Author: Shane MacDonald

The Archivist’s Nook: Voices from the Stacks…or A Tale of Sea Witches, Skeletons, and (Pocket) Monsters

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
A Mercedes McCambridge publicity photo from the 1949 film All the King’s Men. (Photo: AP Wirephoto.)

“The wonder of sound! I believe the most distinctive, the most telling facet of any actor’s ability is the way he sounds. What sound is there in him that strikes the fire in us?…[sound] paints the picture, tells us the whole story of the person who is making the sound.”

-Mercedes McCambridge, The Quality of Mercy (New York: Times Books, 1981), page 72.

During her time as an artist-in-residence, Academy Award winning actress Mercedes McCambridge acted alongside and taught CatholicU students. Known for her decades of radio and voice work, McCambridge made sure to imprint on her students the import of voice work and its distinction from stage acting.

Among the storied history of CatholicU’s Drama program, there have been numerous stage, screen, and (much to McCambridge’s delight) voice actors. Today, I would like to highlight a few of the most vocal of our alumni. This is not an extensive list, but one that many current students and alumni may recognize, if not for their faces than for their voices…

Pat Carroll

Pat Carroll (l) and Ursual (r). (Courtesy: Wikimedia Foundation)

Born in 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana, Carroll’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was young. She began acting early in life, and enrolled at CatholicU while enlisted in the U.S. military. While a student, she began acting professionally in 1947. In the ensuing decades, she starred in numerous roles across stage, screen, and television including in comedic programs beloved by this archivist such as The Carol Burnett Show, The Red Skeleton Show, and Laverne & Shirley. In the late 1980s, Carroll began to accept voice acting roles that lasted until her passing in 2022. Among the productions in which she provided her voice talents are: A Pup Named Scooby Doo, The Goofy Movie (1995), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and several animated Garfield features. But she is most well-known for being both the spoken and singing voice of Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989). This is a role she would continuously voice throughout later animated and video game adaptations of the character.

Check out a sample of Carrol’s voice work here: Ursula, The Little Mermaid (1989)

Chris Sarandon

Chris Sarandon (l) and Jack Skellington (r). (Courtesy: Wikimedia Foundation)

Born in 1962 in West Virginia, Chris Sarandon attended West Virginia University for his undergraduate studies before enrolling at CatholicU for a master’s degree in theater. He graduated with his MFA in 1967.

Sarandon has had a prolific career since his graduation, with accolades for stage performances to Academy Award nominations. Given the Halloween season, it may be appropriate to mention his roles in the horror film Child’s Play (1988) and his role as the villainous Prince Humperdinck in the cult classic The Princess Bride (1987). But as we are speaking of voice roles, many of our readers may recognize him from his speaking role as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a role that he has reprised in other productions including the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise. (Danny Elfman provided the singing voice for Jack.)

Check out a sample of Sarandon’s voice work here: Jack Skellington, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Kathleen Charlotte McInerney (Veronica Taylor)

Kathleen Charlotte McInerney (Veronica Taylor) (l) and Ash Ketchum (r). (Courtesy: Wikimedia Foundation)

Kathleen Charlotte McInerney, professionally known as Veronica Taylor, has deep roots on the CatholicU campus. Her parents attended the University and toured with Fr. Gilbert Hartke’s National Players. With these theater roots, she knew from an early age that she wanted to be an actor. Earning a Bachelor’s degree in Drama at CatholicU, Taylor was involved in the National Players and a co-founder of the women’s soccer team. She credits the Drama faculty, saying, “Everything I do is a result of something I learned from them, be it technique, discipline, or just love of the craft and its history.” Following graduation from CatholicU in 1987, she earned a Master’s degree from Brandeis University in 1993.

Her work has included audiobook narrations, ad reads, voice-overs, and voice work for animation. Her work has included starring roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the English dubs of Japanese anime, including such shows as Sailor Moon, One Piece, and Pokémon. Among the many roles she has provided in Pokémon, she is best recognized for voicing the main character, Ash Ketchum.

Kathleen McInernery (Courtesy: Catholic University)

Echoing McCambridge, McInerney reflected on her career in 2015, stating: “It has been incredibly fulfilling to play so many characters who are so different from myself. ‘Voice acting’ requires a full body commitment, and the engagement of all of your technique and training to come together and funnel out through your mouth. You don’t have the luxury of gesture, a look, or movement, you just have sound. It’s quite a fun challenge.”

