Late Historian Thomas O’Connor Saw Boston As A ‘Constantly Changing Mosaic’

BOSTON — The man considered the unofficial dean of Boston history was buried Thursday. Thomas O’Connor had taught at Boston College for more than 50 years and wrote more than a dozen books, including “Boston Catholics,” “Civil War Boston,” and “The Boston Irish.” He died Sunday at his home in Milton at the age of 89.

Part of O’Connor’s legacy is having created a new generation of historians, and among them is Jim Vrabel, an independent Boston historian who was guided and mentored by O’Connor. In a conversation with WBUR’s All Things Considered host Sacha Pfeiffer, Vrabel said O’Connor changed the way Boston history is taught.

Jim Vrabel: For a long time, Boston history, in a way, stopped in the 1880s, when the Brahmins stopped writing down their accomplishments and left it to others to write about theirs. No one really picked up the ball until Tom O’Connor came around. He actually brought Boston history into and through the 20th century and into the 21st century.

Sacha Pfeiffer: How was history written before him, and then how did he change it?

There’s a phrase: “History is written by the winners.” And the winners in Boston were the Brahmins, who owned and ran the city up until the 1880s. The Irish came as a result of the potato famine in the 1850s and gradually they assumed control of the politics of the city, if not the economy of the city — and when they did, that’s really when written history about Boston stopped. Tom O’Connor kind of picked up the ball.

About the Boston Irish he said: “They harbored the conviction that they were not good enough, important enough, deserving enough, influential enough to be considered part of real history.” And Tom O’Connor changed that — not just for the Irish, but for everyone who came later....