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John Francis Noll Papers (NOL), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556
Correspondence relating to Noll's personal affairs, 1920-1955, the construction of the national shrine, 1936, and his work with the National Legion of Decency, 1930s, the National Organization for Decent Literature, 1930s-1950s, Our Sunday Visitor, 1925-1955, and the National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1948-1953; manuscripts of Catholic radio broadcasts, 1940s-1950s, articles for Our Sunday Visitor, and articles by Noll; personal papers such as sermon notes and occasional papers relating to the celebration of Noll's jubilee and eightieth birthday; a record album; photographs; and extensive subject files of clippings and printed material on such topics as anti-communism, national socialism, protestantism, the Spanish Civil War, sexual ethics, and minorities.
Bishop of Fort Wayne diocese (1925-1956), leading anti- communist, and founder of Our Sunday Visitor (1912), Family Digest (1908), and Acolyte (1925) which became The Priest in 1945.
Correspondence, manuscripts submitted for publication, and miscellaneous financial records relating to OSV. After Noll became bishop of the Fort Wayne Diocese in 1925 he directed the activities of the OSV staff by correspondence from his nearby chancery office in Fort Wayne. Most of this series consists of Noll's letters to members of the OSV staff, including editors R.E. Kelly, A. Knopf, and Francis Fink; business manager Joseph W. Mehring; advertising director Ralph Gibler; and freelance writers Leo R. Reardon and Robert R. Hull. The correspondence for the period 1914 to 1935 (the bulk from 1926 to 1935) is arranged as a chronological file; after 1935 there are separate folders for individual staff members. All facets of the OSV operation are covered in the correspondence, including editorial content, articles to be published, printing and distribution, personnel, and advertising and other financial concerns. Almost all of the correspondence is Noll's copies of letters he sent.
In addition to the correspondence files, this series also contains manuscripts submitted to OSV, circa 1945-1950, along with the accompanying correspondence with the contributors. It is often difficult to tell if manuscripts were submitted to OSV or one of Noll's other publications, such as Family Digest. Copies of pamphlets published by OSV in two series titled "Plain Talks with Your Pastor" and "Christ" are also included.
The OSV financial records in this series are incomplete; they include contracts and correspondence with Fort Wayne Printing Company, and records relating to retirement and insurance plans.
The chronological file, 1914-1935, also includes a small number of letters that Noll wrote on other topics, most notably affairs of the Fort Wayne diocese and Catholic apologetic. Diocesan subjects discussed include the financial transactions between OSV and the diocese during the depression and the management of a farm owned by the diocese.
Manuscripts submitted for publication, correspondence with contributors, and clippings from the publication. Some of the manuscripts may have been intended for publication in OSV.
Noll's correspondence with editors Michael A. Chapman, Joseph Gustafson, S.S., and Richard Ginder (Noll's biographer); John Cronin, S.S., of the National Catholic Welfare Council; and A. Knoff. Subjects covered include editorial content of The Acolyte and The Priest (publications intended for the Catholic clergy), articles to be published, personnel, and distribution of the publication.
As Episcopal chairman of Lay Organizations for the National Catholic Welfare Council, Noll directed the work of the National Council of Catholic Men (NCCM). One of the Council's activities was the production of radio broadcasts, first over the NBC radio network and later over the ABC and Mutual networks. The first of these programs, which was broadcast over NBC in 1929, was "The Catholic Hour" which soon became closely identified with its main speaker Fulton J. Sheen. In 1943 "The Hour of Faith," featuring Noll as the speaker, began broadcasting over ABC. In September of 1945 the Mutual Broadcasting System began to air "The Spiritual Clinic" as the Catholic component of the "Faith in Our Time" series, which also featured Jewish and Protestant programs. Noll was also the main speaker for "The Spiritual Clinic," which was affiliated with OSV.
This series includes scripts from broadcasts of all three programs; often the scripts are annotated. Authors of these scripts include L.F. Cervantes, Urban Nagle, O.P., John A. O'Brien, Fulton J. Sheen, James M. Gillis, Frank Gartland, and Rev. Ginder. Correspondence with Fulton J. Sheen, J. Hugh O'Donnell, CSC, Edward J. Heffron (executive director of the NCCM), the Mutual Broadcasting Company, WOWO Radio Station of Fort Wayne, and listeners from the radio audience.
In 1937, with the support of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Noll formed the National Organization for Decent Literature (NODL). Using The Acolyte as the official NODL publication, he began to publish lists of periodicals which he, or his appointed readers, had determined to be indecent. Local NODL chapters were formed in most diocese with instructions from Noll on how to organize the campaign and gain the cooperation of local newsstands and distributors. Publishers who wanted their magazines to be taken off the NODL list had to negotiate with Noll and later with the group's Washington representative, who directed the NODL Washington office with the cooperation of the National Council of Catholic Men.
The NODL records in the Noll papers consist of Noll's general correspondence; records of the Washington, D.C., office, the Detroit Diocesan chapter (a particularly active chapter organized under the name The League for Clean Reading), and other diocesan chapters; and subject files. The records include correspondence, lists of banned publications, reports from local chapters, newspaper clippings on the group's activities, examples of the literature being considered,and press releases, clippings, and legal papers concerning the suspension of mailing privileges for some periodicals by Postmaster General Frank Walker. Correspondents include Noll, Edward J. Heffron of the Washington office, Raymond A. Cameron of the Detroit chapter, publishers, members of the Catholic hierarchy, and local NODL organizers. Subjects discussed include revisions of the list of banned publications, the content of these publications, strategies for gaining the cooperation of local newsstands and regional distributors, and the activities of local chapters.
