Gasson, Thomas Ignatius, 1859-1930
Dates
- Existence: 1859-09-23 - 1930-02-27
Biographical Note
Thomas Ignatius Gasson, Jesuit, professor, and Boston College president.
Gasson was born in Kent, England (1859) and attended Saint Stephen's Anglican School in London (1868). He went to the United States at age 14 and lived in Philadelphia, where nuns of the Convent of the Sacred Heart instructed him in the Catholic faith. Gasson was baptized a Roman Catholic (1874), and the following year he entered the Jesuit Order. He studied at Woodstock College and the University of Innsbruck and was ordained (1891). He was assigned to the faculty of Boston College (1895) and appointed Boston College president (1907). As president of Boston College, he dealt with overcrowding on the Boston College campus in the South End by purchasing property in Chestnut Hill and moving the university to the newly-constructed facilities there (1913). After serving as Boston College president, Gasson was appointed dean of the Graduate School and professor of philosophy and economics at Georgetown University; he was later assigned to Loyola College, Montreal, Quebec, where he taught philosophy, economics, and theology. Gasson died in Montreal (1930). His body was returned to Boston for a funeral Mass in Immaculate Conception Church on Harrison Avenue, the former site of Boston College.
Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) Identifier
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Thomas Ignatius Gasson, SJ, President's Office records
The Thomas Ignatius Gasson, SJ President's Office records contain correspondence, construction records, clippings, personal items, and St. Boltoph's Guild records documenting Gasson's administration as the thirteenth president of Boston College. Materials primarily document Boston College’s move to the Chestnut Hill campus from the South End in 1913.
Collection is open for research; portions are also available digitally.
Charles W. Lyons, SJ, President's Office records
The President's office records of Charles W. Lyons, SJ, fourteenth president of Boston College, are composed of correspondence, memos, and writings that reflect his five year presidency as well as the wartime and post-World War I student military groups on campus during that period.
Collection is open for research; portions available digitally.