Finding aid for the John Gilmary Shea papers

Biography of John Gilmary Shea

John Dawson Gilmary Shea was born in 1824 in New York City. He attended law school before joining the Society of Jesus in 1848. He then studied at St. John's College (Fordham, NY) and St. Mary's College (Montreal, Canada). Shea left the order in 1852 to pursue a career as a historian. He married Sophie Savage in 1854. During his lifetime, Shea wrote or edited over 250 titles. His most popular works included Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley (1852), History of the Catholic Missions among the Native American Tribes of the U.S., 1529-1854 (1854), and the four-volume History of the Catholic Church in the U.S. (1886-1892). Shea's articles on Catholic history appeared in U.S. Catholic Magazine, the Catholic World, and the American Catholic Quarterly Review, among others. He was one of the founders of the U.S. Catholic Historical Society, and the first editor of the United States Catholic Historical Magazine. He received honorary degrees from Fordham University and Georgetown University, and was the first recipient of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal in 1883. Shea died in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1892.

Scope and Content

This collection contains papers related to John Gilmary Shea's work as a historian. It includes correspondence with other historians, advertisements from a rare book dealer, and research notes. It also contains primary source documents used by Shea, including a transcription of a letter from Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore to Father Gabriel Richard and the title page of a 1683 French monograph on the Louisiana territory.

Statement of Arrangement

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open and available to the public for research in the U.S. Catholic Special Collections reading room. The materials are non-circulating.

The bulk of John Gilmary Shea's papers are held at the Georgetown University Library.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John Gilmary Shea papers CSC14, U.S. Catholic Special Collections, The Roesch Library, University of Dayton.

Acquisition Information

Donated to the U.S. Catholic Special Collections.

Processing Information

Processed by Colleen Mahoney, February 22, 2011

Detailed Description of The Collection