The Peter Guilday Papers, 55 linear feet; 110 boxes, contain personal and professional correspondence, notes, lectures, and sermons. They also contain the original documents and subject files used by Guilday throughout his career and research as a professor at Catholic University and a leading American Catholic History scholar. The majority of the collection spans his scholastic and professional career from 1904-1947. However, some of the original documents which are included date back to the 18th and 19th century. The collection is divided into three series, with photographs are interspersed throughout each series. The web address is http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/guilday.html

May 18 through August 8, the University Libraries will be open during the following hours:

For more information including holiday hours please see Mullen Library Hours and Campus Library Hours.

Download the Summer 2009 schedule

The records of the Commission of American Citizenship of the Catholic University of America spans 1938 to 1970, consists of manuscripts (mostly correspondence) and the publications by the Commission, including guides for social teaching and textbooks for grade schools as well as periodicals for the youths and children. Special thanks to Yuki Yamazaki and Library School practicum student Taras Zvir for assistance in creating this finding aid.

Catholics and Politics: Charles Coughlin, John Ryan, and the 1936 Presidential Campaign Website…
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second President of the United States, served longer than any other President in United States history. Elected to four consecutive terms, Roosevelt served from 1933 until his death in 1945. Millions of Catholic voters helped bring Roosevelt his landslide victory in 1936. Estimates of the number of Catholics voting for FDR range from 70% – 81%.

None of this Catholic support was taken for granted during the campaign of 1936, however, nor did all Catholics support a second term for Roosevelt. To the contrary, relations between certain prominent Catholics and members of the Roosevelt administration were strained. Father Charles Coughlin, a former FDR supporter who had become an outspoken critic of the President during the 1936 campaign, actively campaigned against him in the months before the election. Father John Ryan, on the other hand, publicly supported Roosevelt during the campaign, delivering a national radio broadcast under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee on his behalf. This website features previously unavailable audio and documents related to the presidential campaign of 1936 and the involvement of each priest in that campaign.

The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives is pleased to announce the creation of a finding aid for the papers of Msgr. George Higgins. Born in 1916 in Chicago, he obtained a Master’s degree in Economics in 1942 and a Ph.D. in 1944 from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. He served the American bishops’ conference from 1944 to 2001 in various capacities relating to Catholic social thought, labor relations, and ecumenical affairs. He attended the Vatican II Council and was a moving force in the Church’s support for Cesar Chavez and the farm workers union movement. He also served as Chairman of the Public Review Board of the United Auto Workers of America (AFL-CIO) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Higgins wrote numerous book reviews for Commonweal and America, was the author, 1945-2001, of the syndicated column “The Yardstick,” and, in his later years, returned to Catholic University as a lecturer. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 2000 and died on May Day, 2002.  He was widely mourned as a tireless champion of the labor movement and a progressive voice in the Roman Catholic Church. The bulk of the collection consists of paper records including correspondence, subject files, and publications.  

The University Libraries will remain open with reduced hours during Spring Break.

* Please note that the Physics Library will only be open by appointment.

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

Download the 2008-2009 schedule

Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and the inauguration of President Obama Mullen Library will be open only for limited hours Sunday, and will be closed Monday and Tuesday. All campus libraries will be closed Sunday through Tuesday.

Mullen Library

Campus Libraries

Download the University Libraries 2008-2009 schedule.

Welcome back! Spring semester hours for Mullen Library and the campus libraries begin Monday, January 12.

Mullen Library regular hours:

Campus libraries hours:

* Please note that all university libraries will be closed Monday-Tuesday, January 20-21 for MLK Jr. Day and the Inauguration.

Download the 2008-2009 schedule

The records of the Commission of American Citizenship of the Catholic University of America spans 1938 to 1970, consists of manuscripts (mostly correspondence) and the publications by the Commission, including guides for social teaching and textbooks for grade schools as well as periodicals for the youths and children. Special thanks to Yuki Yamazaki and Library School practicum student Taras Zvir for assistance in creating this finding aid.

The Robert Lincoln OConnell papers contain 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.