Abstract
Father Edward Sorin purchased land south of the University of Notre Dame in north central Indiana in the 1850s and created a residential neighborhood for Catholic immigrants, many of whom were Irish. The university’s 2007 archaeological field school began investigating the homelots that comprised this immigrant enclave, known as Sorinsville. Specifically, this study seeks to understand how affiliation with the university shaped use of the spatial and material worlds of late-19th- and early-20th-century Irish immigrants to the city. The archaeological and historical evidence from South Bend illuminates a complex picture that suggests Irish immigrants experienced both alienation from, and incorporation into their new social and cultural milieus. For the immigrants south of Notre Dame’s campus, being Catholic was as important to their identities and lived experiences as being Irish.
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Rotman, D.L. The Fighting Irish: Historical Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Catholic Immigrant Experiences in South Bend, Indiana. Hist Arch 44, 113–131 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376797
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376797