Anne Marie Becraft Hall is a building on the campus of Georgetown University. As of 2021, it houses the John Main Center for Meditation and Interreligious Dialogue. Prior to November 2015, it was known as McSherry Hall, and from November 2015 to April 2017 it was known as Remembrance Hall. It comprises 904 square feet.
Construction
Accurate records of the construction of Anne Marie Becraft Hall do not exist, but Georgetown folklore maintains that it was built in 1792 by the same contractor that would go on to build Old North in 1795. If true, this would make it the oldest surviving building on campus.
History and Uses
The building has had numerous uses in its history but has never housed classrooms. Tradition holds that horses were once stabled in its lower level, but no records exist to prove this. In the 1860s it housed the University's bakery, which was famous for the apple pies made by Brother Gavin. In the 1890s it housed the University Archives. In 1928 it became a pressing shop, and in 1960 it was converted for use by the Biology Department and, later, the student newspaper The Georgetown Voice. Between 1971 and 1988 it housed the Grounds and Landscaping services and, later on, the Office of Telecommunications.1
Anne Marie Becraft and Name Changes
The building's original name commemorated William McSherry, S.J., the president of Georgetown from 1837 to 1839. In November 2015, the University's Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation recommended the name be removed as a consequence of McSherry's role in the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved people to raise funds for the University. It was temporarily named "Remembrance Hall" to emphasize the importance of remembering this history.2
On April 18, 2017, the building was renamed after Anne Marie Becraft, a free black woman who operated a school for black girls in Georgetown prior to 1831 and later became one of the first black nuns in the United States.3
- 1Francis X. Ballman, "McSherry Hall," Building Outlines Campus Buildings, 1789 – 1995, Father Lawrence Hurley Memorial Edition, Francis X. Ballmann and the Division of Facilities, 1995, p. 63.
- 2"Statement and Recommendation by the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation." https://president.georgetown.edu/update-on-slavery-memory-and-reconciliation-november-2015/
- 3"Building to Be Renamed for Pioneer Black Educator Anne Marie Becraft," April 13, 2017. https://www.georgetown.edu/news/building-to-be-renamed-for-pioneer-black-educator-anne-marie-becraft/
