MALLETTE, DANIEL J

Daniel J. Mallette papers, 1941-1979

Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center

By Tina M. Reithmaier, 1983; rev. by Christopher Tounsel, 2003

Please address questions to:

Chicago History Museum, Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038

Web-site: http://www.chicagohistory.org/Research

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Title: Daniel J. Mallette papers, 1941-1979

Main entry: Mallette, Daniel J., b. 1931

Inclusive dates: 1941-1979

Size:

2.25 linear ft. (6 boxes)

1 oversize folder

Access: This collection is open for research use.

Provenance statement: Gift of Father Daniel J. Mallette, Jr. (M1983.0002).

Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Please cite this collection as: Daniel J. Mallette papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

This descriptive inventory contains the following sections:

Biographical/historical note,

Summary description of the collection,

Description of some material related to the collection,

List of online catalog headings about the collection,

Arrangement of the collection,

Detailed description of archival series in the collection,

List of contents of the collection.

Biographical/historical note:

Daniel J. Mallette, a prominent Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and civil rights activist, was born December 2, 1931, the only child of Daniel and Anna (Kroll) Mallette of Chicago. Daniel Mallette, senior, was a salesman by profession, and Anne Mallette was active in church programs.

As a youth, Mallette attended St. Mary Magdalene Elementary School from 1937 to 1945. He began his studies toward the priesthood at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in the fall of 1945. He graduated from Quigley in 1949 and began formal studies for the priesthood that year at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. After seven years of studies, meditation and reflection, Daniel Mallette was ordained a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in May of 1957.

Shortly after his ordination he was assigned to St. Agatha's Catholic Church in the Chicago community of Lawndale as an assistant to Fr. Robert Young. Lawndale, a predominantly African American area on the West Side, was in the throes of racial change. Once a predominantly white, lower middle class and working class neighborhood with many Jewish residents, Lawndale changed very fast. During the 1950s, many whites shifted to the suburbs while people from overcrowded South Side neighborhoods were attracted north to Lawndale. Eventually Lawndale was cited as "one of the most unsavory slums in America" in a November 28, 1964, article in the Saturday Evening Post. Thus, Mallette was given a challenging mission as his first assignment.

While at St. Agatha's Mallette was instrumental in upgrading the physical environment as well as focusing on community needs. He refurbished the gymnasium and promoted it as a recreational center for the youths in the community. He organized a day care center with the neighboring Baptist minister for the community and initiated many other projects in the area.

Mallette also participated in civil rights demonstrations and anti-war protests within the city of Chicago and in Montgomery, Alabama, and Miami, Florida. For example, in 1963 Mallette and a group of nuns picketed the Illinois Club for Catholic Women at the Water Tower Campus of Loyola University Chicago charging that the club discriminated against African Americans. Mallette also served as chaplain to the Friendship House center in Chicago.

Mallette voiced his opinions not only to fellow citizens, his colleagues, and government officials, but also to Catholic Church officials. When Fr. Young was reassigned from St. Agatha's, Mallette asked Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop of Chicago, to assign a team of priests to coordinate administrative and spiritual affairs at the parish rather than just assigning a single new pastor to St. Agatha's. He compared the work that needed to be done within the community of Lawndale to that of a mission in Africa or Latin America. He argued that a team of "missionaries" would best be suited to respond to the spiritual and economic needs of the community. To church officials, this was a new concept but one that the Archbishop approved.

During the period in which he was assigned at St. Agatha's an article was written about Mallette and other young priests in the Saturday Evening Post that prompted Doubleday Publishing Company to solicit Mallette to write a book. Mallette was offered a $500 advance check to write his memoirs, however other tasks always intervened. He did, however, share his thoughts with fellow Catholics in a regular column entitled "The Inner City Shepherd" in the Servite publication, Novena Notes.

