Tag: Religion in American Culture

Women of Faith: A Conversation with Mary Beth Fraser Connolly

Monica L. MercadoLeave a comment

As I wrote in my dissertation acknowledgements (coming soon to a ProQuest database near you), my research is indebted to the interdisciplinary circles of scholars working on American Catholic history in Chicago and beyond, and I have benefited from the friendship and community of a terrific group of young scholars in Catholic Studies, one of whom, Mary Beth Fraser Connolly, was kind enough to talk with me recently about her new book on the Sisters of Mercy.

Women of Faith: The Chicago Sisters of Mercy and the Evolution of a Religious Community (Fordham, 2014) is a sweeping institutional history that, in many ways, revives my interest in the genre of institutional history.

To read my conversation with Mary Beth about research, writing, and women religious, visit Religion in American History: Women of Faith: A Conversation with Mary Beth Fraser Connolly.

Recent Publications

Monica L. MercadoLeave a comment

Spring Quarter is here, and with it comes my dissertation defense and move to Philadelphia so this space will be pretty quiet for the next two months or so. In the meantime, I’m happy to have some new writing out in the world:

  • ” ‘Have You Ever Read?’ Imagining Women, Bibles, and Religious Print in Nineteenth-Century America,” in U.S. Catholic Historian 31.3 (Summer 2013): 1-21 [link to Project Muse]
  • “Demystifying Catholic Sisters in a Digital Age” for Sightings [link]

See you on the other side!

If it’s November, it’s Conference Season

Monica L. MercadoLeave a comment

NWSA WoCLP

Photo by Meghan McInnis.

It’s November, which means conference season is up and running! I had a great time in CIncinnati for my first National Women’s Studies Association annual meeting, where I took part in the Women of Color Leadership Project. That’s us above, ready to get to work on Day 1.

There’s always more work to do, so this weekend I’m off to the American Studies Association in DC, where I’ll be giving a lightning talk tomorrow morning as part of the Digital Humanities Caucus event “Digital Shorts: New Platforms of Knowledge and Dissent.” Follow along on Twitter: #2013ASA.

Of course, what would the weekend before Thanksgiving be without AAR? Luckily it’s in Baltimore this year, giving me the opportunity to conference-hop and catch up with American religion friends. There’s a hashtag for everything: #AARSBL.