University of St. Thomas

Christopher Dawson Collection "It is the religious impulse which supplies the cohesive force which unifies a society and a culture." Progress and Religion, 1929

Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) was an English Catholic intellectual and author of books, articles, and scholarly monographs on the relations of religion and culture and the Christian sources for the development of western civilization. His intellectual interests were remarkably comprehensive and covered a wide range of historical periods and cultural contexts. Lecturer in the History of Culture, University College, Exeter, Gifford lecturer and first recipient of the Chauncey Stillman Chair of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard University (1958-1962), Dawson was also editor of the Dublin Review.

The Dawson Collection is part of the collection of the Center for Catholic Studies, a gift of Eugene and Faye Sitzmann of St. Paul. The collection is held by the Special Collections Department.  The Christopher Dawson collection include manuscripts of his publications, correspondence with colleagues and publishers as well as Dawson's extensive library of works on philosophy, theology, Christian education, the history of religion, Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

The collection of works from Christopher Dawson's personal library have been cataloged and are filed in the Special Collections Department. Cataloging information on these books has been entered into the University of St. Thomas' online public access library catalog (designated OSF-Special-Dawson) available for searching at http://clicnet.clic.edu/ 

Additionally, personal papers of Christina Dawson Scott (CHD's daughter) were given to the University of St. Thomas in 2002.  Her papers deal main with the Dawson Centenary Celebration and the publication of the biography of her father.

Inventories and Finding Aids:

Inventory to the Christopher Dawson Papers

Online index to the Christopher Dawson Papers

Inventory to the Christina Dawson Scott Papers