Check out a sample of McInerney’s voice work here: Ash Ketchum, Pokémon (1997)

Any favorite roles among the listed voice actors or any notable alumni voices that we missed? Let us know by contacting us: lib-archives@cua.edu

The Archivist’s Nook: Allison Hayes – A Giant on the Screen and in Advocacy

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
Hayes, Catholic University Alumnus, 1955

“My CU experience helped me the most…They taught me how to work together with a team for success. I found that, in doing this, you don’t think of yourself and feel that people are just watching you.”

– Catholic University Alumnus, Volume 18, no. 2 (Winter 1955)

Born on March 6, 1930 as Mary Jane Hayes, future Hollywood actress Allison Hayes started her life from humble beginnings in West Virginia. As a young child, her family relocated to Washington, D.C., where she graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School in 1948. The young Hayes was a musical savant, performing at the piano from the age of 5 and winning performance tournaments and even touring as a teenager. Her ambition was to become a concert pianist, and to help secure this dream, she won the title of Miss District of Columbia in 1949 to secure a scholarship. This decision led to her competing for several years in beauty pageants and working as a model. [Source]

After several years along this career tangent, Hayes enrolled in the CatholicU Speech and Drama program in 1952, majoring in music. While on campus, she sought theater courses to build up her confidence. As she stated in a 1976 interview, “I had always been quite shy and introverted. I thought if I could learn to get up on a stage and learn to project myself in another character, another role, that might help my self-confidence. Some of the things I did [at CatholicU] were the best things I ever did.” [Source]

Tower article, October 28, 1955

Juggling her acting, modeling, and teaching piano lessons while studying full-time proved a challenge Thus after studying on campus for three semesters, Hayes soon departed for Hollywood in 1953. She first signed on with Universal Studios before transitioning to Columbia Pictures. During her early acting career, Hayes was prolific in Western and comedies, but suffered from onset injuries that held back her rising star.

By the mid-1950s, Hayes became a frequent television actor, appearing on shows as varied as Bat Masterson, Rawhide, Perry Mason, and more. But it is in the late 1950s that she landed the roles that she most often remembered for today – cult horror and sci-fi films. Between 1957-1960, Hayes co-starred in 6 Roger Corman B-movies focused on zombies and supernatural spectres. But it was the 1958 Attack of the 50 Foot Woman that placed her within the ranks of cult film royalty. The poster alone for the film has been parodied and referenced countless times in popular culture.

Movie poster for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, 1958

These successes were unfortunately marred by a mysterious health crisis that began to emerge in the 1960s. Beginning in 1962, Hayes began to take a calcium supplement at the advice of a physician and was soon experiencing a host of negative symptoms including fatigue, hair loss, and partial paralysis. After years of uncertainty, Hayes came across a description of lead poisoning among factory workers, and the symptoms fit her illness perfectly. By 1970, toxicology tests concluded that she had metal poisoning from six years of taking the calcium supplement. It contained 190 parts of lead per million and was an unregulated medication from England.

Promotional still from “Count Three and Pray”, 1955

After years of being doubted by her doctors and having no one idea what ailed her, Hayes recalled her initial reaction upon learning of this diagnosis, “My first reaction was one of relief. I hadn’t been losing my mind…then the anger set in. I’d spent thousands of dollars being bandied about from one specialist to the other with not a few of them baldly implying that my problem was primarily psycho-neurotic…in the end I had to depend on myself to educate the experts.” [Source]

From here, she launched a campaign to get the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate imported supplements. She wanted to use her ordeal to strengthen oversight in the industry and prevent others from suffering as she had. For the remainder of her life, she lobbied the FDA for these changes. In a bittersweet moment, the FDA finally accepted more heavy-metal testing standards for supplements in 1977, just weeks after Hayes passed away from leukemia.

Before she passed away, Hayes penned a final poem:

When the time comes
For the final line to be
Drawn through my name
In those personal address books,
Will it be done slowly
Or rapidly?
I should like to leave
More than one less “H”
So please hear me
I have been poisoned

Credit: Art Hondros

With this poem, Hayes calls out for the world to remember her voice and make sure none will suffer the same fate. From humble roots and piano performances to the heights of B-movie fame and medical activism, Hayes leaves behind a legacy of film and health advocacy that touches many lives to this day. [Source]

The Archivist’s Nook: New Exhibit – It Came From the Archives – Preservation Challenges in Special Collections

Posted on by Shane MacDonald

Viewer beware!
Working in Special Collections is a joy, but it is not without its terrors. The persistent challenge of preserving collections for long-term access requires vigilance, patience, and the courage to face entropy each and every day. This semester – just in time for Halloween – you can experience some of the chills that archivists face each day down in the stacks.

