Books about St. John’s

See also Resources on SJU History for some online sources that aren’t “books”

Abbey Church & Other Buildings

General History

Saint John’s at 150: A portrait of this place called Collegeville, 1856-2006
Author: Edited by Hilary Thimmesh, OSB.
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Saint John’s University Press, c2006.
Description: [x], 149 p.: ill. (some col.), col. map, ports. (some col.); 31 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s Special Collection: BX2525.C6 S3 S36 2006

Worship and work: Saint John’s Abbey and University 1856-1992 (3 editions)
Author: Barry, Colman James, O.S.B., 1921-1994
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1993, c1994; previous editions in 1956 and 1980.
Description: 603 p., [82] p. of plates: ill., maps, ports.; 25 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: BX2525.C6 S3 1993

Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota: A Sketch of Its History, 1857-1907
Author: Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B., 1863-1940
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Record Press, 1907.
Description: 158 p., [8] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; 23 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: LD4811.S8582 H64

Monte Cassino, Metten, and Minnesota [on the European roots of St. John’s]
Author: August C. Krey.
Publisher: Reprinted from Minnesota History vol. 8 no. 3, September 1927. 15 pages.

The Earliest Years of Saint John’s Abbey, 1856-1862
by Fr. Bruno Riss, OSB (1829-1900).
Originally published in 1889-1890 as a series of 16 articles in The Record. A 17th, supplemental article was later published in the 1895 issue of Scriptorium, p, 197-205.

St. John’s Preparatory 125th Anniversary Souvenir: A Pictorial History, 1857-1982
by Paul J. Goossens, SJP Class of 1979. 30 pages.

Private liberal arts colleges in Minnesota: their history and contributions
Author: Jarchow, Merrill E.
Publisher: [St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1973]
Description: xvi, 345 p. [24] p. of plates: ill., ports.; 28 cm
Available in the CSB Library’s General Collection: LA310.5 .J37 1973

Stones and Hills / Steine und Huegel
Reflections: St. John the Baptist Parish, 1875-1975
A history of the Collegeville Parish, published for its centennial in 1975.
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: St. John the Baptist Parish, c1975.
Description: v, 179 p.: ill., ports.; 23 cm.
Available online (in a series of pdfs), in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: BX4603.C64 S85 1975

Index for History of Saint John’s Abbey, University, Missions, 1856-1931 [pdf index] [Xcel index]
by Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B.
NOTE: This is only the index to a 5-volume print work that is available in the SJU or the Abbey Archives.

College Life: A Manual for Students [rules of behavior for students at Saint John’s]
Author: Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B., 1863-1940
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: St. John’s University, 1898.
Description: 161 p.; 17 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: LB3609 .H6 1898

Rules of Discipline
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Saint John’s University, 1921.
Description: 8 p.; 15 cm.
Available online and in the SJU Archives.

A sense of place
Essays edited by Colman J. Barry and Robert L. Spaeth.
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Saint John’s University Press, 1987-1990.
Description: 2 v.: ill., ports.; 23 cm.
Available in SJU Library’s Special Collection: BX2525.C6 S46 1987

History of Stearns County, Minnesota, vols. 1 & 2
Author: William Bell Mitchell. 1536 pages in 2 volumes. Chicago: H.C. Cooper, Jr., 1915.
The entire work is online.
Also available in the SJU and CSB Archives and Libraries: F 612 .S75 M58 1915.

The Land

Natural History of Collegeville, Minnesota
Author: Alexius Hoffmann, O.S.B. (originally written in 1926, finished in 1934). 38 pages.
Also online: Ornithological Notes by Father Lambert Thelen, O.S.B. from 1894-98. 48 p.

The Land, the Forest, and the Place of Agriculture at Saint John’s – a 2017 “Sunday at the Abbey”
presentation by Land Manager Tom Kroll.
View the video or just the slides.

