Boston College. John J. Burns Library
Biography
The origins of Boston College's special collections date to the 1930s, when Terence L. Connolly, SJ, head of the English Department, began acquiring rare materials related to English Catholic literature. In the fall of 1933, Connolly organized an exhibition at Boston College of manuscripts and first editions of the Victorian poet Francis Thompson, borrowing the collection of Seymour Adelman of Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1937, funds were raised to purchase the Adelman Collection; title was transferred to Boston College on April 22, 1937, and the materials were installed in a permanent display center in the Bapst Library faculty reading room, formally opened on November 5, 1937. Connolly subsequently acquired related Meynell and Patmore materials. Over the following decades, additional named collections were developed within Bapst Library in Irish studies, Jesuitana, nursing, and other subject areas, maintained as a distinct Special Collections unit with restricted access.
The University Archives were formally established in 1973, when President J. Donald Monan, SJ, appointed Henry A. Callahan, SJ, as the first University Archivist. Callahan, a historian who had been associated with Boston College for nearly forty years, was charged with creating a central repository for the office records of University offices and departments, university publications, audiovisual materials, and alumni, faculty, and Jesuit records. Prior to this appointment, inactive records had been retained by individual offices without central coordination. Later, Paul A. FitzGerald, SJ, an experienced University administrator, served as University Archivist until his death in 1987. FitzGerald, a historian and former dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, also co-authored the 1990 institutional history of Boston College with Charles F. Donovan, SJ.
In 1986, these holdings were consolidated into purpose-designed facilities created through a renovation of the Bapst Library Building. The renovated space, occupying the north end of the building and incorporating the Ford Tower, was dedicated as the John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections on April 22, 1986. The library was named in honor of John J. Burns (1901–1957), Class of 1921, who served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court and as the first General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Brian P. Burns, son of the Judge, was the library's primary benefactor; the $6.2 million renovation was supported in part by a grant from the Kresge Foundation.
Burns Library continues to serve as Boston College's repository for rare books, manuscripts, special collections, and University Archives. Under the tenure of Robert K. O'Neill, the inaugural Burns Librarian, who served from 1986 to 2013, the library grew to hold the largest collection of Irish rare books and manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere. O'Neill was succeeded by Christian Dupont, who joined Boston College in September 2014 as Burns Librarian and Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources.
Found in 13 Collections and/or Records:
Maurice Baring papers
The papers document the life and work of British diplomat, journalist, and author Maurice Baring (1874-1945). The materials consist primarily of correspondence but also include a handwritten manuscript by Baring and some ephemera.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College collection of bookplates
The collection consists of nineteenth- and twentieth-century mounted bookplates. The plates feature finely detailed artwork, and serve as examples of period book art and typography. The artists and origins of the bookplates are from numerous countries, with the majority from the Czech Republic, Brazil, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College alumni veterans remembrance book: manuscript
A hand-lettered memorial list of Boston College alumni who died serving in the United States Armed Forces in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Open for research.
Boston College artifacts collection
This collection documents the history of the American Jesuit university Boston College in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries through its material culture. The collection includes banners, flags, football memorabilia, groundbreaking shovels, medals, pins, plaques, seals, and signs from Boston College administrators, faculty, and, to a lesser degree, students.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College student activities collection
A collection of materials produced by and for Boston College student clubs, societies, and other activities, including correspondence, reports, meeting agendas, planning documents, awards, newsletters, photographs, publicity, and artifacts.
Collection is open for research.
Audio and video recordings have been digitally copied; all original media were retained, but may not be played due to format. Digital use copies can only be accessed in the Burns Library Reading Room.
City medal for females
A hexagonal shaped medal presented to Joanna Stetson Simpson by the Boston School Committee for "superior scholarship." Simpson was a Boylston School student in the Fort Hill district of Boston, Massachusetts. The Marquis de Lafayette gave the address and presented the medals.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College collection of Jesuit memorial cards
Memorial cards for twentieth-century American Jesuits.
Collection is open for research.
The memorial book of Boston College: manuscript
Open for research.
Music director's diary
Bound diary kept by the Music Director of Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart that records the hymns sung on a daily basis. It documents the transition from the exclusive use of Latin hymns in the earlier years to the more frequent use English hymns in the later years. Also notes the frequency of Benediction immediately after Mass in the earlier entries. Also includes several loose items found in the volume.
Open for research.
Professors at the Sorbonne: Faculté des sciences: manuscript
Manuscript in a bound journal with handwritten descriptions of the science and mathematics faculty members of the Université de Paris. The accounts largely describe physical characteristics and speaking styles of the faculty members. It also includes several pages with notes from specific lectures. The author of the manuscript is unknown.
Open for research.
Scrap-book of an exhibition "Towards an Irish republic"
The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, photographs, ephemera and correspondence.
Open for research.
Story map of Ireland
Pictoral map. Published by Colortext Publications, Chicago.
Open for research.
Burns Library collection of Vietnam War veteran alumni correspondence
Correspondence from Boston College alumni about their military service in Vietnam, collected as part of a Burns Library initiative titled "Veterans of the Vietnam War". Also includes the article in Boston College Magazine in which the project was first advertised.
Collection is open for research.