The Woodstock Theological Center Library is one of the oldest and most notable Catholic theological libraries in the United States. Founded in 1869 at Woodstock College (outside Baltimore, Maryland), it sojourned from 1969 to 1974 in New York City. With the 1974 closing of Woodstock College's Columbia University incarnation, the library moved to Georgetown University, Washington, DC, to become the research tool for Woodstock Theological Center. Owned by the Maryland and New York provinces of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the library is currently housed as a separate collection in Georgetown's Joseph Mark Lauinger Library for use by Woodstock Theological Center fellows, Georgetown university students and faculty and by scholars from around the world. In 2001 WTCL became a member of the Washington Theological Consortium and Washington Research Library Consortium.

The collection contains approximately 190,000 circulating volumes, 700 periodical titles, as well as an up-to-day reference collection. It is especially strong in the areas of biblical studies, spirituality, church history, the Jesuits, liturgy, and the social aspects of Christianity. Its rare book holdings of over 17,500 titles is an outstanding collection of 15th through 19th century counter-reformational and American theological works. In 2002, the library began to make available on its web site a number of primary Jesuit texts, including selected letters and instructions of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the complete works of John Courtney Murray, S.J. We also house two collections of primary works by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Here you can link to the catalog for the Teilhard Schmitz-Moormann Collection, including copies of most of Teilhard's published and unpublished writings and to an index to our George Barbour/Teilhard collection, including a 1934 film of Barbour/Teilhard in China.

Not all Woodstock resources are currently electronically visible on Georgetown University's on-line catalog, GEORGE, or on WorldCat. Most circulating works have been retrospectivelly converted and thereby made visible. The titles of most of our periodical holdings are likewise at least rawly available. However, neither specific periodical issue listings nor any of our Special Collections titles have made it into George or WorldCat. (Click here for a title list of our current and past periodicals.) We are currently seeking funding to provide such a service. Our most theologically and historically significant titles, as well as specific periodical issue holdings, only can be retrieved reliably by visiting our conventional card catalog near the Woodstock entrance. Since July 2003, the we began cataloging new acquisitions in Library of Congress. All acquisitions up to that date are cataloged and arranged in Dewey. A provided roadmap can aid in locating our various collections.

The library is open:

During the Fall and Spring semesters:
Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In all other seasons:
Monday through Friday, 9. a.m to 5 p.m.

Or by appointment. Contact Leon Hooper, S.J.

Woodstock Staff:

 

J. Leon Hooper, S.J. --- Director, Collection Development--- jlh3@georgetown.edu

Paul Osmanski -- Original Cataloger --- osmanskp@georgetown.edu

Sharon Russel -- Periodicals --- russels@georgetown.edu

Susan Karp -- Circulation --- karps@georgetown.edu

 

 

 

U.S. Mail: 

Woodstock Theological Center Library
Georgetown University
Box 571170
Washington, DC 20057-1170

Telephone:

 

(202) 687-7513

 

Fax: 

 

(202) 687-7473