Researchers have newly improved access to manuscripts of Irish Nobel Laureates!
The John J. Burns Library holds both published and unpublished works by and about Irish Nobel Laureates W. B. Yeats and Bernard Shaw. These materials are now more discoverable and accessible, which is significant because, even today, their poems, plays, and essays continue to be performed, studied, and revisited.
William Butler Yeats first play, written when he was 19 yrs. old, titled Love and Death. Original handwritten notebooks, part of the Boston College Burns Archives collections.
Yeats is considered one of the best poets of the 20th century. The Burns Library holds many special editions of Yeats’s published works; one example is a very limited edition of “Easter, 1916,” of which only 25 copies were printed by Clement Shorter, publisher and friend of Yeats. It was meant for distribution among Shorter’s friends. All researchers are welcome to use the manuscript collection pertaining to Yeats that unites seven previously separate collections. The Boston College collection of Yeats family papers presents the correspondence and manuscripts of W. B. Yeats in the context of his artistic family and their creative endeavors. Included are papers of his father John Butler and brother Jack B. Yeats, who were both artists; his wife, Georgie Yeats; and his sisters, Elizabeth Corbet Yeats and Lily Yeats, as well as the records of their embroidery and printing business, Cuala Industries. Among the highlights are an account of one of Lily Yeats’s visions and related correspondence; notebooks and manuscripts of W. B. Yeats’s poetry; correspondence between W. B. Yeats and his mistress, Margot Ruddock; and an embroidery by Lily Yeats and Brigid O’Brien.
Photograph of Bernard Shaw, 1929, Box 5, Folder 14, Samuel N. Freedman collection of Bernard Shaw, MS.2002.044, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Bernard Shaw, noted for his sharp wit and the ability to lampoon contemporary society, still holds the attention of audiences everywhere. Although he wrote in other genres, he is best known for his plays, including Pygmalion, Joan of Arc, and Man and Superman. The Burns Library holds many titles by or about Shaw, including a first edition of G. K. Chesterton’s George Bernard Shaw (1909). Three archival collections regarding Bernard Shaw are also available for consultation. The Samuel N. Freedman collection of Bernard Shaw includes material relating to Shaw’s life and his writing accumulated by Freedman over 40 years. Of particular interest are the pre-printed postcards Shaw was known for sending in response to frequently asked questions from his numerous correspondents. The Charlotte Frances Shaw letters cast light on the thoughts and experiences of Shaw’s wife, while letters received by actor Bernard Partridge share insights into Bernard Shaw’s thoughts on the 1894 production of his play Arms and the Man.
Postcards with pre-printed responses, Box 1, Folder 41, Samuel N. Freedman collection of Bernard Shaw, MS.2002.044, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
It is our hope that the improved access to these collections will engage students and scholars alike, enhance research, and enable publication of new scholarship. If you are interested in consulting these or other collections at the Burns Library, please contact our Reading Room staff by phone (617-552-4861) or email (burnsref@bc.edu).
Renovation of the Digitization Lab in the Burns Library will expand the Digital Libraries’ capabilities in Summer 2017.
The digitization lab in the Burns Library will receive a much-needed makeover this summer. It was built in 2009 to complement its sister lab in O’Neill and to satisfy the needs of the growing digital library program at Boston College. Bill Donovan, then Digital Imaging and Curation Librarian, was integral to the planning and construction of the space The lab he helped design allows for the imaging of materials from the Burns Library special collections and archives without the need to transport rare and fragile items to the O’Neill facility.
Affectionately dubbed the “digicube,” the small 10 x 16 foot space is surrounded by standard cubicle siding with a sliding door in the middle. Its first piece of equipment, purchased in late 2009, was a digital copystand. Combined with a Hasselblad medium format camera capable of producing high-quality digital images, the copystand is used to capture small artwork and loose-leaf items from the Burns Library archival collections. A second imaging device was added in 2013. The Atiz Bookdrive scanner operates two Canon EOS cameras and is fitted with a book cradle and glass platen that provides support for bound material and increased capture speed over the copystand. With the Atiz, the imaging output of the lab grew, encouraging a move towards larger projects.
The narrow quarters of the current lab
The limitations of the digicube soon became evident. New projects that included oversized material too large for either device and too cost-prohibitive for outside vendors were set aside. Because both pieces of equipment cannot be operated simultaneously, the commitment of the Atiz to a two-year project meant stoppages in both the copystand and Atiz workflows for priority items.
In addition to the spatial limitations a review of the program’s digital equipment by our Digital Collections and Preservation Librarian, uncovered deficiencies that were affecting the quality of our output images. With the eventual loss of the O’Neill diglab’s main scanner, the Zeutschel, to mechanical failure last winter, a proposal for new imaging equipment was moved forward. The authorization of the equipment purchase coincided with the recent approval of a request to enlarge the Burns digitization space.
