Beginning in 1951, Francis W. Sweeney, SJ invited speakers to give talks under the auspices of Boston College's student literary magazine, the Stylus, for which he served as a faculty moderator. During the 1957-1958 academic year, Sweeney administered the David B. Steinman Visiting Poets Series, which funded lectures by Ogden Nash, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, and other speakers. The lecture series was only underwritten for one year, and Sweeney had to seek other funds to continue the lectures.

The program, renamed the Humanities Series to reflect a broadening of speakers to include writers of other disciplines, launched on October 2, 1958, when the Pulitzer-prize winning poet and historian Peter Viereck gave a lecture entitled "The Unadjusted Man." Speakers in the new series included poets, novelists, dramatists, theologians, historians, classicists, and actors. Lecturers included Poet Laureate Consultants in Poetry to the Library of Congress and Nobel Prize winners in literature. In the 1960s, the University assumed the financial responsibility, allotting an annual budget to pay for the visiting lecturers. In 1987, the Lowell Institute took over funding, and it became known as the Lowell Lectures, now the Lowell Humanities Series.

While the Humanities Series is best known its lectures, it also sponsored fine arts performances and art exhibits. These events included the Yale Russian Chorus, which performed every year from 1965 through 1998, and traveling exhibits from other institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Modern Art.

Sweeney oversaw several related annual series, many of which were funded by the Humanities Series. The Careers in Writing Conference was a one-day panel-style event where professional writers discussed their craft, which ran from 1961 through 1967. Beginning in 1960 the Younger Poets Series allowed Sweeney to bring in less-established poets to give readings for fees more modest than the Humanities Series. Additionally, beginning in 1963, Boston College and several other New England-based universities participated in the New England Poetry Circuit which allowed the participating institutions to bring lesser-known poets to campus. The Campus Filmmakers Festival, 1969-1978, helped fund students' film-making expenses and presented the best films during a spring festival. In the 1970s, Sweeney arranged live demonstrations by local artisans in the Visiting Artists Series, where students observed stained glass makers, silkscreen designers, potters, weavers, sculptors, painters, and others practice their crafts.

After four decades of service, in April 1998, Sweeney retired as director of the Humanities Series and was succeeded by Professor Paul Doherty.

Sources:

Baldwin, Maureen. "Sweeney Among the Eminent." Bridge (May/June 1973):8-9.

Dowd, Sue. "32 Years of Literary Excellence at BC." The Heights (March 1, 1982): 8.

“Francis W. Sweeney: Virtual Exhibit Fall 2004 - Burns Library.” bc.edu. https://www.bc.edu/libraries/about/exhibits/burnsvirtual/sweeney/6.html (accessed October 16, 2017).

"Poetry and Drama are Highlights of Fall Humanities Series" in The Boston College BiWeekly (September 10, 1987): 7.

Smith, Sean. "Man of Lectures" in Boston College Chronicle (April 23, 1998): 1, 5.

Sullivan, Mark. "Doherty to be Director of Lecture Series." Boston College Chronicle (April 23, 1998):5.

Sweeney, Francis W. "Father Sweeney Reminisces." Alumni News (September-October 1970): 2, 9.