From the woes of water leaks to the eerie odors of decaying film reels, you will bear witness to the shocking sights and sounds of archival life, on display in-person during the fall semester 2025 in the second floor reading room in the John K. Mullen Library at CatholicU. You may also witness the exhibit online here: It Came from the Archives – Presentation Challenges in Special Collections

The Archivist’s Nook: Alumni Magazines Throughout the Years

Posted on by Shane MacDonald

Envoy, Vol. 12, no. 1 Fall 1983: Gather around as we look into the treasures of Special Collections.
A common experience for students, parents, and alumni of most American universities is receiving a copy of their institution’s alumni magazine in the mail. These publications, ranging from annual newsletters to quarterly magazines, are a fixture of academic outreach and public relations. But more than just serving as a connection between campus and alumni, these publications provide a written and photographic record of the history and life of the broader campus community.

I may even be revealing a “secret sauce” for our blogs, but the alumni magazines remain one of our key sources for uncovering or delving deeper into campus history. But to fully appreciate the magazine, one needs to have access and know the evolution of the publications.

CUA Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 2 (Summer 2003): Announcing the opening of the Pryzbyla Center. The magazines are a great source for developments in campus architecture.

The Cardinal Magazine (2024-Present) – not to be confused with the Cardinal Yearbook – is the latest incarnation of the University’s official publication. Earlier versions include The CUA Bulletin, First Series (1895-1928), CUA Bulletin, Second Series (1932-1968), Envoy (1971-1990), CUA Magazine (1989-2017), and CatholicU Magazine (2017-2024). In addition, the University’s Alumni Association and Alumni Office sporadically published and distributed its own serial, The Alumnus between 1920-1972 (with a “merger” of the CUA Bulletin and Alumnus from 1968-1970 as the “Alumnus/Bulletin”).

Alumnus/Bulletin, Vol. 32, no. 1 (Winter 1969): Welcoming the first lay leader of CatholicU, Clarence Walton.

In a previous blog, we highlighted the digitization of one of the earliest iterations of Catholic University’s alumni magazine, the CUA Bulletin, Second Series. In that blog, it was discussed that we planned to continue digitizing the subsequent versions of the magazine. We are pleased to announce that the next three versions of the magazine are now online – The Alumnus, Envoy, and CUA Magazine.

We are missing an occasional issue, so please contact us if you happen to have a copy that we missed: lib-archives@cua.edu

Browse the digital collections here:

The Alumnus, Vol. 20, no. 2 (Winter 1957): Covering the nuclear research occurring on campus.

CU Bulletin
The Alumnus
CUA Envoy
CUA Magazine

The Archivist’s Nook: Conservation in Rare Books – The Golden Legend

Posted on by Shane MacDonald

Legenda Aurea, 1490 (INC 80). Before conversation.
Over the past year, Special Collections staff continued tackling conservation challenges that have arisen within the University’s Rare Books collection. Our past conservation projects can be seen in: “Part I”, “Part II”, “Part III”, and Part IV. As in years past, we have continued working alongside Quarto Conservation and have another incunabulum (a book printed in Europe between 1450-1501) to share.

Our goal in Special Collections is to make sure that all of our patrons – whether they are members of the CatholicU community or visiting researchers – have access to the materials they require to satisfy their research needs. Thus, our guiding principle in conserving these books is to render them stable for both in-person access and eventual digitization, while preserving the original content and physical traits of the volumes themselves. This volume was unfortunately damaged and access was limited.

Legenda Aurea, 1490 (IINC 80). Opening page and incipit (left).

As we continue with our conservation efforts, we will update the community on the work being performed. You may see examples of the before and after for the conserved volume below with a brief summary of the work performed:

Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, 1490 (INC 80)

Legenda Aurea, 1490 (IINC 80). Annotations in a damaged part of the text.

