The Thomas and Margaret Melady papers in Archives and Special Collections: a Window to Africa of the ’60s and ’70s.

Thomas and Margaret Melady papers, Mss 0072
Thomas and Margaret Melady papers, Mss 0072

Ambassador Thomas P. and Dr. Margaret B. Melady have been involved in diplomatic and international affairs since the 1950s, particularly on the continent of Africa. Ambassador Melady has held multiple diplomatic posts for the United States, including Ambassador to Burundi, Ambassador to Uganda, and Ambassador to the Holy See, and is the new Interim Dean of the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations here at Seton Hall University. Dr. Melady is an alumnus of Seton Hall, a former President of the American University in Rome, and is now the President of Melady Associates, a firm specializing in public affairs and educational counseling. The couple have written multiple books on politics in Africa, including Ten African Heroes: The Sweep of Independence in Black Africa, published in 2011.

The correspondence and personal papers that formed the core of the research for that book are a part of a new archival collection held at the Archives and Special Collections Center, the Thomas and Margaret Melady papers, 1959-2010 (bulk 1960-1975). The collection is the gift of Ambassador and Dr. Melady, and documents their involvement with many of the individuals responsible for the vast political changes that took place over the whole continent of Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to the ten men featured in the book, who feature prominently in the collection, there are letters from dozens of other individuals and organizations, photographs, and newsclippings documenting that turbulent time.

Thomas Melady first went to Africa in the 1950s while working for the Foreign Service. He and Margaret Badum married in 1961, and the couple spent a great deal of their time in Africa throughout the 1960s and 1970s, deeply involved in diplomatic and political events all over the continent.  Thomas Melady also started the Africa Service Institute, an organization dedicated to the education and advancement of students and leaders in Africa. The materials in the Thomas and Margaret Melady papers cover 36 nations and areas from Angola to Zimbabwe, and cover a range of topics from the intensely personal to the course of nations. Correspondents include political leaders, such as Léopold Sédar Senghor, William V.S. Tubman, and Kenneth David Kaunda; Catholic officials such as Archbishop Jean Zoa of Yaoundé and Archbishop Luc-Auguste Sangare of Bamako; fellow diplomats from and to the United States or the United Nations; students, academics, priests, and many others. Topics include political events in Africa and the United States, the role of racism in politics of the day, requests for assistance from the Africa Service Institute, personal notes of thanks and updates, and a wide variety of conversational subjects.

This rich collection was described in detail by the Meladys before coming to the Archives, and that original description forms the majority of the finding aid. While no materials from the collection have yet been digitized, the entire original collection is available at the Archives and Special Collections Center, on the first floor of Walsh Library. Please see our Plan Your Visit page to find Hours and Directions, or Contact Us to make an appointment.

The book Ten African Heroes is also available in the Archives and Special Collections Center.

Using books in the library

All are welcome to use books or print journals within the library.  When you are finished with library materials, please do not re-shelve them … place them on the carts by the elevator on the 3rd and 4th floor or leave them on a table in plain sight.

Scanners are available by the reference desk.

Remember:  if you do wish to take materials out of the library, you first need to check them out at the circulation desk.

Seton Hall selected as an ISSR Library awardee

Seton Hall University’s Walsh Library is honored, after a competitive judging process, to be named an ISSR Library awardee by the International Society for Religion and Science based in Cambridge, England. Walsh Library joins a select group of only 150 institutions worldwide to receive an award from ISSR.

The ISSR Library grant consists of 224 volumes spanning all areas of the interface between science and spirituality.  This is a truly remarkable collection that spans subject areas ranging from the sciences and social sciences to history, philosophy and the environment.

The ISSR library is a circulating collection, located on the 2ndfloor of Walsh Library adjacent to the reference desk.  Please contact Dr. Lisa Rose-Wiles, science librarian, for further information.

New Science & Religion book collection

The library recently won a competitive grant  for the International Society for Science & Religion (ISSR) Library.  These new and classic books in the subject area of science and religion can be found on the 2nd floor of the library near the reference desk, next to “new books” and “core curriculum”.   Library catalog records show the location “Sci/Relig 2nd Floor”.  Come in and check the out!