The new facility will expand the footprint of digicube to include an additional 300 square feet. The cubicle siding surrounding the Atiz will be moved to provide a dedicated space for copystand photography. This new area will be constructed to accommodate the high-end imaging capabilities of our new Digital Transitions RGC180 Capture Cradle and include the following:
Raised ceiling that will increase ventilation for current strobe lights, accommodate the height of the new equipment, and disperse the light output of the strobes to limit interference with nearby imaging equipment
Overhead lighting will be daylight-balanced for more accurate color matching between original material and its digital image
Neutral gray walls to minimize color shifts and flare
Carpet will be replaced by tiles, reducing dust
The open floor plan of the remaining space will provide for a staging area where special collections material can be safely laid out and handled. Joining us in the new lab will be the Digital Archives Specialist. Currently working out of the Irish Music Center in the Bapst building, he will move his audiovisual equipment into the space across from the Atiz previously used for cataloging.
The expansion, along with the acquisition of the new digital capture cradle, will increase the lab’s output capacity and is a significant move towards the long-term vision of opening up Boston College’s unique collections to the world.
The Boston College Libraries remain active partners in instruction across disciplines.
This year the Boston College Libraries have continued to provide an extensive and varied instruction program. From sessions as part of the First Year Writing Seminar to specialized sessions for graduate courses, librarians have offered over 400 instructions sessions that reached a total of over 8,600 attendees since last fall. First Year Writing Seminar accounted for approximately 15% of the sessions and the rest spanned a wide range of other disciplines.
Though the Fall semester is still our busiest time for instruction sessions, this Spring we offered over 200 sessions to a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and PhD audiences as well as several training sessions for faculty. In many cases, library instruction is embedded directly into the course session, but over the course of the year we also offered over 100 sessions in O’Neill Library’s classroom spaces as well as some sessions online. Burns Library staff continued to be important players in our instruction program, offering over 60 sessions this Spring in Burns Library. These sessions allow students a hands-on approach to work with unique materials that the library has to offer.
As always, our instruction sessions also touch on a broad number of information literacy topics, from defining basic research topics, critically thinking about appropriate sources and evaluation as well as the use of data and GIS tools and resources. If you are interested in adding a library instruction component to your course or would like to know more about our instruction program, please contact your subject librarian for more information.
The flow of digitized special collections content comes in a steady stream; here’s what’s new.
Diary entry, 1917 April 2. Thomas D. Craven papers, BC.2004.121, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
The BC Libraries continually select material from our collections to digitize for increased use locally and globally. Among the content recently launched online are personal diaries, Japanese prints, and published works from the holdings of John J. Burns Library.
The diaries are unpublished primary sources that reflect the personal experiences of the diarists. These are excellent for research in numerous disciplines, and digital versions could be incorporated into digital humanities projects.
Thomas Henry Lyon papers includes two diaries (1842 and 1846-1849) of a British naval officer. The travelogues record information about Lyon’s sea voyages from England to Africa, Borneo, China, and Egypt. To learn more, read a blog post describing entries on the first Opium War of 1842, view the catalog record, or consult the collection inventory or “finding aid.” Don’t forget to explore the diaries in their entirety yourself: 1842 and 1846-1849.
Mary Johanna Rhodes Wild diary, dated 1845-1865, details her daily life in Brookline, Massachusetts. Wild discusses housekeeping, finances, and marital discord, as well as reading, travels, and her friends and family. More information is in the catalog record, and the diary itself.
Fred Wilton Russell diary covers the young American’s travels in Europe while on the Grand Tour. It includes notes on his stays in Paris and at a school in Plauen, Germany, and his trips to spas in Carlsbad and Franzenbad. Entries date from 1875-1876. The diary is described in the catalog record and fully digitized.
Thomas D. Craven papers include a single diary covering the spring semester of the BC senior and his induction into the Army Air Corps Medical Corps in 1917. The collection is described in the catalog record and finding aid, and the diary can be found online.
Burns Library’s collection of Japanese prints, described by our 2013-14 Bookbuilders of Boston intern Erin Furlong and featured in a touch table exhibit by 2016-17 ARL/SAA Mosaic fellow Ayoola White, contains artwork from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries. Many of these prints have been imaged and posted online. See the description of the whole collection in the catalog and finding aid, but be sure to explore the newly-available images.