The Golden Legend, or Legenda Aurea, is a text that dates back to the thirteenth century in the hagiographical tradition of legendaries, or collections of saints’ lives and martyrologies. Its author, an Italian Dominican friar by the name of Jacobus de Voragine, crafted this text in the 1260s as a source for preachers wishing to draw upon saintly examples for their sermons. While not alone in this particular genre of collected saints’ lives, the Golden Legend (GL) emerged as one of the definitive texts of medieval hagiography. Spreading throughout medieval Europe, and continuing in popularity into the early modern period, the GL exceeded the success and spread of similar saintly compendia. While the text experienced ebbs and flows in its printing and audience reception over the centuries, its tendency to adapt to audience and publisher desires has allowed it to continue to thrive as a text even into the modern age.

The GL was a popular text well into the fifteenth century, when printing became widespread in Europe. Thus, it makes perfect sense that among the works of early printers are many copies of the GL. Between 1470-1500, 156 distinct editions of the GL were printed across Europe, in both Latin and local vernaculars.[1]

Legenda Aurea, 1490 (INC 80). Notice the cropped text at the top of the page.

Enter a printer in Basel, Switzerland by the name of Michael Wenssler, who printed the 1490 copy held in Mullen Library. This edition is in Latin, with no woodcuts and no introduction, but ample rubrication. In this copy, there are missing rubrications periodically, cut-off pages, and text faded away. In the last case, one may even see how someone tried to fill in the textual gaps with their own notes. All these imperfections may speak to a quick production of the book, but it could also suggest later modifications. For example, the cropped text may indicate a later cutting of the pages for a rebinding. In many ways, this is a text that shows the various steps in the book production process and what could go wrong from printing, rubricating, binding, and to the very act of reading it over the centuries. It is a clearly well-used book!

And as such, it suffered damage to its spine and binding. The textblock lacked structural stability, with it having been split into two distinct halves. The front board was also completely detached from the textblock. While the media was in good condition, there was some minor damage throughout that warranted cleaning.

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Quarto removed the back board and mechanically removed the old spine linings. They then sewed the two halves of the textblock together, using a linen thread. The spine was lined with airplane cotton fabric and wheat starch paste. New binder boards were attached using the cloth spine lining, with the boards being covered in a preservation-quality goat skin.

This is a quick overview of the dedicated work that our conservators performed in making this book accessible once again. It does not detail every step and technique in the conservation process, but we hope this sheds a little light on the process of conservation in the stacks and the interesting history of one of the medieval “best sellers” that continued to be reproduced well into the modern period.

To find out more about this book or the general Catholic University Rare Books collection, please contact us at: lib-rarebooks@cua.edu

[1] Jacques Le Goff, In Search of Sacred Time: Jacobus de Voragine and the Golden Legend (Princeton: 2014), x; Sherry Reames, The Legenda Aurea: A Reexamination of Its Paradoxical History (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), 3-4.

The Archivist’s Nook: Cardinal, Saint, and (Now) Doctor – St. John Newman on CatholicU

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
St. John Newman (Oil portrait, University Museum Collection, Magner M777)

This morning (July 31, 2025), our staff awoke to the news that Pope Leo XIV has approved St. John Henry Newman to be bestowed the title of Doctor of the Church.

As of the time of this writing, there are 37 Doctors of the Church with Newman set to become the 38th. These figures, ranging from popes to mystics, are figures recognized as contributing greatly to the theology and faith of the universal Church through their writings and studies. Some of the most well-known Doctors include St. Thomas Aquinas and St.Thérèse of Lisieux, both of whom are represented in the Special Collections on campus.

Canonized in 2019, John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was an English theologian, writer, and priest. A convert from Anglicism to Catholicism in 1845, Newman was made a Cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. A proponent of ecumenism and Catholic education, he was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854. It is in that role that a 1885 letter came into the possession of our archives.

Following the 1884 Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, the American Catholic bishops called for the establishment of a national Catholic university (today’s CatholicU!). While the University would not be formally chartered by the Vatican until 1887, word of this development spread across the Atlantic as the American hierarchy sought to fundraise for the University’s development.

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Upon learning of a financial appeal sent out in 1885 by Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore, Cardinal Newman wrote to Gibbons, praising the effort to open a national Catholic university:

“Oct. 10, 1885

My dear Lord Archbishop,

I have welcomed with the warmest interest the eloquent appeal of your University Board to the Catholics of the United States, which has come to me from America through the kindness of an anonymous friend.

