Archives

Overview
The University Archives is a unit of the St. John's University Libraries, and houses the administrative records of the University; historical materials that relate the St. John's campuses to their neighboring communities; and historical materials dealing with the history of Catholic higher education in New York City. The Archives also collects the papers and memorabilia of faculty members and holds an eclectic collection of historical documents and photos.

The St. John's University Archives was founded in 1971.

The Office of Historical Collections had been created by President the Reverend Joseph Cahill on Jan. 23, 1969, Dr. Irving G. Williams, director, "to build up the prime sources of the University in the field of History ... to serve as an encouragement to research by students, faculty, and scholars generally [and acquire] unprinted and unbound materials." Records and collections of the Office of Historical Collections were deposited with the University Archives when the Office of Historical Collections closed in 1971. The Vincentian Archives (Archives of the Congregation of the Mission, Eastern Province, U.S.A.) were transferred on Apr. 29, 1996, to the Congregational Archives, Philadelphia.

Selected references:

  • Hueppe, Frederick E., "The Radiant Light: a history of St. John's College presented in the Vincentian," 1955, (Archives).

  • McColgan, Daniel T., A Century of Charity: the First One Hundred Years of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States, 2 vols. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1951).

  • Morris, Barbara L., "To Define A Catholic University: the 1965 Crisis at St. John's" (Ed.D. thesis, Columbia University Teachers College, 1977)

  • Sharp, John K., History of the Diocese of Brooklyn, 1853-1953, the Catholic Church on Long Island, 2 vols (New York: Fordham University Press, 1954).
St. Johns University
The St. John's University seal which can be found atop St. Augustine Hall