TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Administrative Information

Related Material

Index Terms

Bibliography

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Correspondence, 1910, 1914-1915, 1925-1945

Series 2: Reference Files, 1900-1945

Series 3: Writing, Speeches, and Sermons, 1900-1945

Series 4: Journal, 1892-1898

Series 5: Teaching Notebooks, 1902-1942

Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1892, 1906-1945

Series 7: Audiovisual, 1936, 1939

John A. Ryan

An inventory of The John A. Ryan Papers at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

Mailing Address: The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064

Telephone: 202-319-5065

Email: archives@mail.lib.cua.edu

URL: http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/index.html

Biographical Note

John A. Ryan was raised in a large Irish Catholic family. He was the first of eleven children born to William and Maria (Luby) Ryan in Vermillion, Minnesota, about 20 miles south of St. Paul, on May 25, 1869. Both his father and mother had immigrated from Ireland. He worked on the family farm and participated fully in the devout religious life established by his parents. After graduating from Christian Brothers School in 1887, John entered St. Thomas College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class at St. Thomas College in 1892. Ryan entered St. Paul Seminary in 1892, graduated in 1898, and received his holy orders from Archbishop John Ireland the same year. The young priest moved to the District of Columbia and began graduate studies at The Catholic University of America in 1898. He received his licentiate in theology in 1900 and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from CUA in 1906. Between 1902 and 1915 Ryan taught at St. Paul Seminary. In 1915 he returned to The Catholic University of America as a Professor of Political Science and in 1916 was made a Professor of Moral Theology as well. Ryan retired from teaching at CUA in 1939. He continued to teach occasionally at nearby Trinity College, which he had done since returning to the District of Columbia. Ryan was also the Director of the National Catholic Welfare Council's Social Action Department during its first 25 years, from 1920 until his death in 1945. In 1933 the Catholic Church made Ryan a domestic prelate (Monsignor). Monsignor John A. Ryan died on September 16, 1945.

John A. Ryan was the foremost social justice advocate and theoretician in the Catholic Church during the first half in the 20th century. Ryan's family life informed many of his views on politics and society. He learned first hand of the difficulties that farmers encountered and supported the populist movement as a young man. He also read and became aware from his Irish immigrant family about Irish nationalists like Ignatius Donnelly and supported the cause of Irish independence. In 1891, the year before Ryan entered St. Paul Seminary, Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum, a papal encyclical that encouraged Catholic social activism on behalf of industrial workers. Rerum Novarum served as religious support for the progressive politics and economic philosophy that Ryan embraced throughout his academic and religious life. From his first published article, "A Country Without Strikes," in The Catholic World in 1900, until he died in 1945, Ryan focused most of his intellectual attention on economic and political issues. His licentiate dissertation, "Some Ethical Aspects of Speculation," investigated the morality of speculation. His Ph.D. dissertation was an influential early economic and moral argument for minimum wage legislation. It was published as A Living Wage in 1906. In these early publications Ryan staked out an economic position that maintained the primacy of private property but spurned overly acquisitive and unregulated free market capitalism as economically unhealthy and morally bankrupt. He would argue this economic position for his entire life. He enjoyed thoughtful disagreement and never shied from an intellectual battle. For example, he engaged in a high profile ongoing debate on the merits of socialism with Socialist Party of America leader Morris Hillquit in Everybody's Magazine in 1913-1914. The serious, popular, but also friendly debate was published in 1914 as Socialism: Promise Or Menace. (Although Ryan disagreed with Hillquit's political philosophy, he later protested the illegal removal of Hillquit and other democratically elected socialists from the New York State Assembly during the anti-radical hysteria of the immediate post-WW I period.)

Ryan's position as an economist and Catholic leader emerged more strongly after moving back to Washington, DC, and becoming a professor at CUA in 1915. He published another major monograph, Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth, in 1916. Based on his interpretation and understanding of Rerum Novarum and extensive study of several plans for the reconstruction of post war societies Ryan wrote the critically important Bishop's Program of Social Reconstruction, issued by the National Catholic War Council in the name of American Bishops in 1919. The Bishop's Program became the guiding force for the National Catholic Welfare Council's Social Action Department and Catholic progressives in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the recommendations in the Bishop's Program were enacted 15 years later during Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The National Recovery Administration's attempts to stabilize capitalism by organizing industrial output, wages, and providing some form of worker representation and collective bargaining were familiar to anyone who had read Ryan's publications. Ryan's closeness to FDR and the New Deal both personally and politically garnered him the nickname "Right Reverend New Dealer." In 1937 FDR asked Ryan to be the first Catholic priest to provide the invocation at a presidential inauguration, an honor he performed a second time for FDR in 1945, not long before both men died.