At a time when there is so much in this part of the world to depress and trouble us as to our religious prospects, the tidings which your circular conveys of the actual commencement of so great an undertaking on the other side of the Ocean on the part of the Church will rejoice the hearts of all educated Catholics in these Islands.

With this thought before me, I cannot help feeling it to be out of place to notice what is merely personal to myself; still I may be allowed by your Grace and the other members of the Board briefly to express my deep sense of the singular honour they have done me by introducing into their Appeal a quotation from what I wrote years ago upon the subject of Universities.

It leads me in simple gratitude, were I not already bound by faith and brotherly love, to pray for an abundant blessing from above on a design so necessary for the growth and stability of the Church in the vast regions which Divine Providence has opened upon her.

I am
My dear Lord Archbishop,
Your Grace’s humble and affectionate
Servant,
John H. Card. Newman”

Newman’s signature, 1885.

It is fitting that the founder of Catholic University (Pope Leo XIII) made Newman a Cardinal, and an American-born Pope Leo is now making him a Doctor.

This encouraging letter from a saint and soon-to-be Doctor of the Church is but one example of the history of Catholic education in the University archives. Learn more by checking out our exhibit on One Hundred Years of Catholic Schools (1893–1993)

The Archivist’s Nook: Addressing the “Social Question” – Pope Leo XIV and the Legacy of Pope Leo XIII

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
Pope Leo XIII statue, McMahon Hall, 1900

“New developments in industry, new techniques striking out on new paths, changed relations of employer and employee, abounding wealth among a very small number and destitution among the masses, increased self reliance on the part of workers as well as a closer bond of union with one another, and, in addition to all this, a decline of morals have caused conflict to break forth. The momentous nature of the questions involved in this conflict is evident …”

– Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891

Habemus Papam! On Thursday, May 8, 2025, the College of Cardinals elected American-born Robert Cardinal Prevost as the new Pontiff, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV official portrait, courtesy of Vatican Media

For the Catholic University of America, the name “Leo” invokes pride as the founding Pontiff of the University. Pope Leo XIII’s letter to James Cardinal Gibbons, giving approval to the creation of a national Catholic university in Washington D.C., was issued on April 10, 1887. That date marks the official founding date of the University (and the date upon which we still celebrate Founders Day). Paintings, statues, street names, shirts, and bobbleheads across the campus attest to our long-standing respect to Pope Leo XIII. But his impact goes far beyond that for the campus, the nation, and the Church…

At the same time that Catholic University was being founded in the late nineteenth century, life across the United States and Western Europe was being transformed by economic changes that prompted some individuals and groups to seek government intervention in the economy. These movements included a wide-range of reformers, including politicians, journalists, Catholic clergy, labor leaders, and even radicals like socialists and anarchists. Within the North American Catholic Church, there was disagreement about the role of organized labor unions, as Catholic leaders such as Terence V. Powderly led the first nationwide union movement in the form of the Knights of Labor.

James Cardinal Gibbons, undated

Cardinal James Gibbons – the same Cardinal that received Leo’s blessing for CatholicU – would argue in favor of the Knights of Labor before Leo XIII. In 1888, Rome allowed the Knights to be tolerated but no formal endorsement. This success, however, would have further influence as it figured into Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. The encyclical made a clear statement of the Catholic church’s position on the relations between capital and labor in modern society.

As the new pontiff reminds us, his namesake served during a time of great social and economic upheaval and sought to address these concerns with the 1891 bull Rerum Novarum. As the new Pope Leo XIV stated, regarding his choice of name,

“mainly because Pope Leo XIII, in his historic encyclical Rerum novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution….In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice, and labour.”

This encyclical was the first time that a pope addressed the problems of industrialization and became the foundation for Catholic social teaching for decades to come. In this text, Pope Leo XIII relied on Thomist principles to explore the social good and the requirements that workers, employers, and the state owed to one another. The encyclical both repudiated socialism and affirmed private property but also condemned unregulated capitalism and encouraged reforms. The text also gave support to the organization of workers.

Knights of Labor, ca. 1880s, Terence V. Powderly Papers

As American Catholics came to grips with the problems and promise of economic change at the turn of the century, Leo’s encyclical would serve as a source of inspiration. It inspired both Catholic progressives and conservatives, with each hearkening to the encyclical’s call to tradition and Catholic social reform. Nevertheless, it would inspire the work of the National Catholic War Conference (today’s United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and figures such as CatholicU alumnus and professor, Fr. John A. Ryan.

