Detroit Mercy houses one of the largest collection of Great Lakes shipping history with Fr. Edward Dowling’s collection, which resides in the Library on the McNichols Campus.
It was featured recently on the front cover in the June 2023 edition of the College & Research Libraries News official magazine, which provides articles on the latest trends and practices affecting academic and research libraries to more than 9,000 members of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Library Professor Julia Eisenstein and Archives and Special Collections Librarian Pat Higo helped introduce the academic library world to Dowling’s large and unique collection. The pair worked together to find the right photo for the publication after Eisenstein received an email about the publication’s search for cover art.
The cover features one of Dowling’s paintings of a square rigger ship and is part of his immense collection of paintings and sketches that he started when he was just a boy.
Dowling’s collection includes close to 60,000 photographs, plastic and glass negatives, postcards, color plates, sketches and paintings, as well as detailed information on nearly every commercial ship that sailed in the Great Lakes since the mid-19th century.
To learn more about the collection, visit the Archive Research Center or contact Pat Higo at higopa@udmercy.edu.