The I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation Endowment for the Humanities in Memory of Eileen A. O'Shaughnessy was established in 1981. Eileen was the daughter of I.A. O’Shaughnessy, a Notre Dame Trustee. She was married to John J. O’Shaughnessy (’33), with whom she had five children: Dennis, Mary, J. Michael (’63), Timothy (’65), and Terence (’70). Active in her Catholic faith and supportive of advanced education, Eileen served on Notre Dame’s advisory councils for the College of Arts and Letters and the Snite Museum of Art. She was a graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

The I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation was named for its founder, the late Ignatius Aloysius O’Shaughnessy, an oil executive and philanthropist from Minnesota. He received an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1947, as well as the Laetare Medal. He was responsible for underwriting the O’Shaughnessy Building of Liberal and Fine Arts on campus. The Foundation, now run by his descendants, continues to generously support a myriad of Notre Dame initiatives and needs, including the O'Shaughnessy Foundation Assistant Professor of Educational Studies and the John F. O'Shaughnessy Associate Professor of Family Enterprise in the Mendoza College of Business.

Through support of this fund, the Libraries recently acquired Harper’s Weekly, Print Confidential Latin America, and Encyclopedia of Islam. It also funded the purchase of classics, films, retrospective French fiction, and a number of electronic resources, including Dance in Video, World History in Video, and Anthropology Online.