McSherry, William, 1827 - 1839

File — Box: 216, Folder: 15

Scope and Contents

William McSherry (1799-1839) was the son of Irish immigrants and born in Charlestown, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was educated at Georgetown College (1813-1815), entered the Society of Jesus (1815), and was one of the scholastics chosen for training in Rome (1820-1828). While there he was ordained in 1825 or 1826 and studied at the Jesuit college in Turin under Jan Roothaan (1826-1828); in Rome he also identified Ratio Itineris by Andrew White in the Jesuit archives. Upon returning to the US he was a professor of humanities at Georgetown (1828) and named minister for the school, procurator, and consultor while serving as a professor of theology (1829). Between 1830 and 1831 he was socius to Special Visitor Peter Kenney. In 1832 McSherry was elected first procurator of the Jesuit mission in the US and eventually became the first Provincial of the newly formed Maryland Province (1833-1837), after which he was President of Georgetown College (1838-1839). McSherry corresponded with Superior General Roothaan and others regarding the estates and the eventual sale of the 272 enslaved people from Maryland Province Jesuit plantations.

This folder includes: a) ALS Anthony Kohlmann to McSherry from Rome, mentioning the deaths of Mr. Ironside and Mr. Baxter, the recalling of the Philadelphia bishop, and the American missions (10-1-1827)
b) ALS Bishop Henry Conwell of Philadelphia to McSherry (9-8-1832)
c) ALS Thomas Mulledy to McSherry from New York regarding his stay there and upcoming journey to Rome (7-7-1839)
d) ALS James McWilliams to McSherry re: the removal of Fr. William Grace's faculties (7-8-1839)
e) ALS Thomas Mulledy to McSherry re: arrival in Le Havre (7-28-1839)
f) ALS Thomas Mulledy to McSherry re: his arrival in Genoa and that he is on his way to Rome (8-16-1839)
g) ALS Thomas Mulledy to McSherry mentioning he has just seen Roothaan (10-13-1839)
h) ALS Francis Patrick Kenrick to McSherry; introduction for Fr. O'Connor (12-9-1839)
i) Engraving, "l'Annonciation" given to McSherry by Roothaan (9-5-1828)

Dates

1827 - 1839

Conditions Governing Access

The Maryland Province Archives is on deposit at Georgetown University and is the property of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. As stewards of the Archives, the Georgetown University Library’s Booth Family Center for Special Collections is responsible for managing access to the material based on policies set forth by the USA East Province. Researchers may view these materials in the Reading Room of the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. General policies for using Special Collections can be found here.

Access to the Archives is governed by the USA East Province and is subject to all Library and Special Collections policies and procedures in addition to the specific guidelines below. These guidelines are a summary of access policies; the Archives may include materials that fall outside the scope of these general guidelines. For information on access to specific materials, please contact the Special Collections staff.

Guidelines:

1. All Archives materials dated or bearing solely on events occurring before January 1, 1940, shall be open for review unless otherwise restricted, subject to Library policies and procedures.

2. All unpublished Archives materials dated or bearing solely on events occurring on or after January 1, 1940, shall be open for review upon request subject to a decision by the Provincial or someone designated by the Provincial.

3. Researchers may quote from the materials.

4. Researchers may take their own photographs of the material for scholarly and research purposes. Allowing photographs is not an authorization to publish or to deposit the material in another library or archive.

5. Written permission from the USA East Province is required for the publication of substantive portions of any material or publication-quality reproductions of any material.

6. Material not yet processed is not available to researchers; permission will not be granted to access any unprocessed material.

7. Audiovisual, microfilm and other material in the Archives, the original of which is held in another archive, may be consulted and transcribed only. Written permission from the archive holding the original material is required for any duplication, reproduction, or publication of that material.

8. Use the Permission Request Form to request permission (i) to access any restricted processed material or (ii) to publish reproductions or quote substantive portions of the material. Send the completed form by email to the Booth Family Center for Special Collections (speccoll@georgetown.edu).

Extent

From the Collection: 315 boxes (219 regular boxes, 25 oversized boxes, 58 restricted regular boxes, 13 restricted oversized boxes, plus 14 card catalog drawers )