After eleven-years at St. Agatha's, Mallette was assigned in 1968 to Fordham University as Coordinator of Special Academic Programs in the College of Liberal Arts. At the time he was assigned as coordinator, Fordham had just completed construction of the Lincoln Center. The Lincoln Center had been built on government property, and the administration discovered that the percentage of minorities in the total enrollment was low. Fr. Mallette raised funds that enabled many of the city's Black and Puerto Rican youths to attend the university on scholarships. He increased the enrollment in the program from some 80 students to 1000. He was later appointed Associate Dean of Students at the Lincoln Center.

In 1971, at the request of John Cardinal Cody, Archbishop of Chicago, Mallette returned to Chicago where he was assigned as pastor of Visitation parish on the South Side of Chicago, remaining there until the spring of 1975. Later that year Mallette was assigned to St. Norbert's parish in Northbrook (Ill.) as an associate pastor.

Mallette returned to Chicago's South Side in April 1977 as pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland, one of the larger parishes in the diocese with approximately 1200 members and an elementary school enrolling 550 youths.

Mallette's father died in 1974 after celebrating his fiftieth wedding anniversary with his wife Anne. Anne Mallette died in 1982. Father Mallette continued to serve at St. Margaret of Scotland parish for many years.

Summary description of the collection:

Correspondence, autobiographical and other writings, brochures, and other papers of Father Daniel J. Mallette, Jr., a priest of the Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Materials include early personal papers and memorabilia, 1941-1969; incoming correspondence from fellow clergymen, friends, students, and opponents, ca. 1950-1979; items written by Father Mallette, almost all of which were produced in 1969, including drafts of an autobiography and several articles, most written for his column, "the Inner city Shepherd," which was featured in the Servite order publication, Novena Notes; and newsclippings. Topics include St. Agatha's parish in the Lawndale neighborhood (1957-1968), the civil rights movement in Chicago and the South, race relations, inner city life, and social activism in the Catholic Church. The collection also includes papers of his parents, Daniel J. Mallette, Sr., and Anne Mallette of Chicago.

Description of some material related to the collection:

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Daniel J. Mallette family photograph collection (1985.0412) and Friendship House records.

The vestment that Mallette wore when ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1957, as well as his school ribbons, were transferred to the Chicago History Museum's Costume Collection. A copy of West Side Cop, by William Sims (Chicago: Childrens Press, 1970) was transferred to the Library. A CYO medal (1953) was transferred to the Decorative and Industrial Arts Collection.

List of online catalog headings about the collection:

The following headings for this collection were placed in the online catalog:

Subjects:

Mallette, Daniel J., 1931- --Archives.

Mallette family.

Mallette, Anne, d. 1982.

Mallette, Daniel J., d. 1976.

Catholic Church--Illinois--Chicago--Clergy.

Catholic Church--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Catholic Church. Archdiocese of Chicago (Ill.)

St. Agatha Catholic Church (Chicago, Ill.)

African Americans--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Catholics--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Church and social problems--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Civil rights movements--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Civil rights movements--Southern States--20th century.

Families--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Laity--Illinois--Chicago--Catholic Church.

Priests--Illinois--Chicago.

Race relations--Religious aspects--Catholic Church.

Chicago (Ill.)--Race relations--20th century.

Chicago (Ill.)--Religious life and customs--20th century.

North Lawndale (Chicago, Ill.)

Form/genre:

Articles.

Autobiographies.

Brochures.

Correspondence.

Added entries:

Mallette, Anne, d. 1982.

Mallette, Daniel J., d. 1976.

St. Agatha Catholic Church (Chicago, Ill.)

United States--Illinois--Cook County--Chicago.

Arrangement of the collection:

The collection consists of two series:

Series 1. Daniel Mallette papers

Series 2. Parents' papers.

