Healy Hall

The archival materials listed here are intended as a starting point for research.  They include archival records, photographs and architectural drawings which are available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections on the 5th floor of Lauinger Library; use the Aeon request system to request materials and to schedule a research appointment to examine them. 

Researchers are also encouraged to explore the descriptions of other records in the University Archives through the Georgetown Archival Resources site. Use the search box or the search icon in the gray row at the top of the screen to begin exploring. Additional search words can be added to the results screen using the Filter Results box to the right. 

As with any archival research project, please note that not all material in the University Archives relevant to research on Healy Hall is described on Georgetown Archival Resources site; Archives staff are happy to discuss research projects and to direct researchers to additional resources.

• Old Archives: Buildings, GTA.000321

  Box 2 contains records relating to Healy Hall dating from 1874 to 1970. Click on the Healy Hall (Box 2) link in blue in the Collection organization pane on the left of the screen to see more detailed descriptions of the content.

• Patrick F. Healy, SJ, papers,  GTM-GAMMS57

  Included in these papers is a folder of incoming correspondence written by persons with last names beginning with the letters M to W, among them Father John B. Mullaly who was Georgetown’s Vice President. Father Mullaly’s letters, written from Georgetown to Father Healy when he was traveling extensively to raise money for Healy Hall in late 1878 and 1879, discuss issues with construction, especially relating to funding it.

• Jesuit Community House Diaries

  Kept by the minister of Georgetown’s Jesuit Community, these diaries contain brief, daily entries about happenings on campus and can be used to establish key dates in the building’s construction such as the digging of the foundations. Originally kept in Latin, entries have switched to English by the time work begins on Healy Hall. Use the footnotes in Durkin’s Georgetown University: the middle years, 1840-1900 and Curran’s  A history of Georgetown University (see the Writings About Healy Hall page of this guide for more information) to identify the dates of relevant entries. 

• Old Entry Book, GTA.000581. 1789-1876

  A list of "Remarkable Occurrences" on page 24 includes: James Robbins & Shea, contractors, commenced 8 o'clock this morning, Saturday, the excavations for New Building, October 13, 1877 . . . First stone of N Un Building laid today at 3:12 p.m. . . Tower Clock Bells, 3, of N.B. arrived at College about 10 o'clock, a.m., April 16, 1888.

• Society of Alumni: Proceedings, GTA-000217. 1881-1909. 0.5 linear feet

  1881 proceedings include line drawings of the exterior of Healy Hall by Paul Pelz; photographs of campus as well as interior of Memorial [later Gaston] Hall and discussion of aid for the "New Building." 

  1889 proceedings include a list of Centennial subscriptions to the College Building Fund.

• Healy Hall U.S. Postal Card Collection, GTA.000418-DS, 1988-1989. 1.5 linear feet

  This collection includes material relating to the  postal card depicting Healy Hall which was issued for Georgetown's Bicentennial, January 23, 1989.

The University Archives has two main photographic collections which include photographs of Healy Hall, see below. Please note that researchers will be given gloves to wear when they are handling photographic materials. A number of images from these collections can be viewed online via the University Archives section of DigitalGeorgetown. A number of additional images can be viewed via DigitalGeorgteown in the John Brosnan S.J. Photographic Collection which is part of the Woodstock Theological Library.  

• University Archives Photographic Collection (30 lf). Most of these images date from before 1970; the earliest dates to ca. 1849. Most are black and white photographic prints. No inventory is available but this collection contains multiple folders of images of both the interior and exterior of Healy Hall. Researchers should request images by building name  and Archives staff will pull folders for them to work with. 

• University Photographer’s files (62 lf). Images date from 1956-2004. Most are in the form of black and white negatives, some with accompanying contact sheets. Some photographic prints are also present. Included are shots of  campus buildings, events, and people (faculty, staff, students, and visitors). A partial inventory is available for images taken between 1988 and 2004. These can be requested using the box and folder numbers which can be found by clicking the folder description links in the Collection organization pane to the right of the inventory screen (you may have to scroll down to see the pane.) The folder descriptions display with a box and folder number in green font to the left side of the screen. For pre-1988 images, researchers should submit requests by building name and Archives staff will pull folders for them. 

These mainly date from the late 1870s and early 1880s and include elevation drawings, as well as sketches showing details such as door and window design. Requests for these should be placed two to three days ahead of a research visit if possible, so that Archives staff have sufficient time to pull the drawings which are, in some cases, very large and unwieldy.  

• Healy Hall Cannon Plaques, GTA.000561. ca. 1900

  Brass plaques formerly attached to the cannons in front of Healy Hall. Their Inscription reads: Brought to Maryland by Lord Baltimore's colony, ca. 1634. Raised from St. Mary's River, 1824. Removed from St. Inigoes to Georgetown College, 1885. Mounted by Col. Georgeown C. Reid, U.S.M.C., 1900.

• Varia Collection: Numbered Series

  Box 9, folder 166: Georgetown Cannons - Healy Hall 142-6., 1932-1965

Around the turn of the 20th century, Brother Schroen decorated portions of the interior of Healy Hall (such as the main entrance and stairwell, Gaston Hall and what is now the Bioethics Library) with murals and plaster reliefs. In addition to requesting the University Archives reference file on Brother Schroen, look in the resources below for information about his life and work.

• Virginia M. Keeler Papers 1, GTM-GAMMS318 and Virginia M. Keeler Papers 2, GTM-GAMMS324

  These two groups of papers contain materials compiled/created by Virginia M. Keeler in writing her thesis on the life and art of Brother Francis C. Schroen, S.J. Explore the links in blue in the Collection organization pane on the left of the screen to see more detailed descriptions of the contents.

  The thesis, titled: The Search for Freedom and Freedom Found: The Life and Art of Brother Francis C. Schroen, S.J., was submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, 1989. Copies of it are included in the Keeler Papers; additionally a copy can be  found in the Georgetown University Library’s general collection. 

• Varia Collection: Numbered Series

  Box 18, folder 328 contains biographical information on Brother Francis Schroen S.J., 1902-1959.

• Highly Decorated: The Work of Brother Francis C. Schroen, S.J. [an online exhibit curated by Booth Family Center for Special Collections staff]