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Rev. Joseph Durkin, S.J. (May 17, 1903 – May 31, 2002), was a Jesuit priest, professor, and author.

Early life and education
Joseph Thomas Durkin was born on May 17, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 17. He studied theology at Woodstock College, a seminary in Maryland. He also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Weston College in Massachusetts. He was ordained in 1933.

He received his Ph.D. in history from Fordham University in 1942.

Career
Father Durkin first taught at the ​​University of Scranton.

He was a professor at Georgetown University from 1944 to 1972. He began his work at the university reluctantly, having hoped to be placed in the chaplain corps instead. As a professor of American history, Father Durkin established the American Studies program at Georgetown and published 25 books. In the spring of 1982, Father Durkin was named an honorary brother of Alpha Phi Omega.

When he retired, Father Durkin's friends and colleagues set up an endowment fund in his name to purchase books for the Collection in American Studies at Lauinger Library, for which he selected the items until his death. Even after his official retirement, Father Durkin continued to be active in the Georgetown community. He gave tutorials and advised students until 1994. He served as the honorary chaplain of Georgetown’s Army ROTC unit. He was known for his ministry to Alzheimer’s patients and local inmates.

Death
Aged 100, Father Durkin died of pneumonia on May 31, 2003, at Georgetown University Hospital. At the time, he was working on two final books, about Jesuit dance and rhetoric, respectively. He was interred at Georgetown’s Jesuit Cemetery.

There is a chapel in Wolfington Hall Jesuit Residence named for Father Durkin.