The Marymount tradition traces its origins to the city of Béziers in the south of France. The first community of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary gathered at the Refuge and Orphanage of the Good Shepherd on February 24, 1849; it was founded by Faither Jean Gailhac and Appollonie Pelissier Cure, later known as Mother Saint John, and included only five women. The order spread from Béziers to four continents. Today, the congregation numbers 1200 sisters and serves 15 countries in Europe, Africa, and North and South America.
The community focused on the human person in society. The RSHM became involved in the education of women as a powerful means of transforming society and established many schools. The first Marymount College in the United States was founded in Tarrytown, New York, in 1907. The RSHM came to Los Angeles at the request of Bishop Cantwell in 1923 to “train Catholics in their faith and in the principles of social justice.” Marymount College in Los Angeles was established in 1933 and Marymount Junior College in Palos Verdes in 1968.
In 1973, Loyola University and Marymount College merged. LMU celebrated the 50th anniversary of the merger of Marymount College and Loyola University in 2023. Coverage in the Los Angeles Loyolan included a timeline and a video exploring the archival holdings about the merger.
Students in Professor Elizabeth Drummond’s fall 2019 Telling History in Public course (HIST 2910) curated an exhibition about LMU history, with a focus on the university’s focus on the “promotion of justice” as a core aspect of its identity and mission. Using materials from University Archives, students analyzed how the university has often taken noble and principled stances on social justice issues, as well as areas where students’ and the university administration’s understandings of justice have not always aligned. The exhibition was on display in the gallery of the Department of Archives & Special Collections at William H. Hannon Library during the spring 2020 semester (and caught in time there until 2021 because of the university’s closure as a result of COVID). Students also created a companion website, including a digital version of the exhibition and accompanying essays. Haven Watts, HIST ’22, explored the history of the Loyola University and Marymount College merger in the context of the shift to coeducational models of higher education, while Samual Johnston, HIST ’20, focused on the role of Sr. Raymunde McKay, including her famous line, “No Marymount, no merger.”
Students in Professor Mairead Sullivan’s spring 2025 course “The Marymount Tradition” (WGST 4998) continued the focus on exploring university history, with a particular focus on the history of Marymount College. Students conducted archival research in University Archives and oral histories with women religious from the RSHM and CSJ communities and with Marymount College alumnae. Employing a feminist lens, the students sought to understand who has been centered in LMU’s narrative, who has been left out, and how language around gender, justice, and institutional identity evolved throughout LMU’s history. For their final project, students used Digital Humanities tools to produce a virtual exhibition, “The Marymount Tradition: Chronicling the Histories and Presence of the ‘M’ in LMU.” Laura Haushalter, HIST/ENVS ’25, and Sam Qualls, WGST/SOCL ’25, presented this project as part of the National Council on Public History poster session at the American Association for State and Local History in Cincinnati, Ohio, in September 2025.
The Marymount Institute will build on these foundations in how we tell our own history, collecting more oral histories, conducting additional archival research, and continuing to create digital and print materials that tell the Marymount story. If you have a connection to Marymount College and are interested in being interviewed for an oral history, please contact the Marymount Institute Director.