Benedictine
Sisters, Monastery of St. Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho
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Museum AppealNovember 28, 2003
Dear Friends, Sr. Radegunda Bischofberger’s trip to America began on a boat and ended in a horse-drawn cart in front of the old wooden convent. I helped lay her body to rest in our cemetery this October, just before the first snowfall. Did you know Sr. Radegunda? Do you recall her bright eyes, cherubic face and witty sense of humor? She was our last surviving sister from Switzerland and at 101 years, she had lived at St. Gertrude’s for all but 30 years of Idaho’s history as a state. Sr. Radegunda made history in Idaho by ministering at places that are now only memories: St. Michael’s Monastery in Cottonwood, a mission from Conception Abbey in Missouri; the old wooden convent, our first home in Idaho; Our Lady of Consolation Hospital in Cottonwood, torn down and rebuilt as the new St. Mary’s Hospital and Clinics. When Sr. Radegunda retired at the age of 88, she trained to work in the museum. She understood the importance of preserving history – her story – for contemporary culture. She worked there for eight years, cataloging her life for us. I imagine her there, in the museum, picking up bits from her past. I see her touching artifacts, wondering over the mystery of her well-used, humble kitchen tools as museum pieces. She must have smiled as she held the cabbage slicer, butter mold and lace-making tools. Sr. Radegunda’s ministry at the museum was an outward sign of her identity as a Benedictine sister. Monastic communities are traditionally keepers of history, preserving knowledge for the sake of the future. St. Bede, an eighth century Benedictine monk, is known as the "Father of English History" because he collected and preserved the stories of the conversion of the British Isles to Christianity. He wrote: "For if history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good …" We follow in the footsteps of millennia of monastics through our support and maintenance of the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude. We collect, document and preserve history in the hope of recording the good things of women and men so that visitors and scholars to the museum can make solid, informed decisions. Needless to say, technology has changed over the centuries. But one thing remains the same today as it was for St. Bede: We are compelled to do this work with limited resources. During St. Bede’s time parchment and vellum were scarce, therefore, expensive. It was common for scribes to recycle and reuse manuscripts by rubbing away the original text and overwriting it with new. This was a great way to reuse parchment, but I wonder how much of the historical record was lost due to this practice! We are fortunate that we don’t have to destroy one historical object in order to preserve another. But our job remains a challenge. Once an artifact is accepted into the collection we preserve it in a museum-quality, acid-free box, bag or sleeve. Our heating and cooling system is in use year round to keep the temperature and humidity constant for the collection. The air runs through special filters to keep out dust and smoke from field and forest fires. Accessioning artifacts into the collection is surprisingly expensive over the lifetime of the artifact. On average it costs $1.50 per year to preserve, protect and store each artifact. We have over 70,000 artifacts in our collection which we are pledged to preserve permanently. You can do the math; the expenses are exponential on an ongoing, annual basis. The museum’s sources of income – fundraising events such as the Raspberry Festival and Victorian Tea, income from a donor-designated investment fund, memberships, admissions and museum gift shop sales – don’t always cover its $100,000 annual operating budget. The monastery pays the difference – approximately $30,000 annually – from its operating budget. The museum staff is making progress toward the monastery’s goal of the museum becoming self-supporting. They are at a critical point. In order to continue to accept valuable and historically important artifacts into the collection we must find additional sources of income, including asking you for help. Can you help this award-winning historical enterprise reach financial independence? What can you do? How about adopting 50, 100 or even 1,000 artifacts for a year? Any amount will help. We maintain and support the museum because it’s the right thing to do given our Benedictine heritage. Why should you make a donation? Because you understand the importance of preserving history for this time and the future. Just like Sr. Radegunda. Peace to you, Sr. Jean Lalande Prioress P.S. Can you "do a Radegunda" – see the importance of your history, our history, in contemporary culture? Help us preserve your heritage by making a donation to support the museum. Fill out the enclosed envelope today with your commitment to preserving the past for the benefit of the future. Thank you! Please make checks payable to Idaho Corporation of Benedictine Sisters.
Monastery of St. Gertrude |
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