Inverview with Sister Nilus Heyl, C.S.J., February 17, 1983, Tape 1, Side 1
Identifier
pitt:20230202-ssjb-0019-t1s1
"Interview with Sister Nilus Heyl, C.S.J., February 17, 1983; March 23, 1983" Metadata
Metadata Details
Title
Interview with Sister Nilus Heyl, C.S.J., February 17, 1983; March 23,
1983
Subject
St. Joseph's Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Knorr-Knorr Cigar Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Heyl, Nilus, Catholics, Nuns--Religious life, Family life, Floods, Depressions--1929, Hospitals, Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden
Description
[t1s1]Sister Nilus Heyl talks about growing up in Homewood in the early 1900s:
contracting polio as a toddler; father work Knorr-Knorr Cigar Company; Holy Rosary Grade School
and High School; work at Remington Typewriters. She talks about her paternal grandfather’s
butcher shop in Lawrenceville; his home across from St. Augustine Church. She speaks of her
devotion to St. Francis Xavier; praying at “colored church” in the Hill District. [t1s2]Sister
Nilus Heyl talks about the first Black family in her Homewood neighborhood. She talks about
becoming a Sister of St. Joseph; clerical work at Motherhouse. She discusses her various
positions at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She speaks about 1936 flood; World War I; World War II; WPA;
providing charity health care; hospital owning dwellings. [t2s1]Sister Nilus Heyl talks about
her time at St. Joseph’s Hospital: first as a postulant; work in admissions; life with other
sisters at the hospital; new hospital building; work by WPA. [t2s2]Sister Nilus Heyl talks about
St. Joseph’s Hospital: 1936 Flood; the Depression; patients from Pittsburgh Terminal Coal;
nonpaying patients from mines and steelworks; Doctor J. P. Kerr. She reflects on future of the
congregation.
Contributor
Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden (depositor), Heyl, Nilus (interviewee), Witt, Sally (interviewer)
Date
1983-02-17/1983-03-23
Type
oral histories (literary genre)
Format
cassette tape, 152 minutes
Identifier
pitt:20230202-ssjb-0019
Language
eng
Relation
Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden Oral History Collection
In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to
your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).. Rights Holder: Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
