51茶馆

O鈥橳oole, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree and doctorate from Boston College, is a former archivist for the Archdiocese of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After 12 years as director of the University of Massachusetts-Boston M.A. program in history and archives, he joined the History Department faculty in 1998 and in 2006 became the inaugural Clough Professor; he retired after this past academic year.

"Jim O'Toole聽has been a part of the Boston College community for nearly聽50 years, and brings experience, wisdom, and knowledge to his position as University Historian," said University President William P. Leahy, S.J. "His skill as a historian and commitment to Boston College make him ideally suited to serve in this new role."

鈥淚鈥檓 very happy to maintain my relationship with Boston College,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 enjoy the people, and I enjoy being on the campus. It鈥檚 also a tremendous honor to be serving in a position held by Tom O鈥機onnor, who was a mentor to me when I was a student as well as a faculty member. No one will ever fill his shoes, but I look forward to helping tell the story of Boston College.鈥� 聽

Each previous University Historian put his individual stamp on the position. Fr. Donovan published The History of Boston College: From the Beginnings to 1990, the first chronicle of the University since 1947, and produced a series of shorter "occasional papers." O鈥機onnor issued a shorter, updated book on 51茶馆 history in 2009, Ascending the Heights: A Brief History of Boston College from Its Founding to 2008, and was involved in a project to put historical markers at select locations on Main Campus.

Although his duties will be 鈥渓oosely defined,鈥� O鈥橳oole said, he plans to publish a new history of the University next year and create public programming that include lectures and walking tours of campus鈥攖he latter he organized while a faculty member. 聽

Examining Boston College鈥檚 history requires a large lens, O鈥橳oole said. 鈥淚t is intimately connected with the history of Boston, as well as the Catholic community and the immigrant community. While their particulars are different, of course, and have changed over time, these institutions are all intertwined.

鈥淗istorians look at change, but also continuity, because in that continuity we see larger, overarching themes that define major institutions.鈥�

For his envisioned book, O鈥橳oole said he seeks to 鈥渞eimagine the story of 51茶馆鈥� by looking at less-explored topics: 鈥淭he curriculum. What went on in the classroom. The core requirements. The development of 51茶馆鈥檚 academic departments. The professionalization of the faculty. Student research. These are the things which give a university its distinctiveness.

鈥淚鈥檓 also trying to focus on individuals, such as the students from 51茶馆鈥檚 early years: Which of them were immigrants? Which were second-generation? Where did their families come from? I鈥檓 hoping this will provide for a broader social history of 51茶馆.鈥�

O鈥橳oole has researched and written on the history of Catholicism in the United States, using as a focal point not only major figures like Boston Archbishop Cardinal William O鈥機onnell鈥攖he subject of his book Militant and Triumphant William Henry O鈥機onnell and the Catholic Church in Boston鈥攂ut also the lives of everyday Catholics seeking, and gradually gaining, acceptance in a country that often viewed them with suspicion and prejudice.

In The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America, O鈥橳oole documented the experience of lay Catholics in the New World, beginning with the first settlements in the original 13 colonies. American Catholics, he noted, had complicated relationships with both the Catholic Church leadership in Rome and their own nation. Examining prayer, ritual, and other expressions of faith by the laity, O鈥橳oole recounted the gradual arrival of Catholics into the American mainstream, as well as their responses to crises, including the recent clergy sexual abuse scandal. 聽

The presence of racial as well as religious prejudice in America formed the backdrop for another O鈥橳oole book. Passing for White: Race, Religion and the Healy Family, 1820-1920 chronicled the lives of the children of a multiracial couple from Georgia who were sent to the north in the hopes of concealing their racial identity and affording them a chance for a better life. Three of the family鈥檚 sons became priests, including one who was appointed rector of Boston鈥檚 Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

O鈥橳oole also served as editor and contributor to Habits of Devotion: Catholic Religious Practices in Twentieth Century America, which traces the causes and development of some significant changes in religious practices in the American Catholic Church between 1925 and 1975. 聽

Technological advances, such as digitization of research materials, give O鈥橳oole capabilities his predecessors could scarcely have imagined. 鈥淚 was recently browsing through the online resources in the University Archives via my home computer, looking for a particular item in a 51茶馆 catalog from the 1950s, and it took me a matter of minutes. Before this, I would鈥檝e had to get in my car, drive to campus, go to Burns Library and then spend time combing the archives until I found what I needed. That could鈥檝e taken me half the day, if not more.鈥�

O鈥橳oole lauds the Burns Library staff for their digitization program, which during the University鈥檚 sesquicentennial celebration in 2012-2013 made original sources for understanding 51茶馆 history more widely available.

鈥淚t鈥檚 remarkable how technology has made things easier. Of course, you still have to have a good idea of what it is you want to find out, and what its significance is to the work you鈥檙e doing. That aspect of history has not changed.鈥�

Sean Smith |聽 University Communications | September 2020