For the past several months, my coworkers and I have been preparing for our April 3 move to a new location. We went through our personal stores of stuff with fine-toothed combs, deciding what we would purge and what we would save.
The same held true for the contents of our library, which we journalists affectionately call "the morgue." Much of what’s in the morgue was collected and clipped before the advent of the Internet, and now most of that information can be easily accessed online.
It was a daunting task, but I’m a history buff and I really enjoyed going through these old files. It was great to rifle through photos and clippings from Couriers past to see what was making headlines as long as 60 years ago. I also saw lots of familiar faces and what they looked like in their younger years, and had a few sad moments when I came across stories and photos of those who’ve passed on.
So without further ado, here are a few blasts from the past that piqued my interest — I thought you might like to see these items as well!
What’s ironic is that Staff Writer Amy Kotlarz and I had just been talking about local ties to the Civil War when I came across this book in our St. Mary’s Hospital folder.
Have you ever seen a telegram before? This one, as best as I can tell, was sent from England by Father Richard Tormey in July 1952. Father Tormey and Msgr. Donald M. Cleary were delivering a $30,000 check from Bishop James E. Kearney and the people of the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., so a church named for St. John Fisher could be built in Rochester, England. Father Tormey worked as a Courier editor at one time as well.
I found lots of photos of St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality, and especially liked this one of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen interacting with the men who stopped by for a meal in May 1968.
Think the recession is something new? Check out this 1992 article by former Staff Writer Rob Cullivan.
