Notes from a Diary Kept at Geo. Town College, 1839-1870

Item — Box: 1, Folder: 2

Identifier: 19180

Collection-level Scope and Content Note

From the Collection:

The Bernard A. Maguire, S.J. Papers include correspondence (mainly letters to Father Maguire) during both of his tenures as President of Georgetown College, although not all of the content pertains to College affairs. Also present are: notes from a diary he kept between 1839 and 1870 which references events in his life and happenings on campus, including the impact of the Civil War; clippings relating to his death and funeral; and handwritten notes relating to theology lectures he attended in the late 1840s and early 1850s. Although Father Maguire was known as a gifted public speaker, unfortunately only one text of a speech he wrote survives in these papers, for an undated commencement speech he gave at his alma mater, St. John's Literary Institution in Frederick, Maryland.

Dates

1839-1870

Collection-level Access Restrictions

All published documents housed in the University Archives are open for use. Unpublished documents are governed by the following use restrictions: unpublished material dating from 1971 and later may only be consulted with the permission of the office which created it; unpublished material dating from 1970 or before may be used with the permission of the Archivist or the creating office, unless otherwise restricted.

Extent

From the Collection: 0.25 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Container Summary

Twenty pages of handwritten notes by Father Maguire. Included are references to: taking his vows in the “little Chapel of St. Ignatius”; the student body numbering between 200 hundred and 250; Father McSherry as Rector (“he was a man of most gentle amiable manners and kindness personified”); the majority of students coming from Southern states; frequent fights between the “Creole”/"French” boys and the “American” boys; prefects and teachers being “exposed to great dangers from the wild half-civilized boys in the College” during his early years at Georgetown; the Ki Yi Yi student rebellion of 1850 as well as a later student disturbance after he became President; "the New College for the small boys" [Maguire Hall]; conversion of Protestant students; the death of Father George Fenwick on November 27, 1857; death of Father Virgil Horace Barber on, March 27, 1847; the death of Father Stephen Gabaria in 1847; the opening of St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C.; the impact of the Civil War ("The War came and Washington was full of excitment and soldiers. Hospitals in every part of the City increased our work very much . . . "The Civil War nearly ruined the College. From three hundred and fifty boys the niumber fell to 50 or sixty . . . The buildings had suffered because the soldiers had occupied at various periods of the war nearly the whole College. There was a marked difference in the character of the students after the War. They were more studious, more obedient and they all felt the neccessity of hard work . . ."); a new roof on the North Builidng [Old North]; "a heavy wall of solid masonry built enclosing the College" (stone wall along 37th street); President Ulysses S. Grant attending the 1869 commencement, along with former President Andrew Johson who's son was enrolled at Georgetown, and the need to keep them apart; the impact of the opening of Woodstock College on the availability of teachers and prefects for Georgetown College; and the opening of the Law Department.