Professor Christopher Mauriello Speaks About the Genocide Literature Acquisition at the Frederick E. Berry Library

History Professor and Director of the Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies, Chris Mauriello, took some time to talk to the Center for Research and Creative Activities about a quantitatively and qualitatively impressive collection of Genocide literature that has been cumulatively acquired by the Frederick E. Berry Library over recent years. This literature proves important in research for Professor Mauriello, Salem State University students, and researchers in the community alike.

Professor Mauriello describes these materials as the "largest single collection of Holocaust and Genocide Studies books north of Boston.” He draws our attention to the distinction between the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Book Collection (housed on the second floor of the Berry Library) and the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Archive Collection (housed in the Berry Library Special Collections on the ground floor), a distinction which proves significant given the content and scope of each individually.

The history of the collections is, according to Professor Mauriello, "as interesting as what's in them." He details how the original collections—acquired in 2013 when Salem State's Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies was founded—were donated by the Holocaust Center Boston North after the Peabody-based nonprofit disbanded. At this point, the extensive collection of books and other assets, now named the Harriet Tarnor-Wacks Holocaust Collection (after the founder of the Boston North organization), became an invaluable feature of scholarly research and community engagement here at Salem State.

Following this acquisition, between 2015 and 2020, another 15-30 books have been added. "Maybe more," Mauriello explained, with 3-5 new texts being added every year. This was following a generous donation by the Sullivan family whose gift was earmarked for what is now named the Jill and Scott Sullivan Holocaust and Genocide Collection. This allowed the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies to purchase all the new titles they had hoped to acquire to the already vast collection. This means that the collection has books purchased by the old center back in 1970 all the way up to those published in 2021.

This, for Salem State, Professor Mauriello stresses, is an extremely significant collection and ranges in genre from philosophy to literature, from history to political science. The process of adding to the Sullivan Collection consists of asking scholars who write in Genocide and Holocaust studies to recommend books, which means these collections reflect the scholarly interests of students and faculty at Salem State.

There are additional texts which the library opted to order and those are in the regular library stacks and can be ordered through NOBLE. When asked if he knew how many books there were, Mauriello shook his head, simply replying "I just remember all of the boxes coming into the library.” His response is just a small indication of the magnitude of the collection of Holocaust and Genocide Studies archival materials and books that Salem State proudly provides a home for.