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Actor Tom Holland paid a visit to The Heights back in November for a special reason.
This 1918 service banner was hung by New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston to honor its medical workers serving in the US Army Nurse Corps during World War I. The corps played a critical role in treating Allied forces in hospital settings that were close to battlefields, challenging notions of where women belonged during wartime.
Photography by Caitlin Cunningham
Campus Curiosities
A look at some of the wildly random historical treasures of the University Archives and Special Collections.
Winter 2025
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When you think about libraries, books probably come to mind. But Boston College’s John J. Burns Library is also home to the University Archives and Special Collections, a staggering—and delightfully random—array of historical artifacts spanning nine centuries. Whether you’re interested in thirteenth-century church sheet music, a 374-year-old map of the moon, or eighty years of Batman cartoons, you’ll find it in the BC archives. Some items in the archives were donated by prominent Eagles, while others were purchased from vendors. Many of the objects can be traced back to alumni, but others have no obvious BC connection. All the collections are overseen by six archivists and a conservator who assesses and repairs items as needed. The archives are used by students, faculty, and the public alike. Last spring alone, professors held thirty-nine different class sessions at the archives. For instance, an English class visited to observe original Gulliver’s Travels materials. Meanwhile, staff helped more than 650 people from around the world conduct remote research in a single recent year.
Since arriving at BC in 2023, Marta Crilly, head librarian of User Engagement and Burns Public Services, has made it a priority to publicize the collections and expand their reach. On the Burns Library Instagram account, she shares photos of weird and wonderful items, and invites the BC community and the public to visit and enjoy the archives. “They don’t have to be working on a special project, they don’t have to be doing research for a paper,” Crilly said. “We want them to just walk in.”
We asked Crilly to select some of her favorite objects in the collections. Ahead, you’ll find the fascinating assortment she unearthed.
Above is a 1918 photo of NEDH School of Nursing alumni serving in the Corps at Base Hospital No. 51 in Toul, France.
These vintage cold-weather items—a parka, leather mittens, goggles, and an ice pick—were used by seismologist Daniel Linehan, SJ, ’30, MS’31, during expeditions to Antarctica between 1954 and 1958. Linehan, director of BC’s Weston Observatory and chair of the department of geophysics, served as consulting geophysicist to the US Navy Department’s Operation Deep Freeze missions to the White Continent. Seen in the accompanying photo using equipment in front of a military vehicle, Linehan conducted the first seismic ice measurements of the Antarctic and celebrated the first Mass at the South Pole.
A portable telephone from the 1950s that Daniel Linehan, SJ, used on his Antarctic expeditions.
A glass syringe and carrying case presented by Eli Lilly and Company to New England Deaconess Hospital student nurse Evelyn Peterson Simonds in 1922 to commemorate the administration of the first insulin dose in New England at NEDH.
Passports that belonged to legendary British novelist and journalist Graham Greene. Greene traveled extensively (he was particularly interested in Latin American politics), and in the 1960s he gave up his British residence in favor of homes in Paris and on the island of Capri, Italy.
A Geneva fluting iron used by the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the Seven Dolors of Philadelphia to hand-press fluted ruffles into their habits.
A Mass kit chest that US Army Chaplain W.J. Leonard used to carry items for conducting service in the Philippines and New Guinea, where he was stationed during World War II.
An 1886 ballot box used by Boston’s Charitable Irish Society for secret voting. Members used white or unpainted balls to vote in favor of a proposal, and black balls to vote in opposition. Hence the modern expression, “to blackball.”
On November 14, 1896, during the second football game ever played between Boston College and the College of the Holy Cross, a fight broke out among players that ended the game early and sparked a historic school rivalry that continues on the playing field today. The memorabilia pictured here represents that (now-friendly) competition between Jesuit universities: There’s a football that bears the score from a 1916 game at Fenway Park, as well as a program and wooden scoreboard from a 1939 game at the stadium. Both were BC victories. The items sit atop a BC men’s cheerleading sweater from the 1950s. ◽
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