Opening up the Reading Room

The Reading Room of the Archives and Special Collections Center has undergone a minor facelift! With a brand-new conference table in the Mr. and Mrs. George L. Steciuk Conference Room, and shifting and re-appropriating of furniture in the William T. and Marie J. Henderson Special Collections Reading Room, we have opened up the space to give researchers (and staff) a little more room.

Special Collections Reading Room
Special Collections Reading Room

Use of the Reading Room is a very important part of conducting research in any archives or special collections. Because our materials are often old, fragile, and sensitive to light damage or other causes of deterioration, and because all of our materials are meant to be kept safe for use by researchers 50 or even 100 years from now (or more!), the use of archival and special collections materials must be carefully monitored and controlled. So a Reading Room provides a space for researchers to access materials in a controlled environment that also allows them to make use of library resources often necessary as supplementary research items. We provide wireless and desktop access to all library resources as well as many vital reference books, volumes, yearbooks, and microfilm. With our new desk set-up, we can accommodate more researchers in the Reading Room while providing better security for our materials. Our new conference table will more comfortably accommodate classes that visit the Archives or groups who make use of the conference room. The new arrangement also frees more of our beautiful glass walls and makes the space feel more open.

Archives Conference Room
Archives Conference Room

There is still some re-decorating to do, to showcase some of our framed pictures and items, but the Reading Room is ready for our fall visitors and researchers. Come by the Archives to see some of our early yearbooks, to conduct original research on the Archdiocese of Newark or Seton Hall University, or check out the rotating displays in our exhibit cabinets. You’re always welcome!

Campus Under Construction

Anyone who has been on campus in the past few weeks (not to mention the past year) has noticed some construction going on at the Recreation Center. Construction on campus can lead to traffic and parking headaches, noise, and re-direction or confusion, but is also important progress on improving life and learning for our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

As these photographs show, Seton Hall today is quite a bit different from the Seton Hall of yesterday, and as we continue to grow and develop, who knows how the campus will look in another 50 or 100 years? Construction, like change, is an essential part of campus life – so see some of the changes our predecessors oversaw!

Seton Hall College panoramic postcard, 1916
Seton Hall College panoramic postcard, 1916

This postcard shows the campus as it appeared in 1916. The Administration Building seen here is now President’s Hall and the Library is present-day Mooney Hall. The Chapel and Bayley Hall are in their present locations, but where we would today see McQuaid and Jubilee Halls are grass and trees.

Aerial view of SHU South Orange campus with Corrigan Hall under construction, circa 1943-1944.
Aerial view of SHU South Orange campus with Corrigan Hall under construction, circa 1943-1944.

This aerial view of campus in the 1940s shows construction on Corrigan Hall, and an early incarnation of the present-day Richie Regan Athletic and Recreation Center behind Mooney Hall. Boland Hall has not yet been built.

Addition to Boland Hall- progress of construction, 1965.
Addition to Boland Hall- progress of construction, 1965.

This picture from 1965 shows construction progress on Boland Hall, with Corrgian Hall in the background.

Construction for Walsh Library. View towards recreation center and parking deck.
Construction for Walsh Library. View towards recreation center and parking deck.
Construction for Walsh Library. View towards Duffy Hall and Mooney Hall.
Construction for Walsh Library. View towards Duffy Hall and Mooney Hall.

Walsh Library was constructed in the mid-1990s. These photos show very early stages of the construction, and the effect this had on the south-east corner of campus.

For more pictures of Seton Hall as it looked in days past, check out the digital collection of Seton Hall University photographs!