November 2007
Alfred Hamy's Jesuit Portrait Gallery
joins Marquette's Digital Library

The Alfred Hamy Jesuit Portrait Gallery is the most recent digital collection developed at Marquette.

Released on All Saints Day, Hamy's Jesuit Portraits presents the complete collection of 400+ plates contained within Hamy's Galerie Illustrée de la Compagnie de Jésus (Paris: 1893). 

The 7th digital collection prepared by Raynor Memorial Libraries with CONTENTdm software, Hamy's Jesuit Portraits, is the first digital initiative presenting materials from the rare book collection. Rev. Alfred Hamy, S.J. (b. 1838), a French scholar, assembled and edited Galerie Illustrée in order to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Jesus.  Hamy had previously described the lives of 400 Jesuits in Essai sur l'Iconographie de la Compagnie de Jésus (1875).

Although the plates featured in Galerie Illustrée were printed on high-quality, folio-size rag paper, the textual entries were printed on inexpensive, highly-acidic paper.  The fragile condition of Galerie Illustrée – owned by 15 research libraries in the United States– usually limits access to the historic collection.  During the process, librarians assigned more than 1,100 unique descriptive headings according to rules established by the Library of Congress.

Users of the digital collection may search by keyword, or browse by century or category (such as college presidents, orators, or theologians).  Visitors are encouraged to use the Image Toolbar when viewing many of the photographs in Marquette's digital collections.  Images can be magnified, rotated, and cropped.  These tools may enrich viewers' experience of the collection, particularly in the examination of detail.  The Web site includes copyright information and instructions for ordering photo reproductions.

Project developers extend their sincere thanks to the staff at the John J. Burns Library at Boston College for their advice and cooperation.  The Burns Library graciously contributed many scans for this digital project, offering images of original plates either missing or damaged within Marquette’s collection.

Questions about this collection may be directed to Matt Blessing, Department of Special Collections and University Archives (414) 288-5901.

Connect to the Hamy's Jesuit Portraits.