About the Author

Rachel Herschbein (they/them, she/her) is studying History and English at Boston College, class of 2026.

Their body of undergraduate work is focused in British history of the long 18th century and they are currently writing an honors History thesis focused on the hot springs in Bath, England. Rachel's scholarly work has been published in Oracle: The History Journal of Boston College as well as the Medical Humanities Journal of Boston College. Their creative poetry, prose, and art also appear in Boston College's Stylus Literary Arts Magazine. Rachel plans to pursue a career in higher education and become a published scholar in the field of British history.

Rachel also works at the Burns Library as part of the Public Services Reference team, and plans to engage in further study on archival management. Every day when retrieving books from the stacks, they would pass the Liturgy & Life artifacts on their shelf. With interdisciplinary interests in History, English, and Theology, Rachel approached this project with an interest as to why those items were there, and why so few scholars come to Burns Library in search of this collection. 

This website project is on behalf of the American Studies Department at Boston College. By selecting an artifact (or artifacts) to study, the goal of their project is to illustrate physical evidence of past tradition and the perspectives which render this collection valuable.