The Boland Center for the Study of Labor and Religion
The Boland Center for the Study of Labor and Religion
Dr. Paul Lubienecki is the founder and executive director of the Boland Center for the Study of Labor and Religion. The center is dedicated to scholarly and public examination of the relationship between religious institutions and the labor movement in American history.
The center is named after Fr. John Boland, a Catholic priest who founded the Diocesan Labor College of Buffalo in the mid-twentieth century. Fr. Boland built one of the most important Catholic labor education institutions in the Northeast, training a generation of working-class Catholics in the principles of Catholic social teaching and practical labor organizing. Dr. Lubienecki's New York History Review essay provides the most detailed publicly available account of Boland's work.
Mission
The center's work proceeds along two tracks. The first is scholarly: supporting and publishing research on the history of the relationship between American religion and organized labor, with particular attention to the Catholic labor school tradition. The second is public: making this history accessible to a broader audience through popular history writing, public talks, and educational resources.
Online Presence
The Boland Center publishes content through its WordPress site, which serves as a platform for announcing publications, hosting historical essays, and providing context for the ongoing research program.
Connection to Dr. Lubienecki's Scholarship
The center's mission reflects and extends the research Dr. Lubienecki has pursued throughout his career. His doctoral dissertation on the diocesan labor schools, his five peer-reviewed articles, his 2023 book, and his popular history writing all contribute to the body of knowledge the center was founded to advance.