History paper: ‘If It Can Be Done . . .’: St. John’s Abbey and Agricultural Self-Sufficiency from 1857–1954 by Andrew Brever, SJU class of 2008

History paper: A Stone House Amongst the Maples: Forestry, Stability and Benedictinism at St. John’s, 1866-196 by Franz Young, SJU class of 2002

Thesis: A Study of the Vegetation in the Upland Forest of St. John’s Abbey and University by Lorraine Westrup Cofell, 1977. 84 p.

Thesis: A Management Plan for the Conifer Plantations at St. John’s Collegeville, Minnesota by Paul Schwietz, O.S.B., 1985.

Land Management Plan for St. John’s, Collegeville, Minnesota
by Don Peterson & Paul Schwietz, OSB. 2000 and subsequent updates.
Available on the Saint John’s Outdoor University website.

The Nature of Saint John’s: a Guide to the Landscape and Spirituality of Saint John’s Abbey Arboretum
Author: Haeg, Larry
Publisher: Collegeville, Minnesota: Saint John’s University Press, 2015
Description: xiii, 209 pages: color illustrations, color maps; 18 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: QK480.U52 S72 2015

One Co-Operative Venture: The CSB and SJU Academic Exchange Program
This 1967 article documents the early stages of the cooperation between CSB and SJU.
For a look at the two campuses as they were beginning to implement greater cooperation, see their separate Institutional Profiles, published in 1968 for St. John’s and in 1969 for St. Ben’s.

Saint John’s in the Late 1960s/Early 1970s: The “Protest Years”
Three short compilations concerning the SJU campus in those days:
The War in Vietnam / The Sexual Revolution / Civil Rights Activism

History paper: The War Protest Movement at St. John’s During the Vietnam Conflict by Jeffrey Hagen, SJU class of 1977

Photo Collections

Collegeville: A photo essay
Author: Sipe, Mike & Michael Sipe; history, Hilary Thimmesh.
Publisher: [St. Cloud, Minn.?]: M. Sipe, c2005 (China: Palace Press Int’l.)
Description: 138 p.: chiefly ill. (some col.); 30 x 33 cm.
Available in the SJU Archives and in SJU Library’s Special Collection: BX2525.C6 S56 2005

Saint John’s in Pictures
Author: Crouser, Michael; introduction by Jon Hassler.
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn.: Veronica Press, c1994.
Description: 80 unnumbered pages: chiefly color illustrations; 29 cm.
Available in the SJU Archives and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: LD4811.S8633 C76 1994

Saint John’s through the years: photographs from the archives
Edited by Michael Crouser (SJU ’85); introduction by Peggy Roske (CSB ’77), CSB/SJU archivist.
Publisher: [Minnesota]: [Michael Crouser], 2019.
Description: 92 unnumbered pages: chiefly illustrations; 25 x 29 cm Available in the SJU Archives and in the CSB & SJU Libraries’ General Collections: LD4811.S8

Abbey Church & Other Buildings

Abbey and University Church of Saint John the Baptist, 5th ed.
Author: Roloff, Ronald, O.S.B.
Publisher: North Central Pub. Co., St. Paul, Minn.
Description: [36] p.: ill.; 27 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection, BX4603.C65 A33 1980

Athletics

Scoreboard: A history of athletics at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota
Author: Tucker, Dunstan, OSB, 1898-1995 and Martin Schirber, OSB.
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: Saint John’s University Press, c1979.
Description: xii, 444 p., [8] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; 23 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV691.S34 T82. Also available in PDF.

Thesis: Ordinary doing the extraordinary: An examination of John Gagliardi and the winning football tradition at Saint John’s University
Author: Ryan Klinkner, SJU class of 2004. 2009.
Publication: Thesis (M.S.), St. Cloud State University, 2009.
Description: ix, 340 leaves: ill.; 29 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV958.S697 K55 2009

A Legacy Unrivaled: The Story of John Gagliardi
Authors: Bostrom, Boz and Lou Holtz.
Publisher: St. Paul: Minnesota: Historical Society Press, 2016.
Available online as an e-book with a campus login; in the SJU Archives; and in the CSB and SJU Libraries’ General Collection: GV939.G28 b67 2016.

