The James Wright Foley Archives Collection at Raynor Library is now open to the public, with access available for an initial selection of materials. This first set of archives includes photos of Foley, 22 handwritten and transcribed journals, his creative writing and early reporting, and the first year of his embedded reporting with the United States military in Afghanistan in 2009.
Visit the James Wright Foley Archives Collection.
Since 2022, Raynor archivists have provided research, reference and classroom support to Marquette students and faculty, outside researchers, the Foley Foundation, and the news media. The archives aim to have the entire collection accessible online in 2027.
“This is an exciting new step in honoring the life and legacy of Jim Foley at Marquette,” said Dr. Tara Baillargeon, dean of Raynor Library. “Our staff, led by a dedicated archivist, have worked tirelessly to digitize and process materials to make the first portion of the archives available for his birthday on Oct. 18. We will be able to make additional material from his embedded and freelance reporting available to the public on an ongoing basis with the hope of completing the collection next year.”
The Foley Collection was announced in February 2024 and has been made accessible to the public in partnership with the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. The foundation was created in 2014 to honor the legacy of Foley, a Marquette graduate and freelance journalist who was captured by ISIS in 2012, tortured, and then beheaded by the group in Syria in 2014. The foundation’s mission is to advocate for American hostages and wrongful detainees held abroad and to promote journalist safety.
“I’m forever grateful to Marquette University for creating an archive of Jim’s work and for using his life story to inspire moral courage in journalism and other disciplines,” said Diane Foley, mother of James W. Foley and founder and president of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.
Dedicated full-time James Wright Foley Project Archivist Alice Ladrick has been leading the archival work, alongside a team at Marquette’s Raynor Library and multiple student employees focused solely on the collection. To date, the team has digitized and transcribed 22 of the 39 total handwritten journals and notebooks from Foley’s time in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. This includes redacting names and contact information of private citizens for their safety. Close to 2,000 files have been processed and entered into the digital archives, with nearly 17,700 files constituting nearly a terabit of material in this section of the collection to be made available.
Just over 30 years after he graduated from Marquette, Foley’s legacy lives on through tangible means such as the development of the James W. Foley Journalist Safety Curricula and the James Foley Endowed Scholarship. His spirit of moral courage also thrives at Marquette, fostered by those who knew him, those that have worked with the Foley Foundation, and through the lessons Foley’s experiences have been able to inspire in current and former students alike.
Funding for the Foley Collection has been largely provided through active donor support. Those interested in supporting the Foley Collection, can contact jaclyn.ness@marquette.edu.
