The Harley L. McDevitt Endowed Fund for Medieval English Literature was established in 1996. A Notre Dame graduate, Harley (’29) majored in philosophy and Spanish and was the business manager of Scholastic, the campus magazine. He went on to earn a graduate degree in corporate law in 1933 and serve in the Navy from 1942-45 as a lieutenant commander. He was employed as director of advertising at National Geographic Society, from which he retired in 1968. At Notre Dame, he was a member of the Sorin Society and the Badin Guild. Harley was extremely devoted to St. Theresa, the Little Flower.

Established through the McDevitt estate, this endowment has contributed greatly to the quality of medieval studies at Notre Dame and to the distinction of the program. This funding enables the Libraries to meet research needs of the Medieval British Literature Initiative. Recent purchases include materials related to Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and medieval British studies in general. Other acquisitions include 15 rare books that were published from the 1600s to the 1900s. The collection now also includes a new facsimile of Corpus Christi Apocalypse, a beautifully illustrated fourteenth-century manuscript.

Harley also established the Harley L. McDevitt Spanish Inquisition Library Collection.