New theological library established at St. George’s Lennoxville
By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
St. George’s Anglican Church in Lennoxville has established the “Dean Jellico Memorial Library” in its community hall. The library is named after the late Dr. Sidney Jellicoe, who was Dean of Divinity and Harrold Professor at Bishop’s University [BU] in the mid 20th century, and boasts numerous books on theology, some over 400 years old.
The new library
“When the library at [Bishop’s] University… was getting ready to renovate, they had many uncatalogued books in the basement,” said Ruth Sheeran, Jellicoe’s daughter, and project leader. The books had accumulated over the years and BU wished to get rid of them.
Sheeran, former BU Chief Librarian, had presided over previous attempts to sell the books off. “Very few of them sold,” she admitted. Sheeran spoke to Dr. Edward Simonton, Vicar General and Archdeacon of Quebec, whose office is at St. George’s, and they agreed that BU should donate the books to the Anglican Church to preserve them. BU happily concurred.
The books were transported from BU to the community hall and a fundraiser was started to gather enough money for new bookshelves. It was a very successful campaign, Sheeran said, in which Jellicoe’s former students were canvassed along with other BU alumni and community members.
Sheeran, project leader Spencer Nadeau, and his mother Cindy spent a few weeks shelving all the books during the pandemic while the hall was not being used for other things. The bibliographic information had already been collected by BU, and Sheeran and Nadeau went through and numbered everything so the books could be easily found in their new location.