In February of 1919, the National Catholic War Council issued a “Program for Social Reconstruction,” a blueprint for the future overhauling of America’s politics, society and economy. The program called for government insurance for the sick, unemployed and aged; labor’s participation in industrial management; public housing; unions’ right to organize, and a “living wage” for all workers. The Program’s provisions were rooted in the Catholic social thought that stretched back to Leo XIII’s encyclical.

Much like the new Pope, Fr. Ryan was touched by the legacy of Rerum Novarum and its focus on addressing the “social question” of the day. As a seminarian, Ryan wrote in his personal journal in 1894,

“The Social Question! what an awful meaning it has for our age! how full is it of possibilities for good or for evil. Happiness or misery as the world has not seen are bound up in its solution. … the forces of and resources of social injustice are so various and so powerful that if society is to be saved every honest, unselfish heart and head will be necessary. Where should the priest be if not in the midst of this movement, restraining the destructionist, encouraging the true reformer and applying the ethics of the Gospel everywhere?”

Image of Fr.. John A. Ryan behind US President Franklin D. Roosevelt at his January 20, 1945 Inauguration.

Fr. Ryan’s scholarly work and activism would be defined by a Catholic social thought that drew on Rerum Novarum to justify government intervention in the economy. In 1906, he published his CatholicU dissertation, A Living Wage, promoting minimum wage legislation, and in later years he became a nationally known advocate of minimum wage and later New Deal reforms, even giving the official benediction at two of Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugurations.

To learn more about Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, and their influence on the Catholic University of America and American Catholic History, please contact us or explore the following educational sites from Dr. Maria Mazzenga:

Catholics and Industrialization

Catholics and Labor Unionization

Catholics and Social Welfare: The Bishops’ Program of Social Reconstruction, 1919

The Archivist’s Nook: Big Things Come in Small Bindings – Big Little Books in Special Collections

Posted on by Shane MacDonald

As a special collections library on the Catholic University campus, we naturally collect materials that fit within the educational mission of the University. We have materials on Catholic history, canon law, and theology. But we also have collections that extend beyond the sacred, and that includes a small collection of vintage children’s literature. The most prominent part of this collection is three boxes filled with Big Little Books from the 1930s and 1940s, including a controversial story set in the Land of Oz!

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First of all, what is a Big Little Book (BLB)? Some of our readers may know exactly what these books are and may even have fond childhood memories of the publications. University Archivist, John Shepherd, recalls purchasing one such book from a newsstand with his 50 cent allowance in 1973. This particular copy was on the Fantastic Four…or as his stepfather, clearly not a fan,  referred to it at the time as “that Fantastic FOOL book”!

The Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin originated BLBs, with predecessors in the 1920s. A series of small but thick books, with large fonts and illustrations usually on every other page, these books were designed for easy access and portability for children. The first official BLB (bearing that logo) was The Adventures of Dick Tracy in 1933. They originally served as reprints of comic strips or condensed movie synopses, before they began to expand into original content or adaptations of classic literature. 

Whitman’s largest competitor, Saalfield Publishing Company, followed up with their own version in 1934, called Little Big Books. In 1939, Saalfield changed the name to Jumbo Books before ending the series in 1940. One of only many such imitators!

By 1938, Whitman likewise rebranded their series to Better Little Books until 1949, when it became New Better Little Books. In 1967, the series of tiny books for children returned with Dick Tracy Encounters Facey under the moniker Better Little Books. While the Whitman Publishing Company still exists today, it primarily publishes numismatics books.

The BLB collection at CatholicU mostly contains Disney-licensed books and children’s noir novels, but there is one particular book that sits at the nexus of family drama, film history, and trademark law  – The Laughing Dragon of Oz.

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Published as a BLB in 1934, it was the brainchild of Frank J. Baum, son of original Wizard of Oz author and creator L. Frank Baum. The younger Baum had worked closely with the family’s Oz business since 1908, including a stint as the publicist for the short-lived Oz Film Manufacturing Company from 1914-15. Despite the failure of the Baum family’s efforts to launch their own film company, the younger Baum was not dissuaded and often represented the family’s interests in the West Coast film industry. 

