William DuBourg Papers

Collection

Identifier: GTA-820101

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Scope and Contents

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The William DuBourg Papers contain correspondence, invoices, and other documents dating between 1796, the year DuBourg assumed the presidency of Georgetown College, and 1833, the year of his death.

The bulk of the papers dates from 1796 to 1798, the period of his Georgetown College presidency, and reflect the role of the president at that time as a procurer of goods needed by the institution. Letters and accompanying invoices itemize books ordered by DuBourg for the College library, as well as other supplies such as cloth (the purchase of which may have been necessitated by DuBourg's introduction of uniforms for students). Most of the materials present are from Baltimore merchants James Rice and David Williamson. Also included from the time of DuBourg's presidency is a financial statement for the College dated October 1797. A number of entries in the document reflect the presence of enslaved persons on campus.

Several items postdate DuBourg's departure from Georgetown. Of note among these later documents is a letter dated April 10, 1823, written by DuBourg from Wheeling, Virginia, to Enoch Fenwick, President of Georgetown College, in which DuBourg documents the route to be taken by Belgian Jesuit novices travelling from Maryland to establish a mission in Missouri.

Dates

Creation: 1796 - 1833
Creation: Majority of material found within 1796 - 1798

Creator

DuBourg, Louis William Valentine, 1766-1833 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

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 Unpublished documents are governed by the following use restrictions: unpublished material dating from 1971 and later may only be consulted with the permission of the office which created it; unpublished material dating from 1970 or before may be used with the permission of the Archivist or the creating office, unless otherwise restricted.

Biographical Note

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Louis William Valentine (Louis-Guillaume-Valentin) DuBourg (1766-1833) was born in Cap François, Saint-Dominigue, to Marguerite Armand de Vogluzan and Pierre DuBourg. After his mother’s death, he was sent to Bordeaux to live with his maternal grandparents and where he received his early education. After studies at the Collège de Guyenne, he entered the Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris (1786). In 1788, he became superior of the newly established minor seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux, continued his studies at the Sorbonne, and was ordained in 1790. During the French Revolution, amid the persecution of clergy, DuBourg fled Issy in 1792 and escaped to Ourense, Spain. After two years in exile, he traveled to Baltimore in 1794, joining other Sulpicians who had been welcomed to the US by Bishop John Carroll.

In October 1796, DuBourg was appointed the third president of Georgetown College. During his tenure, he expanded the faculty by adding sixteen new teachers; broadened the curriculum to include history, moral and natural philosophy, music, and Spanish; adopted a seal modeled on the Great Seal of the US; and introduced student uniforms. He produced the College’s first printed prospectus and is credited with establishing its first library with more than 100 volumes brought from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. During his presidency, however, debts increased due to faculty expenditures, stagnant enrollment, inadequate donations, and general economic stagnation. In October 1797, the board of directors transferred financial authority of the College to a new vice president, Francis Neale, who instituted strict austerity measures. Under mounting pressure from the trustees of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen–a body created by the suppressed Jesuits in 1792 to protect their property–DuBourg resigned in October 1798.

After leaving Washington, DuBourg traveled to Havana where he joined other Sulpicians in an (unsuccessful) effort to establish a college. Returning to Baltimore in August 1799, however, he founded St. Mary’s College and served as its first president. From there, with his fellow Sulpicians, he supported Elizabeth Seton in the early development of the Sisters of Charity. In 1812, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas and was consecrated Bishop of that diocese in Rome in 1815. Returning to the US in 1817, he went to Missouri where he founded the St. Louis Latin Academy, later St. Louis University. DuBourg resigned the See of New Orleans in 1826 and returned to France, where he became Bishop of Montauban. In February 1833, he was appointed Archbishop of Besançon, where he died later that year.