As part of the SMR Initiative, Lauinger Library has been working to make its resources documenting slavery and its legacies more accessible for scholars, genealogists, and other researchers. Booth staff members have been engaged in reparative description of its collections, compiling research guides, and providing in-person and virtual demonstrations of how to use its resources.
Maryland Province Archives Project
In 1977, Georgetown University Library became the custodian of the historical records created and owned by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. Committed to working with Georgetown University on the the Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative, the Maryland Province (now Jesuits East USA) pledged in 2018 to support the digitization of its records of Jesuit enslavement. Their financial support has enabled the Library to hire two full-time positions: Processor for Jesuit Collections and a Digital Productions Assistant.
The first step was the integration of all the organizational records of the Province into a single collection: the Archives of the Maryland Province of Society of Jesus. Booth staff developed an arrangement to enable researchers establish the context of the records, wrote a finding aid to support the discovery of documentation of slavery and race, and revised problematic language. In addition, librarians digitized all documents dated before 1900. The finding aid was completed in October 2022; the digitized collection was posted on Digital Georgetown in October 2023.
Jesuits East USA has provided financial support for two successive three-year periods, beginning in June 2022 and then again in June 2025, to improve access to the manuscript collections of individual priests and other related collections. During the first of these terms, librarians processed and digitized both the papers of priests that document Jesuit enslavement and emancipation and collections such as the American Catholic Sermon Collection In the second of these terms, librarians are prioritizing the papers of twentieth-century priests, particularly those involved in social justice.
The collections on Digital Georgetown include:
- Archives of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus
- American Catholic Sermon Collection
- Edward I. Devitt, SJ Papers
- George Fenwick, SJ Papers
- Paul and Anthony Kohlmann, SJ Papers
- John McElroy, SJ Papers
- Joseph P. Mobberly, SJ Papers
- Thomas F. Mulledy, SJ Papers
- St. Alphonsus Church - St. Peter Claver's Sunday School
Research Guides
Librarians have compiled a large number of research guides to orient members of the Georgetown community to the resources available on a broad range of subjects, provide guidance on research methods and digital tools, and better understand the collections at the Georgetown University Library. The following guides can support those interested in researching the history of slavery and racism:
- Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation at Lauinger Library
- Maryland Province Archives
- Native American Resources in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections
- Indigenous Voices, Lives, & Issues Toolkit
- African American Studies
- Anti-Racism Toolkit
- Latin American Studies
Virtual Presentation
On February 22, 2026, Mary Beth Corrigan delivered a presentation "Identifying Enslaved and Freed Black Individuals in the Historical Resources at Georgetown." She suggested ways of using the Georgetown Slavery Archive and the Archives of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus to begin research into their family in the Maryland communities served by the Jesuits.
The video presentation is available on YouTube: "VW Identifying Enslaved and Freed Black Individuals in the Resources at Georgetown 2026 02-22" (1:07:58).
Participants also received: a slide show presentation (.pdf) with hyperlinks to the resources described in the video and a table of churches served by the Jesuits with information about their successor institutions for those who need to follow up with individual parishes.