The University Libraries and Archives will have reduced hours over the Thanksgiving Holidays, November 24 – 28. Regular hours will resume Sunday, November 29.

* Please note that the Physics Library will open 12pm – 5pm on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

For more information please see Mullen Library hours and Campus Library hours.

Download the 2009-2010 schedule

The Tower has served as the student newspaper at The Catholic University of America since the Fall of 1922. In an effort to preserve the newspaper, and to make it easily accessible to researchers, alumni, and the general public, the microfilm versions of the newspaper have been digitized and put online in The Tower Archive Online. You can search The Tower Archive Online at http://tower.lib.cua.edu.

The Tower Archive Online includes the very first edition of The Tower dated October 27, 1922 through the edition dated May 6, 2003.  The Tower Archive Online is available to anyone, from anywhere, and is keyword searchable.

The John C. Cort papers consists of correspondence, clippings, writings, book drafts, publications, and photographs reflecting his career as a labor leader, writer, and activist. Please see finding aid at http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/cort.html

Responding to an appeal by the Commission on American Citizenship at Catholic University, George A. Pflaum of Dayton, Ohio began publishing a bi-monthly comic book, the Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact, for distribution in Catholic parochial schools. Intended as an antidote to the perceived immorality of popular comic books, Treasure Chest contained educational features, narrated the lives of saints, and presented adventure stories featuring realistic characters with what were considered wholesome values, like patriotism, equality, faith, and anti-communism.

By the early 1960s, the Treasure Chest was at the height of its popularity. In 1964, Joe Sinnott, the illustrator of Marvel Comics’ “The Fantastic Four”, teamed up with writer Berry Reece to produce a story depicting a U.S. presidential election. It was set in the future: the presidential election was supposedly that of 1976, the year of the nation’s bicentennial. “Pettigrew for President” lasted for ten issues, following the campaign trail of the fictional Tim Pettigrew from the announcement of his candidacy through the national convention of his party. The candidate’s face was carefully hidden in every panel, until the final page of the final issue of the story, when Pettigrew is finally revealed: the first black candidate for president of the United States!

This site presents the full Pettigrew series in its entirety for the first time. It also features biographical material on the series’ author and illustrator, a question and answer interview with Berry Reece, and background information contextualizing the series.

A new finding aid is available online for the Bishop Ernest Primeau Vatican Council II Collection. This collection includes preparatory materials that he compiled for the pontifical commission for the discipline of the clergy and the faithful, documents that reflect his work with the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity and his personal involvement in the development of key decrees and declarations, as well as correspondence pertaining to more general work. It does not contain material relating to the administration of the diocese of Manchester during the council.Access the finding aid at http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua

A new finding aid is available for the small but important Second Vatican Council related collection of prominent layman James J. Norris It includes correspondence, notes, and newspaper clippings as well as published and non-published documents associated with his involvement from his initial attempts to become a lay auditor to his participation in post-conciliar sub-commissions. The finding aid can be accessed at http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/norris.html

The Orientation 2009 issue of CUA Libraries Online is now available! Read it to learn the latest news and get familiar with library services and resources.

• Message from the Editors
• Welcome from the Associate Provost, Kim Kelley
• Goodbye and Good Luck Class of 2009 GLP’s
• Research Guides Get a Makeover
• Library Services and Resources
  • Access Services
  • Reference and Instructional Services
  • Special Collections and Branch Libraries
  • Library Facilities
• Orientation Events Calendar

A revised finding aid (inventory) and new digital version of the Robert Lincoln O’Connell World War I collection is now available. Ranging from 1900 to 1972, but focused on the period of 1917 to 1919, the collection contains correspondence and related material as well as publications, postcards, and photographs associated with his time as an engineer in the U.S. Army from basic training in the states through military service in France and Germany in the First World War. The letters he wrote to his mother and sisters are of particular interest, especially his observations on war-time Washington, D.C., as well as incidents on the front lines in France and post-war occupation duty in the Rhineland of Germany. The finding aid can be accessed at http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/oconnell.html
and once on this site you can follow the links to individual digital images, or you can access the main site of the WRLC Digital collection at http://test.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/oconnell/oconnell.shtml

The First Vatican Council Photograph Album contains 731 carte de visite albumen prints of First Vatican Council participants, and was likely created sometime during the council sessions that began on December 8, 1869 and ended on September 1, 1870. The participants were primarily European, though the United States was represented by 48 of 800 cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and religious superior generals in the sessions over the nine months. During the sessions, there were numerous discussions and disagreements as to the definition of papal infallibility, and the status of the bishops in relation to Pope Pius IX. In the end, two doctrinal constitutions emerged: Dei Filius (April 24, 1870), a shortened version of the schema on faith and reason, and Pastor aeternus (July 18, 1870), which defined the primacy and infallibility of the pope. The finding aid can be viewed at http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/vat1album.html, and a digital version of the collection can be viewed at http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/vatican/vatican.shtml

The John Mitchell Papers, ca. 1876-1931, comprise 189 boxes, 130 linear feet, that document his many labor and civil affiliations, especially as President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), 1898-1908. The papers are organized into six series: Correspondence, ca. 1885-1931; United Mine Workers of America, Minutes, Proceedings, Constitutions, and Reports, 1891-1908; Miscellaneous Minutes, Proceedings, and Reports, 1914-1919; Printed Matter, 1876-1918; Photographs, 1896-1924; and Miscellaneous and Unprocessed, ca. 1884-1924. Significant persons, events, and conditions of the ‘Gilded Age’ are revealed, especially in the UMWA material, regarding such watershed issues as standardized wages, working conditions, and collective bargaining. The web address for the finding aid is http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/mitchell.html. There is also a digital collection of the John Mitchell Photographs hosted by WRLC at http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/mitchell/mitchell.shtml