Skip to main content

Jesuit Educational Association records

 Collection
Collection JA-2015-001: Jesuit Educational Association records

Dates

  • Creation: 1919 - 1972
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1936 - 1970

Scope and Contents

Jesuit Educational Association (JEA) records include correspondence, minutes, proceedings, reports, and surveys documenting the Association's work to ensure that Jesuit education in the United States met the highest national standards while also maintaining the core function of the religious formation of its students. They demonstrate JEA oversight of significant changes to the structure of Jesuit colleges and universities, through the move towards separate incorporation, reporting to boards rather than the Provinces of the American Assistency, and the introduction of lay faculty and administrators. Materials also document the changes in Jesuit secondary school education between the late 1930s to the late 1960s, with increasing focus on preparing students to go on to higher education.

These materials also document the work of JEA groups along regional, topical, or role divisions. Commission and committee records show the outcomes of those who worked throughout the year to forward the aims of the JEA within specific focus areas. The conferences and meetings records include JEA annual meetings that document the core decisions made in the JEA national meeting. They also include national JEA events dedicated to school presidents, deans, and student personnel administrators, as well as ones for Jesuit finance, engineering, law, and medicine programs. In addition to minutes and proceedings of the conferences, commissions, and committees, the records include longitudinal and special surveys performed for the committees and commissions, including standing high school and college surveys, plus surveys of Catholic formation of Jesuit high school students, public perceptions of Jesuit education, and historical shifts in Jesuit educational policy.

The bulk of the records were created by President Edward B. Rooney, SJ and Executive Secretary Paul Siegfried, SJ, or were their copies of the records of the commissions, committees, conferences, and regional divisions of the JEA.

The records also include the work of two prior initiatives, the Interprovince Committee on Studies (1921-1930) and the Jesuit Commission on Higher Studies (1931-1932), whose work led to the formation of the JEA.

Creator

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing 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.

Administrative History

In 1930, Society of Jesus Superior General Wlodimir Ledochowski, SJ named an Inter-Province Commission on Higher Studies to review the state of Jesuit high school and college education within the American Assistancy. Following the Commission's report in August 1932, Ledochowski outlined the path forward for Jesuti higher education, Instructio de ordinandis Universitatibus, Collegiis ac Scholis Altis et de praeparandis eorundem Magistris (1934), that led to the creation of Jesuit Educational Association (JEA). Ledochowski appointed Daniel M. O’Connell, SJ as Commissioner of Education to lead reform through the JEA and formed an Executive Committee composed of the Province Directors of Education. The JEA was tasked with reconciling Jesuit standards in education with those of national and regional accreditation organizations, coordinating policies and standards across schools and colleges, and promoting the visibility of Jesuit educational activities.

O’Connell led the JEA in conducting surveys and extensive campus visits in the mid-1930s. In 1937, the Executive Committee recommended the permanent organization of the JEA, and Ledochowski appointed Edward B. Rooney, SJ National Secretary for Education. The first constitution, drafted by committee in 1938, structured the JEA further, with a Board of Regents composed of the Provincial Superiors, an Executive Director (Rooney), and the Executive Committee. Work was initially divided between two Departments, of Higher Education and Secondary Education, as well as Eastern, Central, and Western Units with their own Departments of Higher and Secondary Education. By 1948, the JEA had significantly altered its constitution and printed it alongside a revised Instructio, the Instructio Pro Assistentia Americae, issued by Superior General John B. Janssens, SJ. Both documents were informed by the work of the first fourteen years of the JEA. The new structure retained the Board, now named the Board of Governors, the Executive Director, and Executive Committee, but replaced the Departments with five permanent Commissions: Secondary Schools, Liberal Arts Colleges, Professional Schools, Seminaries, and Graduate Schools. These Commissions held the power to appoint Special Committees to assist them.

Over the years, the JEA appointed additional Commissions (Schools and Departments of Business Administration in 1950; Theologates, Philosophaes, and Juniorates in 1958) and gave the Executive Committee powers to establish sub-committes as well. The Association conducted conferences and workshops to address virtually every aspect of teaching and administration. Through its standing bodies and conferences, the JEA helped member institutions navigate significant changes in Jesuit education in the late 1960s, such as separate incoroporation of colleges from their Provinces, and the shift to greater numbers of lay faculty and administrators at Jesuit schools. JEA also collaborated extensively with other Catholic and national educational organizations.

Three presidents led JEA during its 36 years: Daniel M. O’Connell, SJ (1934-1937); Edward B. Rooney, SJ (1937-1966); and Paul C. Reinert, SJ (1966-1970). While Rooney led for the longest period, Reinert presided over the final years of the JEA and oversaw the amendment of its constitution to provide for two successor organizations: the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) and the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA). The Jesuit Education Association dissolved in 1970.

Sources:

Revision of the Constitution, Box 12, Folders 16-28, Jesuit Educational Association records, JA.2015.001, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Extent

42 Linear Feet (49 containers)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The records of the Jesuit Educational Association (JEA) document the organization, history, and goals of the Association and its members from its beginning in the early 1930s to its end in 1970. The records were produced and collected by the various commissions, conferences, executive offices, and institutions under or associated with JEA in the form of conference materials, correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, news releases, photographs, reports, speeches, and surveys.

Arrangement

Arranged in seven series: I. Central Office; II. Commissions and Committees; III. Regional Divisions; IV. Events; V. Studies and Surveys; VI. Collaborations with Other Jesuit and Catholic Educational Organizations; and VII. Prior Jesuit Education Initiatives.

Provenance

Gift of the Jesuit Conference under President James Connor, SJ, in 1977.

Related Archival Materials note

Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators records, JA.1995.001, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Robert P. Neenan, SJ papers on Jesuit Secondary School Education, BC.2024.052, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Separated Materials note

Published works associated with this collection have been transferred within the Burns Library and can be found in the Boston College Library catalog.

Processing Information

Collection reprocessing in 2024 was shaped by deeper review of the curatorial files of former University Archivist Paul Fitzgerald, SJ, which indicated that he had added materials about the history of Jesuit education to the records of the Jesuit Educational Association. To the extent possible, his additions were removed from the records of the organization, but it is likely that some still remain.

Title
Jesuit Educational Association Records
Status
Completed
Subtitle
1919, 1933-1972 (bulk 1936-1970)
Author
Matthew Messer, Luis Cardenas, Gabrielle Rowand, Kevin Marren, David Ellis, Philip S. Kiley, SJ, Michael Burns, and David Horn (September 2016); revised by Lynn Moulton
Date
2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2024 September: Materials not created or collected by the Jesuit Educational Association removed, arrangement revised, and further description added to series/subseries levels.

Repository Details

Part of the John J. Burns Library Repository

Contact:
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill MA 02467 USA
617-552-4861