Although primarily an intellectual, thinker, and author, Ryan used his writing, public speaking, and position as the Director of the Social Action Department to encourage political and economic changes he felt necessary for a more fair and egalitarian society. Ryan supported minimum wage and child labor legislation, even though the latter position made him powerful enemies from within the American Catholic Church. When Charles Coughlin turned viciously against FDR and the New Deal during the 1936 presidential campaign, encouraging Catholic voters to abandon FDR, Ryan countered with his most famous public moment, an overtly partisan political speech ("Roosevelt Safeguards America") broadcast on national radio on October 8, 1936, urging Catholics to repudiate Coughlin and support the New Deal and Roosevelt. As his position as an economist with national stature and the premier Catholic social justice advocate solidified, Ryan's impressive output of published works and speeches increased. During the last 15 years of his life, from the 1930 to 1945, Ryan stayed extremely busy giving speeches and writing articles, books, reviews, and commentaries. His published material sometimes included social issues, such as sterilization and birth control, that were important to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Ryan's public positions on social issues led to clashes with New Deal allies who agreed with his economic positions. After a brief period of illness John A. Ryan died on September 16, 1945. At the time of his death Ryan was the most well known and influential social action advocate in the Catholic Church.

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Scope and Contents

The John A. Ryan Papers contain 42 linear feet and span from 1892 to 1945. The papers focus heavily on the last twenty years of his life, 1925 to 1945. There is very little material from prior to 1925. The most significant pre-1925 source in this collection is a thin but rich personal journal where Ryan recorded thoughts from 1892-1898. Some Ryan related pre-1925 material can be found in the National Catholic Welfare Council's Social Action Department Records. Ryan's correspondence is the largest portion of materials, occupying over half of the collection. There are also articles, sermons, clippings, reports, pamphlets, lecture notes, scrapbooks, a personal journal, a small number of photos, and some audio recordings. The materials are divided into seven series: (1) Correspondence Series, (2) Reference Files Series, (3) Writings, Speeches and Sermons Series, (4) Journal Series, (5) Teaching Notebooks Series, (6) Scrapbooks Series, and an (7) Audiovisual Series.

Series 1 is 23.5 linear feet of correspondence that dates from 1910-1945. The bulk of the correspondence falls into the 1925-1945 period. It is divided into two subseries. Subseries 1.1 contains Correspondents by Name and Series 1.2 contains Correspondents by Subject. Both subseries include letters to and from John Ryan concerning the Catholic Church, his writings, speaking engagements, political subjects, and personal matters. The letters are from Catholic and political leaders, friends and family, as well as everyday Catholics and non-Catholics.

The Series 2 (Reference Files Series) is comprised of materials Ryan saved for reference in preparing speeches and writing. The 7.5 linear feet of pamphlets, articles, clippings, and reports in this series span 1900-1945. Most of these materials were not created by Ryan. There are, however, occasionally original correspondence and notes included.

Series 3 contains Ryan's writings, speeches, and sermons. The largest portion of this 4 linear foot series are pamphlets, speeches, letters to the editor, book reviews, and articles authored by Ryan between 1900-1945. The series also includes sermons and book drafts.

The Series 4 is a personal journal from Ryan's time as a student at St. Paul Seminary between 1892-1898. Although relatively short, this is among the only items from early in Ryan's life in the collection and it includes his thoughts on political and social issues of the period.

Series 5 contains teaching notebooks that span his entire teaching career, from 1902 to 1942. The majority of these notebooks are from moral theology classes Ryan taught at both St. Paul Seminary (1902-1915) and Catholic University of America (1916-1930s). The 2.5 linear feet in this series also includes teaching notebooks used for political, economic, and social subject area courses like industrial relations and birth control, and notebooks used for courses he taught at other institutions, such as the University of Wisconsin.

Series 6 is the Scrapbook Series. It is comprised of 13 scrapbooks that highlight the career of John A. Ryan. They include clippings of reviews of his books, articles on his speeches and public positions, and obituaries. The scrapbooks occasionally include photos and ephemera. [Please note that scrapbooks #1-4 contain letters congratulating Ryan on his promotion to Monsignor in 1933. Copies of these are included in the Correspondent by Subject Subseries of the Correspondence Series.]

Series 7 is the audiovisual series. It includes both a small assortment of photos, primarily found in the scrapbooks, and audio recordings of Ryan. The audio recordings include Ryan's most famous public speech, "Roosevelt Safeguards America," broadcast nationally on the radio in October 1936. Three of the speeches have been transferred to compact discs for patron use.

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Arrangement

The John A. Ryan Papers consists of seven series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Donated by the Social Action Department, National Catholic Welfare Conference and Lawrence Ryan in 1949-1950, 1957, and 1981.

Processing Information

Processing completed in August 2001 by Joseph Turrini. EAD markup completed in August 2006 by Cathey Dugan and Jordan Patty.

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Related Material

The CUA Archives also contains:

Office of the General Secretary/Executive Department, National Catholic Welfare Council/Conference Records

Social Action Department, National Catholic Welfare Council/Conference Records

Other Repositories Include:

Michael J. Curley Papers, Archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore

James Hugh Ryan Papers, Archives of the Archdiocese of Omaha

John A. Ryan Papers, Archives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Persons:

Organizations:

Subjects:

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Bibliography

Books (arranged chronologically):

Pamphlets (arranged chronologically; PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THESE PAMPHLETS ARE NOT ACTUALLY IN THE COLLECTION):

Publications On the Life and Thought of John A. Ryan:

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Detailed Description of the Collection