St. Peter museum chronicles parish's long history

Standing in the museum she has created at St. Peter Catholic Church, Beverly Fitzgerald adjusts a painting of the old Catholic church on Arrow Street. On the wall behind her hangs one of the stained glass windows from that church, which is no longer standing.
(Sydney Stonner/Democrat-News)

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Although she credits Fr. Kevin Gormley as the visionary behind her efforts, Fitzgerald made the vision a reality by sorting, organizing and preserving memories and heirlooms from times gone by.

She didn't necessarily plan on being involved in the project, however.

"I think I was just tapped on the shoulder," she said.

Many artifacts stored at the church were just tossed in boxes, though some papers were filed in folders, she said. Fitzgerald put the 600 or more loose pages in chronological order, then placed each sheet in an acid-free sleeve in a three-ring notebook.

"I read everything that I put away," she said. "I learned a lot."

One of Fitzgerald's favorite papers is an almost-transparent sheet with typed words on it.

"You could actually see the indentation" from the typewriter's keys, she said.

Fitzgerald has also cataloged the St. Peter newsletter, dating back to 2000.

"There's a lot of history in those," she said.

She has solicited items for the musem as well. Through notices in the church bulletin and word of mouth, Fitzgerald has received many additions to the collection.

"There wasn't really that much to put in there in the beginning," she said.

Now, almost every display case is full.

One special donation to the museum hangs on the wall: two of the stained-glass windows from the old St. Peter Church on Arrow Street. A cross from the Catholic church that used to be in Shackleford is also displayed on the wall.

"Those are really kind of the highlights of the museum," she said.

Pam Whitney, St. Peter Church secretary, has watched the blank cases develop into a museum alive with memories. She has enjoyed learning about St. Peter parishoners of old from looking at the photos and papers.

"You become really proud of how hard these people worked to pass on their faith," she said.

In putting the museum together, Fitzgerald took care to make a section each for the priests of St. Peter parish, the church itself and the Catholic school, which is celebrating 125 years this week.

Copies of The Mercet Beam, a newspaper from Mercy Academy in the 1940s, are in the school section. Fitzgerald has displayed old yearbooks, class photos and a football jersey as well.

To make the displays visually appealing, Fitzgerald has arranged things with care. She draped a first communion veil across one shelf; photos have been matted and framed, and there's even a commemorative plate in a stand.

But her display concepts were not always clear at first, Fitzgerald said.

"The ideas eventually came to me, sometimes in the night," she said.

Fitzgerald is also making a pictoral directory of the entire museum. She has photographed most of the items and plans to write a description to accompany each image, telling the history of the pieces and where they came from.

She opted to make the directory instead of labeling every item in the display.

"That would make it very cluttery," she said.

Although Fitzgerald's work in the museum is almost complete, there are a few artifacts she'd like to add.

She recently discovered that part of the old fence that went around Mercy Academy is in the yard of a home on Yerby Street, and she has considered asking the residents if they might part with it. She also remembers the orange shag carpeting that used to be in the church.

"I may be on the lookout for that next," Fitzgerald said.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net