Patrick F. Healy, S.J.: Georgetown University President, 1873-1882

The following resources provide information about the life and career of Father Healy. The focus of most of them is on his impact at Georgetown University. Researchers should be aware that some of resources described may make for problematic reading due to changes over time in vocabulary, etc. Most of the items listed are available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. Special Collections items do not circulate; request them for use in the Booth Family Center via the Aeon request system. Some of the items are available in Lauinger Library’s general collection or in the Woodstock Theological Library and the call numbers for these are included.

University Archives staff maintain reference files on a variety of subjects related to Georgetown University history, including on Father Patrick Healy and Healy Hall. These files contain photocopies of newspaper and magazine articles, brochures, and other documents found in the University Archives collection. They are intended to provide a starting point for research rather than to offer exhaustive coverage of any subject but they can often provide the answers to basic informational questions.

Available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request them via the Aeon request system.

• O'Toole, James M. Passing for white : race, religion, and the Healy family, 1820-1920.  Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2002

  Also available in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections, in Biographies and Autobiographies (Georgetown-Related), GTA.000556; request it via the Aeon request system

• Foley, Albert Sidney. Dream of an outcaste: Patrick F. Healy, S.J.: the story of the slave-born Georgian who became the second founder of America’s first great Catholic University. Tuscaloosa, Ala. ; Portals Press, 1976

  This item is housed in the Woodstock Theological Library

• Curran, Robert Emmett. A history of Georgetown University.  Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press, 2010 

  A three volume set, this is the most comprehensive University history. Volume 1 covers 1789-1889, volume 2 covers 1889-1964, and volume 3 covers 1964-1989. Father Healy’s presidency is discussed in volume 1, chapter 11

  Also available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request it via the Aeon request system

• Shea, John Gilmary. Memorial of the first centenary of Georgetown College, D.C., comprising a history of Georgetown University.  Washington, D.C., New York, Pub. for the College by P.F. Collier, 1891

  This book was published to celebrate Georgetown’s 100th anniversary. It lacks a back-of-the-book index or footnotes. Its contents are arranged chronologically, with each of its chapters covering the term of one Georgetown president. Chapter XXVIII, pages 248-284, covers Father Healy’s presidency. A line drawing of him is included

  Also available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request it via the Aeon request system.​​​​​​

The Georgetown College Journal was the first printed newspaper produced by Georgetown students. It first appears in 1872. A monthly publication, it is a combination of student newspaper, literary publication, and alumni bulletin. The printing of letters and reminiscences from “Old Boys” extends its coverage of campus life and events back to the 1860s and even earlier.

Physical volumes are available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request them via the Aeon request system.

Digitized issues from 1872 to 1920 can be browsed and searched via DigitalGeorgetown. The Date Created facet in blue on the right side of the screen (scroll down to see it) can be used to limit to a particular time period. To search for the reference(s) to Father Healy within any issue which appears on a list of search results: click on the title in blue, then click on the blue ViewOpen link at the top of the screen, then hold down the control and f keys on the keyboard at the same time, and enter a search term in the box which appears in the top right corner. 

Relevant Georgetown College Journal articles include: 

• “Our Ex-President,” Georgetown College Journal, vol. 10, no. 6  (March 1882), pages 71-72 

• Dailey, Vincent C’1912. “The Reverend Patrick F. Healy, S.J.,” Georgetown College Journal, vol. 38, no. 4 (January 1910), pages 154-156

•  Letter from Stephen R. Mallory, C’1868, G’1871. Georgetown College Journal, vol. 35, no.3 (December 1906), pages 114-118 with recollections of Father Healy on page 117

•  William Henry Dennis C’1874. “Rev Patrick F. Healy, S.J.: An Attempt at an Appreciation,” Georgetown College Journal vol. 41, no. 4 (January 1913), pages 225-227

• DuBose, Carolyn. Patrick F. Healy, S.J. : a Black man's dream comes true. Washington, D.C. : Office of Development and Public Relations, Georgetown University, 1973 or 1974

  This is a 19 page pamphlet. Also available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request it via the Aeon request system.

• “Father Healy: a Negro, a Building, a Dream.” Georgetown Today, September 1971, pages 4-9

  Available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request it via the Aeon request system.

Woodstock College, a Jesuit Seminary in Maryland, and the Maryland Province of the Society circulated Woodstock Letters among Jesuits and their institutions between 1872 and 1969. This publication includes articles on events, institutions and people, as well as historical pieces. There is an index and this includes multiple references to Father Healy and his brothers, including to an obituary for Father Healy in vol. 39, page 387.

Woodstock Letters has been made available online by the Jesuit Archives & Research Center. Physical volumes are available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections; request them via the Aeon request system - start with the index.

“Born Enslaved, Patrick Francis Healy ‘Passed’ His Way to Lead Georgetown University” by Bryan Greene. Published on smithsonianmag.com, September 8, 2020.