American Studies

The University’s special collections, including the University’s Archives, are housed in the Honorable John J. Burns Library. Burns Library staff members work with students and faculty to support learning and teaching at Boston College, offering access to unique primary sources through instruction sessions, exhibits, and programming. The Burns Library also serves the research needs of external scholars, hosting researchers from around the globe interested in using the collections. The Burns Library has achieved international recognition in several specific areas of research, most notably: Irish studies; British Catholic authors; Jesuitica; Fine printing; Catholic liturgy and life in America, 1925-1975; Boston history; the Caribbean, especially Jamaica; Nursing; and Congressional archives. To learn more about specific holdings in Burns, please see www.bc.edu/burns. The Burns Library’s digital collections are among the listings at www.bc.edu/digitalcollections. 

These materials are available for use in the Burns Library Reading Room.

Visit the Boston College University Libraries Hours Page to view the Burns Library's hours.

The Burns Library's entrance is located on the North side of the Bapst building, which faces Boston College's main gate on Commonwealth Avenue. Look at this Boston College Chestnut Hill campus map for more detailed information.

Finding Aids are descriptive tools more detailed than catalog records and specifically created for archival materials. A growing number of finding aids are online, but some are only available at the Burns Library. Working with finding aids online, consider:

Finding Catalog Records for All Collections with Finding Aids Online:

• In the Catalog, use the Local Collection Names "FINDING AID"

Full Text Searching across Finding Aids

• Go to the Digital Collections page
• Select Search all Boston College Digital Collections
• Select Collection “John J. Burns Library Finding Aids”
• Enter natural language search terms for full-text searching

Search within Finding Aids

• Finding aids available online are PDFs or HTML pages
• Use CTRL+F to search within a single finding aid

In Advanced Search consider one of these strategies in addition to your search terms:

Limit Your Search

• by Search Scope "Burns Library"
• by Material Type "Archives & Manuscripts"

Use Local Collection Names (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Local collection")

• "MSS ARCHIVE" (for papers or organizational records)
• "BC ARCHIVE" (for Boston College University Archives)
• "FINDING AID" (for collections with finding aids online)

Use Subject Keywords for Form/Genre (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Subject")

• "Sources"
• "Letters"
• "Correspondence"
• "Manuscripts"
• "Photographs"

Try Keywords in Title (Change "Anywhere in record" to "Title")

• "Papers"
• "Collection"
• "Records"