Sister Helen Prejean Makes Major Donation To University

"Sister Helen Prejean, the crusading New Orleans nun and a leading national voice for abolishing capital punishment, announced Feb. 9 that she is donating her personal archives to DePaul University. Her archives include personal journals, notes from meetings, letters, speeches and other artifacts spanning a period of 30 years. The papers include her personal correspondence and manuscripts for her books The Death of Innocents and Dead Man Walking— the latter a best-selling account of Prejean’s spiritual relationship with a Louisiana death-row inmate that was the basis of an Oscar-winning 1996 film. The archive also includes video, correspondence with death-row prisoners, correspondence to Pope John Paul II and various governors and other public officials, as well as other papers associated with the film and her work. In addition, there are personal papers, music and other documents associated with the opera Dead Man Walking, and correspondence, posters, photos and other materials from the stage play Dead Man Walking—The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project. There are also awards and honorary degrees received by Prejean, television interviews and recordings, and movie posters and memorabilia, including some of the costumes worn by actors in the film." [Source]