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Woodstock College Archives

 Collection
Identifier: WTL-19761101

Dates

  • 1800-1974

Historical Note

Woodstock College was founded in 1869 in the township of Woodstock, MD. The college served the Maryland Province of Jesuits, and later the Maryland-New York Province, as the scholasticate for Jesuits under formation. During its tenure (1869-1974), it was the intellectual center of American Jesuit scholarship, with theologians such as John Courtney Murray, Gustave Weigel, Avery Dulles, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Walter Burkhardt counted among its ranks. It was also a hub of Jesuit information, with a printing press and publications, such as the Woodstock Letters, that served to communicate Jesuit activity amongst the society.

Due to generational changes within the society stemming from Vatican II, and a move towards city involvement, Woodstock relocated to New York City from 1970 to 1974. The college closed its doors at the end of this period, as the American Assistancy chose to consolidate its scholasticates, closing a number of other such institutions. With the closure of that incarnation, the Woodstock Library and archives were moved to Georgetown University, Washington, DC, to serve as the research resource for the newly established Woodstock Theological Center, a think tank that continued the legacy of Woodstock until its closure in 2013.

Extent

300 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The titles for each resource are taken from a card catalog developed while Woodstock College was located in Maryland (a scheme used in other East Coast Jesuit archives). Each resource begins with a classification of the form: Roman numeral, cap letter, hyphen, Arabic decimal number, small letter, and then includes within the title whatever titular information was offered on each resource paper card. (e.g., IIB-3.4c: Provincial conference - 1894). For each resource, the box and file number(s) of a later storing of the collection are entered under AT's Instances type and label. Thus one alphanumeric entry might have two or more folders, as in IA-3.1a is now boxed in folders 4 through 7. The collection remains topically organized according to its original alphanumerical/title scheme; its resources are retrievable by the box - folder listings. Also there are some shelf list entries with no corresponding resource among the box - folders and some folders with proper alphanumeric titles that are lacking shelf-list cards. In either case the discrepancy will be cited in the resource title within brackets.

Title
Woodstock College Archives
Status
Under Revision
Author
Adrian Vaagenes. Woodstock Theological Library
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Woodstock Theological Center Library Archives Repository

Contact:
Lauinger Library
Georgetown University
Washington 20057 U.S.A. US