Paul Stenhouse Library - MSC Books Archive
Michael Fallon has been working on the library at Kensington and organising the room which was Paul Stenhouse's office. He wrote this update report for the Kensington community but it is also information for the whole province.
When Paul Stenhouse died in November 2019 he left behind an extraordinary and inspiring legacy. This included three rooms filled with books reaching to high ceilings: his main office on the third floor, an older office two doors down on the same floor, and his bedroom on the fifth floor. None of the books were catalogued. Shortly before his death I promised him I would look after his library. Eighteen months later, in April 2021, I left Douglas Park and joined the library staff to carry out my promise. It has taken me nearly eighteen months.
Paul Stenhouse library.
Many of Paul’s books covered areas of his specialised expertise: Samaritan Studies, Islam, and Hebrew. Initially, after cataloguing, I housed these in Paul’s Office. However, it became clear that we do not have the resources to make these books available to interested scholars. A friend of Paul’s made a generous donation to Campion College, 8-14 Austin Woodbury Place, Old Toongabbie, NSW 2146. They are in process of erecting a building to bear Paul’s name, and were delighted when, after consulting with MSC who were close to Paul and his work, we offered them Paul’s specialised library. Our hope is that this holds the promise of housing Paul’s books in a better way than we can.
Most of Paul’s books covered areas of more general interest. Hundreds were catalogued and added to the monastery library, either in the library upstairs, or in the basement library (the ‘Stacks’). Other books were already in our library. These were offered to Campion College who received them gratefully.
Paul’s Office
Paul’s Office now contains the Australian Province Archives. Along the left wall are the various magazines that the province has produced over the years. Along the right wall in alphabetical order are books authored by members of the Australian Province. The Office is locked, for obvious reasons. If anyone would like to see what is there, I am very happy to show you around. If you decide you want to consult a particular book, you may do so, but books are not to be removed from the Office. You can work at the table provided. When there are spare copies of the books in the archive, these are housed in the General Archive Room on the fifth floor (also in alphabetical order). You are welcome to borrow, and perhaps take them.
You are right, the top photo is of books in general. However, if you look at the bottom photo, the central tower, first floor behind the statue, the books are, in fact, in there!
