Local History

In recent months the Library has received a number of gifts documenting the history of Washington, D.C., and environs:

The papers of George H. O'Connor (1874-1946) reflect the life and times of a Washington attorney and civic leader. Mr. O'Connor was also well known as a gifted amateur singer. A soloist with the Georgetown University Glee Club, he was later called the "entertainer of presidents" when he became a popular featured singer at official and private functions during the terms of nine U.S. presidents from McKinley to Truman. The papers contain programs, some hand-illustrated, from the 1890's to the 1940's, including White House dinners. Correspondence includes letters from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and other luminaries. There are also period photographs, first editions of sheet music and a set of Mr. O'Connor's phonograph recordings. All come to us as the gift of George H. O'Connor, Jr. (BSS, '40), of Washington, D.C.

Dr. F. Don Nidiffer of Charlottesville, VA, has donated a collection of 500 manuscripts dating from the 1830's to the 1870's which document business transactions in 19th century Washington. Among them is a large group of detailed inventories of interest to historians. Also included are land deeds, indentures and deeds of trust, many associated with well-known figures, such as the Van Ness family and Charles Francis Adams.

An interesting piece of Georgetown memorabilia comes to us from Gerald J. O'Brien (J.D. '32). The manuscript notebook of John Patrick O'Brien is titled Georgetown Athletics Base Ball Department. 1895-96. Manager's Diary. The notebook chronicles the early development of college baseball and illuminates special challenges facing a Georgetown team manager in the 1890's, when permission to play against non-Catholic teams in the north had to be obtained from the highest Jesuit superior in Rome. The young manager's negotiation skills served him well in his later career, when he became Surrogate Corporation Counsel and then Mayor of New York City. His baseball diary is an important addition to the Georgetown Archives.

The Library has also obtained the Shoemaker Family Papers, approximately 1200 pieces related to the Shoemaker, Eld, and Brown families, who were important in the early history of Chevy Chase and Friendship Heights, MD, and of Tenleytown, District of Columbia. The collection is the gift of Library Associate Frederick B. Scheetz (AB'67) and Nicholas B. Scheetz (AB'74), Lauinger's Manuscripts Librarian and a Library Associates Trustee.