25 Years of Wonders
Celebrating the Art and Heritage Place
Often, strange noises occur at the Art and Heritage Place! No surprise. For some 25 years, this has been the home of sacred, strange and wonderful records and pictures of hopes and happenings. The iron gate to Whitby Gift Shop, for example, howls and clanks when made to open or close. After all, it does guard precious, handcrafted and treasured items.
The names of the some 6,000 donors who helped to make this museum and gift shop a reality are inscribed on the walls leading into the exhibit hall. Our records indicate that between 2,000 and 8,000 visitors come to the Art and Heritage Place every year.
The Art and Heritage Place was the dream of several forward-looking sisters who had, for years, tucked away precious items in a small room inside Teresa Hall at the College of Saint Benedict. Their dream was to include a gift shop where items made by the sisters, including monastery-made whole wheat and cinnamon bread, could be sold.
Large collections from the convent kitchen were early items to be sorted and accessioned in the museum. To this day, all sorts of sizes of Red Wing pottery line our shelves (think sauerkraut and pickles for over 1,000 people)! Early on, the treasures from foreign and faraway missions— China, Japan, Puerto Rico, Chile, Brazil, Africa, Israel, much of Europe and South America—came to live among the items where the sisters worked.
There have been more than 25 exhibits here, most lasting a year or two. Several of these exhibits included displays of the unique work from the monastery’s art-needlework department, which operated from the 1920s until 1950 or so. Sets of silk, hand-embroidered liturgical vestments, accompanying pieces, images of saints, symbols, floral and abstract needle patterns are samples of art from needles and very patient hands of gifted sisters. Other exhibits displayed the work of the sisters in education, health care, pastoral ministry, music, sculpture, pottery, amazing crafts and more.
Outstanding and prize-winning was the 10th exhibit, “The Living Culture of the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe),” about the Native peoples of Red Lake and White Earth in Minnesota. Our sisters have worked many years with these honored people. Due to the careful work of a large committee, which included many native peoples and sisters, and the great patience and diligence in search of the truth, this exhibit probably had the largest number of visitors in our history and received a well-deserved award from the American Association for State and Local History in 2005. The finest result of this exhibit has been lifelong friendships!
The most famous resident of the museum is St. George. The 24” x 36” hand-embroidered tapestry done by Sister Bernadita Brauckmann was created in 1930. George has a commanding presence in our storeroom. The front and back of the tapestry are exquisite, for the back is the perfect reversal of the front and not a knot is to be found! George has been displayed many times. He keeps his colors brilliant and from his white horse continues to win the battle over the evil dragon.
One other strange and unexpected treasure is our horse-drawn carriage. The vehicle is over 100 years old, and our information is scant. We don’t know if the carriage was purchased or given to the sisters, but our evidence is that it was made in the late 1800s or early 1900s in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Two adults could ride in the carriage which was powered by two horses. It seems originally it had been used to transport the bishop to important occasions. The sisters used the carriage to fetch students from the railroad station, and in the summertime, it often toted picnic supplies to the woods for outings. It probably served as transportation for the prioress to visit her sisters in the many parish schools where they taught.
Judith Kramer, OSB
This article was featured on page 20-21 in the fall 2025 issue of Call