In 1919, when his father passed away, the younger Baum began to more formally represent the family estate on behalf of his mother, Maud Baum. He managed to get several film deals struck and co-wrote the script for the 1925 silent film adaptation of the Wizard of Oz and the serialized radio adaptations in 1931. But we cannot speak of film adaptations of Oz without speaking about the legendary 1939 production. While Frank J. Baum did have a hand in selling the film rights to Samuel Goldwyn in early 1934, he was absent from the film’s eventual development…and the Laughing Dragon is the reason why.

Cap’n Bob (left) and Rosine (right) are two of the characters in the Laughing Dragon.

Originally written as Rosine in Oz (after the main human character), the Oz series publisher Reilly & Lee refused to publish it in 1932. As a result, Baum changed it to Rosine and the Laughing Dragon to set it outside Oz. But this change lasted only briefly before Baum sought out a new publisher (the already-mentioned Whitman Company) to print it as a two-parter set in the Land of Oz, with the first book being The Laughing Dragon of Oz and the sequel being The Enchanted Princess of Oz.

At the time that he wrote this book, he was also working to trademark the word “Oz”. Concerned with his movements towards publishing new books and trademarking the name, the Oz book’s publishers sued both the younger Baum and the Whitman Publishing Company. As a result of the lawsuit’s settlement, no additional copies of the Laughing Dragon could be published (nor Baum’s intended sequel) and Maud took control of the Oz estate from her son. As a result of this legal battle, Frank J. Baum was largely excluded from the estate’s operations for the next several decades, although he was deeply involved in promoting his father’s legacy through books and fan clubs.

Yes, in a climate-controlled archival stacks, silly dragon!

Thus, other than a single, private republication 2007, The Laughing Dragon of Oz was never published save for the 1934 first edition. The copy at Catholic University is one such original.

This story of children’s literature, rare books, and trademark battles may leave you wondering – what is the story of the Laughing Dragon and is it any good? Well, this is a spoiler-free blog, so if you would like to read the book, contact us to make an appointment to access the work: lib-rarebooks@cua.edu

For more information:

Thomas, James Stuart (1983). The Big Little Book Price Guide. Des Moines, IA: Wallace-Homestead Book Co.

Scarfone, Jay and Stillman, William (2018). The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece. Lyons Press.

The Archivist’s Nook: New Exhibit – The Heart of Scholarship: 100 Years of Mullen Library

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
Mullen Library card catalogs, 1970s

“If the heart of the University is in scholarship, then the heart of scholarship is in the library,” pronounced Rev. Dr. Peter Guilday, Professor of American Church History, at the April 25, 1925 cornerstone laying ceremony for the John. K. Mullen of Denver Library. 

Inspired by Guilday’s words, a display will be held in the May Gallery from now and through summer 2025 on “The Heart of Scholarship: 100 Years of Mullen Library.” A reflection on the place – both literally and figuratively – of Mullen Library on the campus, this exhibit celebrates the centennial of the April 25, 1925 cornerstone laying of the Library, the building’s construction, its staff and students, and its role in the life of The Catholic University of America.

You may visit the site in person or view it online here: Construction of Mullen Library

The Archivist’s Nook: New Year, New (Digital) Us – Welcome to JSTOR Forum

Posted on by Shane MacDonald
The new homepage for our digital collections!

As a new year and semester dawns, you may notice a new look for the library’s digital collections. We are pleased to announce that our digital collections have moved to the JSTOR Forum platform: https://www.jstor.org/site/catholic-university/

We recently reached our institutional end of life for the Islandora platform, which has hosted our digital collections for the past decade. In reviewing numerous alternative services, Library staff ultimately settled on JSTOR Forum as the best option for our community of patrons. This platform provides discoverability and preservation of our collections through a reliable and trustworthy, non-profit service. All Special Collections digital materials will remain accessible for free to anyone anywhere through this platform.

A sampling of the curated collections.

Through the Catholic University JSTOR Forum, you may access over 25,000 items (and growing) materials from the American Catholic History Collection, Rare Books, University Archives, the Oliveira Lima Library, the Semitics/ICOR Library, and the library’s general collections. You may see collections organized thematically, whether focused on “Canon Law” or “Labor History” to the “Cardinal Yearbook Collection” and “Museum”.

As of this writing, the migration of digital collections and the cleaning up of the data continues. You may encounter some missing materials or errors in the near future as Library staff continues to update the new platform. 

CatholicU Computer Center, 1980s.

If you have any questions about the digital collections, please contact us: lib-archives@cua.edu

Happy browsing!