John Francis Wippel (1933-2023) was a priest, philosopher, professor, and former provost (then named academic vice president) who cast a long shadow on the campus of The Catholic University of America (CUA). We in Special Collections are especially grateful to the late Monsignor, and his estate executor, for bequeathing us his personal papers, which include Read More

Catholic University’s Museum, an integral part of Special Collections, which also include Rare Books, is the proud home of a remarkable ancient Italian vase, a fourth century B.C. red-figure calyx krater. According to scholar Linda Safran (1), it was created by an artist referred to as the ‘Nazzano Painter,’ who was Faliscan, an Italic people Read More

“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 Read More

The history of the American labor movement, with its British antecedents and its evolutionary relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, has been a major focus of Catholic U’s Special Collections, including the University Archives and American Catholic History Research Center, for more than three quarters of a century.  Testament to this effort is displayed online Read More

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 Read More

Our guest writer this week is Rachel Nunley, a Virginia native and a Library Science (MS-LS) graduate student at the University of North Texas. She is currently doing her practicum at Special Collections in the Spring 2025 Semester. The USCCB Pro-Life Collection, housed at the Catholic University of America, Special Collections, provides a unique look Read More

“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 Read More

Our guest blogger is Rachel Nunley, a Virginian native and a graduate student in Library and Information Science (LIS) at the University of North Texas. She is currently doing her LIS practicum at Special Collections in the Spring 2025 Semester. Justine Bayard Ward, born August 7, 1879, came into a world where music was deeply Read More

On an early morning in 1935, a 24-year-old year old Robert T. Meyer begins his day by typing a letter to a Ms. Dorothy Deex. Robert, a young grad student at this time, was so tired he nearly “used [his] typewriter as a pillow”. He daydreams in courier new about his future in academia: “… why, maybe, Read More

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 Read More