The Sweet Season: A Sportswriter Rediscovers Football, Family, and a Bit of Faith at Minnesota’s St. John’s University
Author: Murphy, Austin
Publisher: New York: Perennial: an imprint of HarpersCollins Publishers, 1996.
Description: xxiii, 312 p.; 25 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV958.S697 M87 2001

A History of St. John’s University’s Legendary 1965 National Championship Football Team
Author: Shiely, James
Publisher: Self-published, 2015, with 2017, 2019, 2021 & 2022 addenda.
Description: iii, 96 p.: ill.; 28 cm.
Available online and in the SJU Archives.

Vagabond Halfback: The Life and Times of Johnny Blood McNally
Author: Gullickson, Denis J.
Publisher: Madion, Wisconsin: Trails Books
Description: xiv, 217 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV939.M38 G85 2006

No-How Coaching: Strategies for Winning in Sports & Business from the Coach Who Says “No!”
Author: Collison, Jim
Publisher: Herndon, Virginia: Capital Books, Inc., 2001
Description: xvi, 160 p.: ill.; 22 cm
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV711 .C66 2001

The Player’s Tale: Life Lessons from St. John’s University
Author: McNamara, William
Publisher: InstantPublisher.com, 2006
Description: 139 p.
Available in the SJU Archive’s General Collection: LD4811.S8619 M36 2006

Up the Long Ladder: History of the St. John’s University Rugby Football Club
Author: Schnese, Brian
Publisher: Saint Paul, Minnesota: Brian Schnese, 2007
Description: 149 p.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: GV945.6.S85 S36 2007

Libraries

In the Benedictine tradition: the origins and early development of two college libraries
Author: Neuhofer, M. Dorothy, O.S.B.
Publisher: Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, c1999.
Description: xvi, 260 p.: facsims.; 24 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: Z733.S1272 N48 1999

St. John’s University Library: An historical evaluation.
Author: Roloff, Ronald William, O.S.B.
Publisher: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,
University of Minnesota, 1953.
Description: vii, 319 p.: facsims.; 28 cm.
Available online and in the SJU Archives, 1261:14

Saint John’s Bread

The Loaf That Became a Legend: A History of Saint John’s Bread
Author: Jones, Kenneth M., Diane Veale Jones
Publisher: St. Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press of St. Cloud, c1997.
Description: 131 p.: ill., ports.; 26 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: TX769 .J654 1997

Half a Loaf: Johnny Bread Recipes to Nourish the Body and Soul
Author: Stoltz, Elizabeth A.
Publisher: St. Cloud, Minnesota: North Star Press, 2003
Description: xvii, 67 p.: ill.; 26 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: TX769 .S76 2003

Assorted Topics

Thesis: “‘We Are Brave Men’: Baseball and the St. John’s Industrial School, 1884-1896”
Chapter 2 of Indian Summers: Baseball at Native American Boarding Schools in Minnesota
Author: David J. Laliberte, SJU class of 2000 (MA thesis: St. Cloud State University, 2008).
NOTE: This work is protected by copyright and registered with the US Copyright Office, no. TXu001612136.
This chapter is online; the entire thesis is available in the SJU Archives.

Music at St. John’s from 1867 to 1900 by John B. Katzner, OSB, 1917.

Body of Clay Soul of Fire: Richard Bresnahan and the Saint John’s Pottery
Author: Welch, Matthew
Publisher: Afton, Minnesota: Afton Historical Society Press, 2001
Description: 228 p.: ill. (some col.), ports.; 29 cm.
Available in the SJU Library’s General Collection: NK4210.B694 W45 2001

Upon These Rocks: Catholics in the Bahamas
Author: Barry, Colman James, O.S.B., 1921-1994
Publisher: Collegeville, Minn.: St. John’s Abbey Press, 1973.
Description: ix, 582 pages: illustrations; 24 cm.
Available online, in the SJU Archives, and in the SJU Library’s General Collection: BX1449.2.B37 1973.