Boston College. Office of the University Historian
Administrative history
The Office of the University Historian was established in 1979 with the appointment of Charles F. Donovan, SJ, as its first occupant. Donovan had previously served as founding dean of the School of Education, academic vice president (1961-1968), and senior vice president and dean of faculties (1968-1979); his appointment as University Historian followed immediately upon his retirement from the latter position. The office was created to further the study of Boston College's history and to serve as an institutional resource on that history for the University community and the public.
Donovan served as University Historian from 1979 until his death in 1998. During his tenure he co-authored, with University Archivist Paul A. FitzGerald, SJ, History of Boston College: From the Beginnings to 1990 (1990), an updated and expanded successor to David R. Dunigan, SJ's 1947 history of the University, and produced a series of Occasional Papers on discrete topics in Boston College history.
Thomas H. O'Connor, professor of history and, per his BC News obituary notice, regarded as the "dean of Boston historians," served as University Historian from 1999 until his death in 2012. O'Connor authored Ascending the Heights: A Brief History of Boston College from Its Founding to 2008 (2009) and participated in a project to install historical markers at locations on the Main Campus.
In September 2020, James M. O'Toole, Charles I. Clough Millennium Professor of History Emeritus, was appointed the third University Historian. O'Toole, a 1998–2020 member of the History Department faculty and a 1998-2020 holder of the inaugural Clough Professorship (from 2006), earned both his B.A. and Ph.D. at Boston College and had studied as an undergraduate under O'Connor. O'Toole subsequently authored Ever to Excel: A History of Boston College (2022), published through the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies.
The University Historian is distinct from the University Archives. The University Archives is housed in the John J. Burns Library, which holds responsibility for the preservation and maintenance of the analog and digital records, publications, and artifacts pertaining to the history of Boston College.
Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:
Boston College collection of John Bapst, SJ
This collection documents the first president of Boston College, John Bapst, SJ, from his time as a missionary in Maine in the mid-1800s through the early history of Boston College. It is composed of correspondence, ephemera, publications, and other typescripts. The missionary materials also document the establishment of Catholic churches in Maine, the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing movement, and Jesuit work with the Penobscot Nation.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College alumni papers
This collection documents the student experience at Boston College through materials collected and created by its alumni. Materials include autograph books, correspondence, course notebooks, drawings, ephemera, interviews, medals, needlepoint, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, speeches, student papers, photographs, and poems. Small, individual donations of alumni papers are grouped here for ease of discovery because they document a shared experience.
Collection is open for research; some items available digitally.
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 Office of the University Historian records
Composed of subject files, correspondence, manuscripts, publications, audiotapes and photographs related to the projects of the University Historian. The material dates from the tenure of the first University Historian Rev. Charles F. Donovan, S.J.
Collection is closed.
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.
Boston College student theater collection
Materials, predominantly programs and photographs, pertaining to dramatics at Boston College, including productions organized by the Dramatics Society, English Department, Rhetorics Department, Theater Department, and other campus organizations.
Collection is open for research.
William Van Etten Casey, SJ papers
Papers documenting the work and life of William Van Etten Casey, SJ, a twentieth-century Jesuit author, academic, and faculty member at Boston College. Materials include correspondence, clippings, photographs, manuscript and printed materials, artifacts, and personal materials.
Collection is open for research. One folder containing student works is closed.
Martin P. Harney, SJ papers
Collection is open for research.
Negatives in Shared box 1715 are not an access medium and are not available for use. The photographs in Box 26 are closed pending conservation review.
Audio 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.
Nancy Joyce papers
These papers document twentieth-century arts patron Nancy Joyce's work with the Boston College Friends of Art and the McMullen Museum of Art. Papers include committee records, correspondence, docent information, photographs, speeches, and a scrapbook.
Collection is open for research.
Boston College collection of John J. Shea
This collection concerns the life and naval service of Boston College alumnus and Commander John J. Shea, particularly during World War II. Materials include correspondence, publications, press releases, clippings, photographs, artifacts, and ephemera. Commemorations of Shea’s life and military service are also included.
Collection is open for research.