Detailed description of archival series in the collection:

Series 1. Daniel Mallette papers (box 1-4)

This series is divided into three subseries:

Subseries 1. Early papers and memorabilia 1941-1969

Subseries 2. Writings of Mallette, 1964-1967

Subseries 3. Correspondence, 1950-1979

Subseries 1. Early papers and memorabilia, 1941-1971, contains Mallette's first communion certificate (1941), his elementary school diploma (1945), athletic letters from Quigley Preparatory Seminary (1945-1959), a survey given to theology classes at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary (1956), and ordination memorabilia (1957). Also contained in this subseries are brochures, memos, and bulletins illustrating the parish life at St. Agatha's Catholic Church during Mallette's tenure there (1957-1968). Also included is the November 28, 1964, issue of The Saturday Evening Post, which discusses liberalizing tendencies in the American Catholic Church through the medium of progressive priests such as Mallette.

Subseries 2. Writing of Mallette, 1962-1967, contains Mallette's draft of an autobiographical manuscript which had been solicited by Doubleday Publishing Company. The manuscript wasn't published. It contains stories in which Mallette describes his experience as a priest as well as events which occurred during the civil rights movement. This subseries also contains selected issues of Novena Notes, published by the Servite Order stationed in Chicago, dated January 22 to July 16, 1965, and featuring Mallette's column "The Inner City Shepherd." Another Mallette article, entitled "Senator Gottschalk of Park Forest Meets the Muslims," was published in the New City magazine for June 15 1962. There also is, at the front of this subseries, a folder of correspondence sent to Mallette from individuals and publishers expressing interest and appreciation for his writings.

Subseries 3. Correspondence, 1950-1979, contains files which are arranged chronologically in two categories: the first files illustrate Mallette's involvement in the civil rights movement and interest in race relations between 1963 and 1968, while the second files illustrate more personal and parochial concerns ranging from 1950 through 1979. Many individuals of local and national prominence corresponded with Mallette, such as Benjamin C. Willis, Edward Sheehan, Daniel J. Ronan, John Cardinal Cody, Rev. George Clements, and Rev. Andrew Greeley. Organizations also wrote to Mallette, ranging from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to the Better Boys Foundation. Some letters in the civil rights and race relations correspondence are favorable to Mallette's actions and commend him for his work at St. Agatha's as revealed in the Saturday Evening Post article of November 28, 1964. Other letters express disquiet at the involvement of a Roman Catholic priest in social protest movements. This subseries also contains greeting cards from the 1960s.

Series 2. Parents' papers (box 5-6)

The papers of Daniel Mallette, Sr., and Anne Mallette contain incoming correspondence dated between 1950 and 1974, as well as Mr. Mallette's naval discharge papers from 1919. Included in this series are materials from the Mallettes' 1950 voyage to Europe, including a passport, menus, and handouts from the R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth of the Cunard White Star Line, and various receipts and flyers. A large number of greeting cards commemorate their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1974.

List of contents of the collection:

Series 1. Daniel Mallette papers (box 1-4)

Subseries 1. Early papers and memorabilia 1941-1969

box 1

1 Biographical materials ca. 1945-1968

2 Childhood diary 1942-1943

3 Certificate, diploma, mass card 1941-1951

4 Quigley Preparatory Seminary athletic letters 1945-1949

5 Mundelein Seminary survey on student attitudes toward labor 1956

6 Ordination materials 1957

7 St. Agatha's church: General 1957-1968

8 St. Agatha's church: annual Tea brochures 1962, 1964, 1967, 1968

9 Plenary indulgence granted by Rome for blessing at time of death 1951

OS 1 Article on progressive elements in the American Catholic Church, contained in the November 28, 1964 issue of the Saturday Evening Post (includes December, 1964 issue as well)

Series 1. Daniel Mallette papers (box 1-4)

Subseries 2. Writings of Mallette, 1964-1967

box 2

1 Correspondence with publisher on proposed book 1964-1967

2-5 Manuscript of proposed book ca. 1965

6 One issue of New City for June 15, 1962; selected issues of Novena Notes dated from January 22 to July 16, 1965

Series 1. Daniel Mallette papers (box 1-4)

Subseries 3. Correspondence, 1950-1979

box 3

1 Civil rights and race relations: 1963-1964

2 Civil rights and race relations: 1965, January-February

3 Civil rights and race relations: 1965, March-April