Joseph E. Hill Papers

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: UA.02.001

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection consists of a memoir and an unpublished, unperformed play written by Joseph E. Hill. The 400 page memoir, entitled, The Wrong Side of the Tracks was completed in 2010. It describes his early life growing up in an Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood and his struggles with his alcoholic father. Later the memoir chronicles his time at La Salle College, from which he graduated in 1960, and his years as a teacher in Philadelphia.

The play, Pearse, is an historical drama about the fictional Padraic Henry Pearse's involvement in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916.

Dates

2010

Biographical Note

Joseph Edward Hill was born in Philadelphia on June 3, 1935. He grew up in the Germantown neighborhood and attended Northeast Catholic High School, class of 1954.

Hill attended La Salle College (Class of 1960) and majored in English Education. An active member of the Benilde Club during most of his college years, Hill dedicated his professional life to education. He taught English and History at Roman Catholic High School and English at Bishop McDevitt High School. He then transitioned to the School District of Philadelphia and taught younger grades. In 1985 he was awarded a citation for creating introductory classes in Economics for fourth graders in the Philadelphia School District. Hill also conducted evening classes at Dr. Leon Sullivan’s Opportunity Industrialization Center in North Philadelphia. He retired from teaching in 1997.

Hill married Elizabeth (Lillian) O’Sullivan in 1963 at the Church of the Three Patrons in Rathgar, Ireland. They had four children. Elizabeth died in 1994, and eight years later, Joseph married Anne Catherine McDade.

Hill has returned many times to his adopted country of Ireland, which granted him naturalized citizenship in 2001. Hill’s travels have animated his love of writing. His first self-published novel was The Irish Rose (2007), for which he was interviewed by local media. He also penned several other registered works, including Pearse, a historical drama, The Wrong Side of the Tracks, a memoir, Bereavement and Reconciliation, nonfiction, and The Faculty Room, fiction.