Shadowbrook Novitiate (Stockbridge, Mass)
Subject
Subject Source: Local sources
Scope Note: The original building that housed the Jesuit novitiate at Shadowbrook, Lenox, Massachusetts, was a 100 roomed mansion built in 1893 for the entrepreneur and banker Anson Phelps Stokes. Designed by the architect H. Neill Wilson, Shadowbrook was an imposing mock Tudor house that sat amidst the beautiful Stockbridge Bowl. From 1898 to 1922, the property served as a luxury hotel and as the summer home of such luminaries as Gloria Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie. It was then sold to the New England Province of the Society of Jesus in 1922 to serve as their House of Formation. During the next few years the opulence was scaled down to better serve the needs of the novices. Walls were taken down for classrooms and living spaces. The ballroom became the community’s chapel, and the wood from the rich paneling was repurposed as bookshelves. However, the heraldic carvings on the fireplace were allowed to remain as they seemed to harken to St. Ignatius’s military background. While the space was considered cramped and inflexible for their needs, the Jesuits made due for 30 years until 1956, when their original home burnt to the ground. It was rebuilt on a different site on the property and opened its doors in 1957. This new building served as the New England Provinces' House of Formation until 1970 when it closed its doors. The building remained vacant until 1983 when the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health opened on December of that year.
Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:
The Miller Family Collection
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: SC172-MILL
Scope and Contents
The Miller Family Collection holds photographs, ephemera, certificates, and other materials belonging to members of the family. The bulk of the collection are family photographs dating from 1924 to circa 2000. Most are personal snapshots but there are some professional photographs. The bulk of these date between the 1940s and the 1960s and most depict Rev. Francis X. Miller SJ with his friends or with his Jesuits brothers. Additionally, the collection holds some ephemera and memorabilia...
Dates:
1920-2009
Found in:
Distinctive Collections
/
The Miller Family Collection
Rev. Bernard A. Fiekers S.J., Papers
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: SC057-FIEK
Scope and Contents
This collection contains personal, religious, and educational records of Fr. Fiekers. Diaries make up the bulk of the collection and they date from 1925 to 1937 with additional diaries from 1955 and 1962. The Shadowbrook and Weston diaries document his formation as a Jesuit in Massachusetts, while the Valkenburg diaries concern his time spent at the Jesuit house in Valkenburg, Holland. Additionally, there is correspondence from Valkenburg as well as correspondence with his family. The...
Dates:
1924-1970
Rev. Hubert Callahan, S.J. Papers
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: SC027-CALL
Scope and Contents
This collection contains a photograph scrapbook assembled while Rev. Callahan attended Shadowbrook. It holds portraits and group photographs of unidentified Jesuits and students as well as photographs of the grounds and the buildings at Shadowbrook, the Jesuit novitiate in Stockbridge, MA. The album contains over twenty pages of black and white photographs from the 1920’s to early 1930’s as well as additional loose photos. Additionally, the collection has correspondence,...
Dates:
circa 1920 - 1959
Rev. William T. Donaldson S.J., Papers
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: SC046-DONA
Scope and Contents
This collection includes personal correspondence, ephemera, diary and photograph albums of Rev. William Donalson, S.J. The albums contains his personal photographs of Shadowbrook (the Jesuit Novitiate in Lenox, MA), Jesuits, family, sports and other activities. Items that were stuffed inside the albums were removed and sleeved in archival album pages for preservation purposes.
Dates:
1906-1978