In 1933 Noll was a member of a committee, appointed by the U.S. Bishops, that proposed the formation of the Legion of Decency. Concern over the moral content of motion pictures led the Legion to adopt a rating system for movies. This series includes correspondence, newsletters that published movie ratings, and newspaper clippings on and publications of the Legion. Correspondents include Patrick Scanlon of the Brooklyn Tablet; Joseph A. Luther, S.J., P.S. Harrison, who published the Harrison's Report, a movie rating service (copies of his newsletter are also included in this series); theChicago Council of the Legion of Decency, who published the movie ratings for the Legion; and Bishop Bernard J. Shiel of Chicago.
In 1936 Noll began to raise money, under the auspices of Our Sunday Visitor, to build a statue in front of the Washington offices of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. The construction of the statue, which would depict Christ as the "Light of the World," was part of Noll's national campaign against communism. The statue, sculpted by Eugene Kormendi of Notre Dame, was completed in 1949.
Papers include correspondence, sketches of proposed statues, newspaper clippings on the campaign, and financial records of the fund, which are interfiled with the correspondence. Correspondents include members of the campaign's honorary board such as Dorothy Day, Henry Ford, Al Smith, and many other business and religious leaders and senators and members of congress; Eugene Kormendi and the Roman Bronze Works of Corona, New York, the foundry that cast the statue; R.L. Polk Company, the direct mailing company that supplied mailing lists; the security company that administered the investment of the fund; NCWC staff; and individuals and organizations who donated money, including the Daughters of Isabella, the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Daughters of America.
Financial reports, minutes, donor records, and manuscripts ofarticles by Noll concerning fundraising campaign for the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Noll served in various capacities on the committees that raised money and administered the fund for construction of the church. Although the cornerstone stone was laid in 1920, the church was not completed until 1959.
Correspondence, proposals, press releases, and newsletters from the Bureau of Information established by the NCWC circa 1950 and directed by Msgr. Thomas J. McCarthy. Noll was one of the bishops who lobbied for the establishment of this bureau as a means of counteracting false information about the Catholic Church. Included are correspondence from a forerunner to the bureau, the National Catholic Bureau of Information, which was sponsored by Our Sunday Visitor and directed by Robert R. Hull; a proposal for the establishment of the news service prepared by John V. Hinkel who was Director of Public Information for Notre Dame; copies of the Bureau's "Information Bulletin", a newsletter that published press releases on messages from the Vatican and the American bishops, the activities of anti-Catholic groups, and other current events of special interest to Catholics; copies of the "Wedding Ring", another Bureau newsletter that included features on marriage and family life written by Edgar Schmiedeler OSB; and the published proceedings of two seminars, sponsored by the Bureau in 1953 and 1956, for Catholic editors.
Noll was ordained in 1898 and assigned as pastor to Kendallville, Indiana, in 1900; he was transferred to a parish in Huntington in 1910, where he remained until he was named bishop of the Fort Wayne Diocese in 1925. In 1953 Noll was elevated to archbishop. This series brings together papers that are not directly related to any of Noll's activities that helped to define the other series in his papers. Although a few of the documents do relate to his duties as pastor and bishop, they do not constitute the official records of Noll's parishes or the Fort Wayne Diocese. Diocesan affairs are also discussed in OSV correspondence filed in box 1 of this collection.
Included are general correspondence with editors of national publications, Catholic lay organizations, and a wide range of civic and political leaders concerning Noll's publications, the portrayal of Catholics in the national media, and the Catholic Church in Mexico in the 1920s; correspondence with bishops and officials of other dioceses concerning the disbursement of funds from the American Board of Catholic Missions during Noll's tenure as treasurer, circa 1928-1950; correspondence on Catholic apologetics, anti-semitism, and anti-Catholic groups with readers of Noll's pamphlets and columns; correspondence with the American Apostolic Delegate, A.G. Cicognani, and other Vatican officials concerning Noll's publications, his fundraising, and other activities; correspondence with Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt (and Eleanor Roosevelt), and Harry Truman concerning Noll's pamphlets, the Public Works Administration, and aid to Yugoslavia after World War II; correspondence, newsletters, and other publications from the National Council of Catholic Women and the National Council of Catholic Men; letters and newspaper clippings relating to Noll's silver and golden jubilees and his elevation to archbishop; letters to Francis Fink, Noll's nephew, at the time of Noll's death; and two copies of an unpublished biography of Noll, written between 1975 and 1977 by Clifford Stevens.
Manuscript copies of Noll's columns for Our Sunday Visitor and notes for sermons and talks. The manuscripts have been sorted by the Notre Dame Archives according to subjects which include Catholic apologetics, Communism, Catholic education, Anti-semitism, Nazi Germany, Freemasons, sex education and birth control, and marriage and the family. It is unclear how many of these columns were published; some may have been published as pamphlets or in publications other than OSV.
Press releases, unpublished papers, brochures, announcements, newsletters, flyers, and newspaper and magazine clippings collected by Noll. Topics covered include birth control and marriage, Catholic apologetics, Communism, Freemasons, Jews, Labor Unions, Nazi Germany, the Spanish Civil War, and anti-Catholic literature. The subject categories were established and the items were sorted by the archives. For conservation reasons the newspaper clippings have been filed in boxes 15 to 21, while the remainder of the documents are stored in boxes 13 and 14. Published items, such as pamphlets and books, were removed from this series to form the Noll Printed Collection (PNOL).