Michael J. Pfeifer

On this All Souls’ Day eve, at the grave of New York Governor Al Smith, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1928. Governor Smith’s campaign is discussed in the context of New York City Catholicism in Chapter 5 of my book The Making of American Catholicism.

Have finished responding to the copy edits of this comprehensive reference work that I have edited—seven years in the making—that will be published by Fortress Press in Minneapolis in the Spring.

I’m working on an article on the 19th century history of St. Raphael, one of the older R.C. churches in Queens. This morning looked at the sacramental registers of this church on the 19th century periphery of Manhattan, soon to be bound into NYC’s dynamic 1898 consolidation.

This arrived in the mail yesterday from Tübingen, my first publication in German; chapters I’ve written on lynching, and on religion & racism in US history, in this important collection edited by Silvan Neidermeier

First day of the fall semester with the usual frisson of excitement. 18 students in the global lynching & collective violence course, which is among its highest enrollments in recent years.

A productive visit to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections this afternoon for work in the papers of Ronald Phillips, a clarinetist who played in the Seattle Symphony under Thomas Beecham & in the L.A. Philharmonic under Alfred Wallenstein.

Listened to the never released recording of the first performances of Douglas Moore’s opera Giants in the Earth at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library this afternoon

This afternoon interviewed Delta David Gier, music director since 2004 of the South Dakota Symphony. An extremely impressive vision of the role of the orchestra in the 21st century United States, including fostering connections with the local community (in the SDSO’s case among others, the Lakota).

The Making of American Catholicism: Regional Culture and the Catholic Experience In The Making of American Catholicism, Michael J. Pfeifer places immigrant Catholic communities and regionalism at the center of the study. He argues that “regional and transnational relationships” ha...

Pope Leo XIV’s biography is rooted in Midwestern & New Orleans Catholicism, both a focus of my book The Making of American Catholicism, recently reviewed in The Journal of American Ethnic History scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jaeh/art...

Curtain call in Sioux Falls this afternoon for the South Dakota Symphony’s revival of Douglas Moore’s opera Giants in the Earth. Great to hear such a committed performance of this work based on the Ole Rølvaag novel set in 1870s Dakota Territory. I am here as a critic for The Middle West Review.

An interesting session of HIS 381 The Social History of Global Catholicism this afternoon in light of the passing of Pope Francis yesterday. Also discussed the histories of Vietnamese Catholicism, Puerto Rican Catholicism, & the film “Song of Bernadette.”

Lectured this afternoon in HIS 381 The Global History of Catholicism on Race in US Catholicism & Catholics in US Politics, incl. most recent developments. An interesting class.

Charles Carroll’s desk at the Carroll Mansion, Carroll’s winter home. Carroll, a Catholic slaveholder & signer of the Declaration of Independence, gets a brief shout-out (along with colonial Maryland) in Chapter 5 of my book, The Making of American Catholicism.

The ACHA writes to express its strong opposition to the recommended termination of tenured faculty in the departments of theology and religious studies, history, and other core areas of the humanities at St. Norbert College. achahistory.org/stnorbert

Great to have a full class (picture taken afterward) of mostly freshmen & soohomores for the first day of HIS 201 US History to 1865 at John Jay College this afternoon, always a vital course but arguably as vital as ever.

My book Rough Justice on sale at the Minnesota History Center gift shop, I think because the cover photo is from the Minnesota Historical Society’s collection.

Working at the Minnesota History Center this afternoon on Aaron Copland’s time in Minnesota—learned from the sources looked at today that he wrote Statements (1935) in Bemidji.

Chaired a fascinating session, “German Catholics, American Catholics” at the American Catholic Historical Association meeting this morning #acha2025 #AHA25

Nativity of Mary Church (1876), Janesville, Wis. on yesterday’s Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Wisconsin’s history of Marian apparitions are discussed in Chapter 3 of my book The Making of American Catholicism.

St. Paul the Apostle on W. 59th this afternoon. Its nineteenth century history is briefly discussed in Ch. 5 of my book The Making of American Catholicism.

Sts. Cyril & Methodius on W. 41st this morning hard by the Lincoln Tunnel entrance. Founded in 1886 as an Irish parish, then became an Italian one & more recently a Croatian one. Its early history is briefly discussed in my book The Making of American Catholicism.

Philip Dray. A Lynching at Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning in the Gilded Age. More than twenty years ago, Philip Dray made an important contribution to the historiography of lynching in the United States with his 2002 book At the Han

My review in the AHR of Philip Dray’s excellent book on the 1892 Port Jervis, NY lynching academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...

Wonderful to play Marian Anderson & Paul Robeson recordings in class on Thursday in a lecture on 19th Century American Music. Students were quite attentive & responsive.