Research Tools

Please use the following research guides and tools to learn more about the Moakley Archive's research collections.
 

Research Tools

The Archival Research Tutorial covers how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, effective search tips, and how to successfully use primary sources in papers and assignments. Additionally, learn about the unique research collections held by the Moakley Archive and Institute.

The Moakley Archive and Institute has many resources that help illustrate U.S. foreign relations with El Salvador during the 1980s and 1990s and in particular, Congressman Joe Moakley’s work related to El Salvador’s civil war, the investigation of the murders of Jesuit priests in 1989, and human rights and immigration issues.This guide provides context about El Salvador and outlines the resources available at the Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University for researchers. El Salvador Research Guide.

Boston’s busing crisis was sparked in 1974 with the ruling of Judge Arthur Garrity in the case of Tallulah Morgan et al. v. James Hennigan et al, known as the Garrity Decision. Judge Garrity ruled that the Boston School Committee had “intentionally brought about and maintained racial segregation” in the Boston Public Schools; his plan to create racial balance involved busing students to various schools throughout the city. At the time of the ruling, Congressman John Joseph Moakley represented South Boston, one of the neighborhoods most directly affected by the busing plan.This guide provides context about the busing crisis and outlines the resources available at the Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University for researchers. Busing in Boston Research Guide.

The Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University has many resources that explore Congressman Moakley’s twenty-year effort to create a national standard for the production of fire-safe cigarettes. Moakley’s interest in the issue stemmed from a fatal, cigarette-caused fire in his district in 1979 that killed a family in Westwood, Mass. In an effort to prevent similar tragedies, Moakley began a legislative campaign to tighten regulations on the tobacco industry and to require the production of self-extinguishing cigarettes. Fire-safe cigarette (FSC) related documents in Congressman Moakley’s papers (MS 100) can serve as a case study to understand the process by which laws are created, put before Congress and ratified (or not); an illustration of bipartisanship, and to examine the influence of lobbyists on Congress.This guide provides context about fire-safe cigarettes and outlines the resources available at the Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University for researchers. Fire-safe Cigarette Research Guide.

The Moakley Archive's Early Student Research Project includes class profiles, biographies of early Suffolk University Law School students and significant people, and notable Suffolk "firsts."

  • List of Suffolk Law School "firsts" [pdf ], including early graduates, buildings, etc.
  • Class profiles for 1909-1910, 1912-1915 [pdf]
  • Student profiles of early graduates [pdf], including: 
    Lewis A. Adams, 1910; George W. Ayer, 1915; James T. Bergen, 1910; Ernest P. Bradstreet, 1910; Roland Brown, 1909; Harry E. Burroughs, 1915; George L. Bush, 1909; Emanuel Cohen, 1910; Carl Collar, 1909; Ole Dahl, 1910; George A. Douglas, 1909; Harry Hom Dow, 1929; Shichiro Hayashi, 1922; Robert T. Healey, 1910; Thomas Vreeland Jones, 1915; Bernard J. Killion, 1910; Thaddeus A. Kitchener, 1913; Charles F. Murphy, 1910; Harry H, Nayor, 1910; James F. O’Brien, 1909; Louis E. Pasco, 1914; Joseph David Paté, 1927; Edwin L. Weiscopf, 1910.
  • Biography of George Frost [pdf], benefactor and mentor to Suffolk's founder, Gleason Archer.