diego, Archives and Special Collections.

Location of this collection:
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110 2492, US
Contact:
(619) 260-2730
spcoll@sandiego.edu
Website