This collection consists of materials relating to Dr. Edward (Ed) L. Shaughnessy and his research and teaching career. A large part of this collection is dedicated to Eugene O’Neill, an American playwright, who was a main scholarly focus for Dr. Shaughnessy. This includes genealogy records, multiple notes and notebooks, and requested material from archives such as colleges, universities, historical societies, and libraries. In addition to Eugene O’Neill, Shaughnessy was interested in philosopher George Santayana, and wrote multiple papers about him while he was at university and after. There are also documents containing different drafts and edits of written work, either by Shaughnessy or others; correspondence (physical letters and printed emails); photographs, newspaper clippings, newsletters, playbills and reviews. The collection also contains materials from Dr. Shaughnessy’s teaching days, such as photocopies of excerpts from books and essays, notes, syllabi, and class preparation materials.

This collection includes many photocopies of the originals, including excerpts from books, articles, and other documents, that Ed Shaughnessy used for his own research; this accounts for the earliest date of the collection being 1841.