4.4 White Marsh and Bowie (Prince George's County, Md.), 1818 - 1969

Sub-Series

Scope and Contents

This subseries contains records pertaining to the Jesuit Houses at White Marsh and Bowie in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Materials include diaries, announcement books, financial records, visitation memorials, correspondence, parishioner papers, photographs, manuscripts, and newsclippings. Of particular interest are White Marsh sacramental registers covering the years 1818 to 1897, which included bapitsmal, marriage, and burial records. Researchers should also note that 89 of the 272 enslaved people sold by the Jesuits in 1838 came from the plantation at White Marsh.

Established in 1741 with Sacred Heart Church as its seat, the House at White Marsh was built on a 2,500-acre plantation that straddled the borders of Prince George’s County and Anne Arundel County. White Marsh’s priests traveled long distances to serve private chapels and churches located in Annapolis (14 miles), Upper Marlborough (17 miles), and Elkridge (30 miles). Between 1819 and 1823, and again between 1830 and 1834, White Marsh served as the Novitiate for the Mission of the American Federation. In 1904, the Province moved the House to the Church of the Ascension in Bowie, to be closer to the towns that had emerged along the railroad line. By 1933 the Province transferred the ministry of the parishes served by White Marsh and Bowie to the Archdiocese of Baltimore and, upon its creation in 1939, to the Archdiocese of Washington.

As with the Jesuits’ other Southern Maryland churches, the congregations served by the Houses at White Marsh and Bowie included both white and Black members (and, during slavery, both enslaved and free). These congregations were deeply segregated, and over time, they developed separate sodalities and parochial schools, and held separate events.

For more information on White Marsh, see Background on the House at White Marsh.

The following churches were served by the Jesuits of White Marsh and Bowie:

- Sacred Heart Church (Bowie, Md.), 1741-1933 (Seat of White Marsh residence, 1741-1904)

- Church of the Ascension (Bowie, Md.) 1894-1933 (Seat of Bowie residence, 1904-1933)

- St. Peter’s Church (Baltimore, Md.), 1770-1819 (Alternative name: St. Peter’s Pro-Cathedral; Seat of Baltimore, 1783-1819)

- Holy Family Church (Mitchellville, Md.), 1890-1933 (Successor to Brooke’s Chapel)

If these churches are active, sacramental records may be available to genealogists by consulting the churches or their successors directly. Researchers also should consult the Archdiocese of Washington particularly if the church is now inactive.

**Please note: the finding aid contains Scope and Contents notes for each folder. This folder-level description has been imported from an older finding aid. Researchers may encounter outdated or potentially offensive terminology and occasional inaccuracies. If you would like to notify Special Collections of any issues that need correcting, please contact us.**

Materials on Slavery

Some folders in this series contain references to slavery, slaveholding, and enslaved individuals. Relevant folders are noted in the finding aid.

Conditions Governing Access

Most materials dated 1900 and later have not been digitized. Materials dating 1900-1939 are available for research use at the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. All materials dated 1940 and later are restricted.

Provenance and Arrangement

Materials are arranged alphabetically by House and/or subject. Materials in this subseries are from the original MPA placed on deposit at Georgetown in the 1970s, the MPA Addenda, and the Maryland Province Collection.

Dates

1818 - 1969

Conditions Governing Access

The Maryland Province Archives is on deposit at Georgetown University and is the property of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. Access to the Archives is governed by the Maryland Province. As stewards of the Archives, the Georgetown University Library’s Booth Family Center for Special Collections is responsible for managing access to the material based on policies set forth by the Maryland Province.

The Maryland Province Archives represents a crucial primary source for the study of the Society of Jesus from its arrival in the English colonies in 1634 through its expansion along the eastern seaboard, and, more broadly, for the study of Catholicism in America; the history and development of Georgetown University; and of particular significance and interest at the current time the Jesuits’ and Georgetown University’s connection to slavery, most notably the documentation of the 1838 sale of 272 slaves by the Maryland Province, proceeds of which benefited Georgetown College (now Georgetown University). The Georgetown Slavery Archive, a project initiated by the Archives Subgroup of the University’s Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation, currently is digitizing and making available online relevant documents from the Maryland Province Archives and elsewhere.

Georgetown University Library and the Maryland Province are committed to providing access to the Maryland Province Archives to scholars, the public and especially to descendants of the Georgetown 272. To date, 71 linear feet of records of the Maryland Province, housed in 136 manuscript boxes, are processed and available for research. Descriptions of this material are available in this finding aid. Researchers may view these materials in the Reading Room of the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. General policies for using Special Collections can be found here.

Access to the Archives is governed by the Maryland Province and is subject to all Library and Special Collections policies and procedures in addition to the specific guidelines below. These guidelines are a summary of access policies -- the Archives may include materials that fall outside the scope of these general guidelines. For information on access to specific materials, please contact the Special Collections staff.

Guidelines:

1. All Archives materials dated or bearing solely on events occurring before January 1, 1940, shall be open for review unless otherwise restricted, subject to Library policies and procedures.

2. All unpublished Archives materials dated or bearing solely on events occurring on or after January 1, 1940, shall be open for review upon request subject to a decision by the Provincial or someone designated by the Provincial.

3. Researchers may quote from the materials.

4. Researchers may take their own photographs of the material for scholarly and research purposes. Allowing photographs is not an authorization to publish or to deposit the material in another library or archive.

5. Written permission from the Maryland Province is required for the publication of substantive portions of any material or publication-quality reproductions of any material.

6. Material not yet processed is not available to researchers; permission will not be granted to access any unprocessed material.

7. Audiovisual, microfilm and other material in the Archives, the original of which is held in another archive, may be consulted and transcribed only. Written permission from the archive holding the original material is required for any duplication, reproduction, or publication of that material.

8. Use the Permission Request Form to request permission (i) to access any restricted processed material or (ii) to publish reproductions or quote substantive portions of the material. Send the completed form by email to the Booth Family Center for Special Collections (speccoll@georgetown.edu).

Extent

From the Collection: 292 boxes (292 total boxes, plus 14 card catalog drawers (201 regular boxes, 25 oversized boxes, 53 restricted regular boxes, 13 restricted oversized boxes, 14 card catalog drawers))