Michael P. Walsh, SJ, President's Office records

Collection

Identifier: BC-2013-028

Staff Only

Dates

Creation: 1933 - 1982
Creation: Majority of material found within 1958 - 1968

Scope and Contents

The Michael P. Walsh, SJ, President’s Office Records document Walsh’s tenure as twenty-second president of Boston College, 1958-1968. This collection consists largely of administrative records and contains committee, departmental, and faculty files as well as admission records, building plans, correspondence, subject files, and materials relating to the University's centennial celebrations in 1963. Subject files contain biographical information in addition to other topics of interest to Walsh, including some documents predating his administration. Materials date from 1933-1982.

Building records document the construction and renovation of campus buildings and include building plans, proposals, and correspondence concerning dedications and blessings. Centennial celebration materials include invitations, programs, correspondence, information about the publication of the University history Crowned Hilltop by Jack Frost, event plans, clippings, information on honorary degree recipients, and colloquy and conference papers. Of particular note in this series are John F. Kennedy's convocation speech and materials pertaining to the convocation in honor of Cardinal Augustin Bea, SJ. Subject files relate mostly to University administration but also hold some personal correspondence and biographical information, including transcripts of an oral history interview with Walsh. Boston College's postwar growth and increasing interest in diversity are revealed in the admission records and subject files, while building, committee, and faculty records show an increasing organizational complexity.

Student records, faculty tenure and promotion files, and other records containing personally identifiable information are closed due to privacy restrictions. This includes the entirety of Series I. Admissions, as well as a small number of materials in other series.

Creator

Walsh, Michael P. (Person)
Boston College. Office of the President (Organization)

Language of Materials

Materials in this collection are primarily in English, with small amounts of French, Greek, Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Restrictions on access

Collection is open for research. Series I. Admissions is closed in its entirety due to privacy restrictions, and is stored off-site. A small amount of material in other series is also closed due to privacy restrictions.

Restrictions on use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Biographical note

Michael P. Walsh was born in South Boston on February 28, 1912. He graduated from Boston College High School in 1929 and studied at Boston College for his bachelor’s degree, before receiving his master’s degree (1938) and doctorate (1948) in biology from Fordham University. Walsh entered the Society of Jesus at Lenox, Massachusetts in 1929 and was ordained at Weston College in 1941. Between 1943 and 1946 Walsh taught biology at Boston College, serving as chairman of the department from 1948 through 1959. In 1958, he was appointed twenty-second president of Boston College.

Walsh presided over Boston College at a time of rapid growth. During his tenure as president, Boston College conducted strenuous self-assessment exercises, which led to the re-organization and development of more complex systems of governance and to the modernization of the University’s curriculum.

The post-war period saw an increase in student admissions, faculty, new programs, and new buildings and facilities at the University. Walsh oversaw the construction of a number of large-scale building projects, including Cushing Hall, providing the School of Nursing with a base on the main campus; Carney Hall, which provided much needed faculty office space for humanities departments; Devlin Hall renovations and the construction of Higgins Hall, to accommodate growing undergraduate and graduate science programs; and a number of residence halls, which catered to Boston College’s continually increasing residential student population. Boston College celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1963. As president, Walsh organized masses, convocations, dinners, drama programs, fundraising events, and the publication of a history of the University as part of the festivities. Many local and national dignitaries participated, including President John F. Kennedy and Cardinal Richard Cushing.

Walsh also served in educational leadership roles at the national and state levels. He sat on committees for public education in Massachusetts, including the Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Board of Education Study of Racial Imbalance and Education, the Massachusetts Higher Education Facilities Commission, and the Committee of Visiting Assignments at Harvard College. He was a member of Fordham University’s Board of Trustees, and a founding member and president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts.

After leaving Boston College in 1968, Walsh became president of Fordham University. He died in April 1982, at the age of seventy.

Sources

Clark, Alfred E., “Rev. Michael Walsh, Headed Fordham during Fiscal Crisis,” New York Times, April 24th 1982. Accessed June 26, 2013.

Donovan, Charles F., David R. Dunigan, and Paul A. FitzGerald. History of Boston College: From the Beginnings to 1990. Chestnut Hill, MA: The University Press of Boston College, 1990.

Michael P. Walsh, SJ, President's Office Records, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Extent

20.75 Linear Feet (19 containers)

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

Materials are arranged into seven series: I. Admissions; II. Buildings; III. Centennial celebrations; IV. Committees; V. Departmental records; VI. Faculty; VII. Subject files. Series V. Departmental records is furthered divided into nine subseries: A. College of Arts and Sciences; B. College of Business Administration; C. Evening School; D. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; E. School of Education; F. School of Law; G. School of Nursing; H. School of Social Work; I. Summer Session. All series and subseries are in alphabetical order.

Provenance

Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of materials received before that time. Transcripts of oral history interviews with Michael P. Walsh were donated by Richard M. Freeland in 1995.

Related Materials

President's Office Records, University Archives, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Processing Information

Records belonging to the offices of other presidents were transferred to the appropriate collections. Subject files and departmental files compiled during Walsh's presidency may contain documents dating earlier than his tenure.