Louis R. Bisceglia Papers
Content Description
This collection contains documents and items from Louis Bisceglia's San Jose State University office, a bulk of which covers the course of his 20 years at the university as a English and American history professor. Materials include both his professional, academic, and personal documents, which entails research and draft materials for books, articles, and poems he had written, classes he taught, and miscellaneous correspondence to and from him. Bisceglia's extensive research for two of his published books "Irish Identity in the Mother Lode: The Hibernian Benevolence Society, Columbia, Ca., 1857-71" and "Norman Angell and Liberal Internationalism in Britain, 1931-1935" can be found within this collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1955-1990
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has been assigned to the San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Biographical / Historical
Louis Bisceglia was an English and American History professor who taught at San Jose State University for 20 years until his death in 1990. Prior to his employment at SJSU, Bisceglia worked as a professor at Brown University and Rollins College. Outside of the classes he taught, he had a particular interest in Irish-American history, doing extensive research on the subject and publishing a book in 1986 regarding the subject, titled 'Irish Identity in the Mother Lode: the Hibernian Benevolence Society, Columbia, Ca., 1857-71'. Another major work of Bisceglia's is a book published in 1982 titled 'Norman Angell and Liberal Internationalism in Britain, 1931-1935', discussing the late British MP Norman Angell's campaigns for pacifism during WWII. In addition to these titles, Bisceglia also wrote and published various articles and poetry. Bisceglia was also a big participant in the history studies community, attending various annual history conferences. He also worked towards establishing the Dr. Mary Condon Memorial Book Fund, a still-existing fund at SJSU that supports the purchase of books and other materials relating to English and Irish history and affairs. Bisceglia and Mary Condon were close colleagues and shared an office together during their time as SJSU faculty members. Louis Bisceglia died February 22, 1990 at the age of 53. His death was ruled as suicide by drowning by the Coroner's office, as his body was found off the shore of Light House Point in Santa Cruz. He had been living in Los Gatos with Nelwyn Bisceglia, his wife of 34 years.
Extent
10 boxes (10 linear feet)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection contains documents and items of Louis Bisceglia's personal and professional research materials, research notes, and correspondence. Bisceglia's personal notes and documentation cover the years of 1955-1990 and focus on Bisceglia's study on British and Irish-American history. His research and study materials of the same subjects date back to as early as the 1817 up to 1989.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in seven series: Series I. Personal Correspondence and Photographs; Series II. Extracurricular Material; Series III. University Teaching Material and Student Work; Series IV. Research Materials and Notes; Series V. Irish Identity in the Mother Lode Research and Draft Work; Series VI. Louis Bisceglia's Other Writings; and Series VII. Mary Condon Memorial Book Fund and Scholarship. Series I is organized alphabetically, Series II is organized topically and alphabetically, Series III is organized alphabetically, Series IV is organized alphabetically, Series V is organized by subject and alphabetically, Series VI is organized alphabetically, and Series VII is organized chronologically. Folders are generally organized chronologically where clear dates are applicable.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Rita Wang (2016).
- Deaccessioned items consist of various maps, museum brochures, books, dictionaries and a couple miscellaneous brochures. The dictionaries are as follows: Follett Vest-Pocket Dictionary French-English English-French (1962), Langensheidt’s Portuguese-English English-Portuguese Universal Dictionary (1965), Vest Pocket Webster Dictionary Self-Pronouncing (1959) Spanish-English English-Spanish Dictionary (1951), Berlitz French for Travelers Phrase Book and Glossary of Common Words (1954), Greek Language Guide: Navy Version (1963), and Danish Language Guide (1963). The books are as follows: The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith, General Gordon by Richard Tames (1972), The Mystic Lamb by Van Eyck (translated by Monique Odent), The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559 by Eugene F. Rice (1970), The Lords of Renaissance Italy by John E. Law (1981), The Outbreak of the First World War – Who Was Responsible (1967) ,Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research (1986), Collective Security in the 1930’s by George Cohan (1970), and The Battle of Jutland by John Buchan. The museum guides are as follows: A Room-to-Room Guide to the National Gallery by Michael Levey 1st ed. (1964), A Guide to the Tate Gallery London 4th ed. (1964), Prussian Cultural Foundation: State Museums Berlin, Nymphenburg: English Edition (1962), Chartres: La Cathedrale et la Ville, La Cathedrale de Reims by G. Crouvezier, Basilica di S. Marco: Venezia translated by John Guthrie, Terme di Caracalla (1964), Buckingham Palace (1971), The Royal Line of Succession (1972),The Princes of Wales (1975), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniature: Masterpieces in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1952), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniature: The World of Pieter Bruegel (1952), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniature: Masterpieces from the State Hermitage Leningrad (1959), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniature: Durer (1955). The maps are as follows: Utah-Beach: Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont Manche, Frohe Fahrt durch Osterreich Map of Austria, Roma, Historical Map of Scotland, and Central Europe Hallwag Road Map. The miscellaneous items are as follows: Oh! What a Lovely War musical film booklet (1969) and Britain Between the Wars by John Ray (1975). A majority of these items have been donated to the Friends of the Library and those that have not have been discarded.
- Title
- Guide to the Louis R. Bisceglia Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Rita Wang
- Date
- 8/3/2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the SJSU Special Collections & Archives Repository
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
(408) 808-2062
(408) 808-2063 (Fax)
special.collections@sjsu.edu