Andō, Hiroshige. Mount Kaso in Kazusa Province from the series Wrestling Matches between Mountains and Seas. 1858. Japanese Prints Collection, MS.2013.043, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Lastly, special collections published materials are being made available online as well. One could look for them in our Internet Archive feed, which is a gathering of digitized publications from both circulating and non-circulating collections. A few recent highlights are these from the Burns Library’s Boston collection related to — and opposing! — women’s right to vote:
Leonard, Clara T., Lothrop, Thornton Kirkland, and Massachusetts. General Court. Committee on Woman Suffrage. Letter from Mrs. Clara T. Leonard. Boston: Massachusetts Association Opposed to Further Extension of Suffrage to Woman, 1884. See the catalog record and online version.
The Vote of Massachusetts on Municipal Suffrage for Women at the State Election, November 5, 1895. [publisher Not Identified], 1895. Found in the Library Catalog and online.
Saunders, Charles R., and Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. Taxpaying Suffrage: Letter from Mr. Charles R. Saunders. Boston: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1903. Read more in the catalog record and digitized version.
Of What Benefit to Woman? Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1910. Find it in the Library Catalog and fully online.
Of What Benefit to Woman? Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1910.
BC Libraries and the Connors Family Learning Center have begun to team up near the end of each semester for a night of programs to help students gear up for final projects.
O’Neill Library’s Reading Room is ordinarily so quiet you can hear someone turn a page from thirty paces, but on the evening of Wednesday, April 19 this Spring there was a low but energetic buzz of conversation punctuated by “Awwww’s” of delight at the end of a trail of paper footprints, where students rubbed the soft ears of a golden retriever named Jackson. BC Library’s Anti-All-Nighter (subtitle: A Night Against Procrastination) co-sponsored by BC Libraries and the Connors Family Learning Center (CFLC), brought library, CFLC, and ITS Help staff together with students in a relaxed environment that ran from 8pm to midnight.
A horde descends on coffee and cookies at 9:30.
“We wanted an event to help students focus for the final push toward end-of-semester projects,” said one of the planners. “To help get them moving on end-of-semester projects (hence, ‘against procrastination’) but also to help defray tension.” This was the third such event, after the initial one in Spring 2016 and a follow-up in the Fall. Brief onsite surveys confirm what seemed obvious during the evening: students loved it. The most common refrain: “More!”
Two students absorb relaxing vibes from Jackson, a therapy dog.
One student arriving at the event was overheard saying, “Look! People are actually happy!” There was a range of activities to encompass a broad spectrum of interests both in getting assistance for study–writing tutors and an academic coach from the CFLC, staff from ITS Help, and research librarians–and in breaks from study: creative outlets (coloring, button-making, and an electronic keyboard), items for play (games and serial TV shows on DVD’s), activities for relaxation and mindfulness (such as yoga, provided through the Plex) and of course the therapy dogs. And coffee.
Michelle Newman (of Healing by Movement, Newton) provided over 35 chair massages.
The coordinating team included Steve Runge, Carli Spina, Rodrigo Castro, and Cindy Frueh of BC Libraries, and Ildi Szekely and Kathy Duggan of the CFLC. Both Enid Karr and Chelcie Rowell of BC Libraries were on hand for research assistance, and Charles Clements and Dominic Scheuring of the CFLC provided writing tutoring. Mark Gately and several Eagle Techs (undergraduate student employees) from ITS Help were on hand for technical assistance. The library hired Michelle Newman of Healing Movement in Newton for chair massages, and Chris Cataldo of the Plex for yoga instruction. Therapy dogs were brought by volunteers from Therapy Dogs International, who has been providing BC students (and staff & faculty!) with canine love for several years.
A dozen students take a 30-minute “chair yoga” break, learning techniques they can employ for their own short study breaks.
By midnight, all the coffee was gone, most of the staff had sleepily departed, and many tables had returned to being study space. A few students putting finishing touches on buttons got a reprieve; a staff member let them finish while he put away other activity materials. The rest of the library looked much as it always does at midnight: but for the lack of sun, the same number of students hard at work as any Tuesday morning at 10am: about ⅓ full.
Chelcie Rowell, History Librarian, ready to provide research help.More and more colors appeared throughout the night.A student unwinds with music.Students make buttons and chat at one of the most convivial activities.
Use ORCID at BC to distinguish yourself from others, claim your work and build a visible online presence.
ORCID at BC was launched in May, with a strong endorsement from David Quigley, Tom Wall and Michael Bourque. They announced the initiative and invited faculty to use our new application to create an ORCID ID and link it to their BC ID number, which is easy to do at bc.edu/orcid. This option is available to all faculty, staff and students, and is available in the Agora portal under Other Services.
Your ORCID ID can help you ensure that all of your work is properly attributed to you, and help other scholars find all of your scholarly output with a single click. When you register for an ORCID ID (a process that takes about one minute), you will receive a unique identifier. This ID will:
Serve as a unique, persistent identifier for you throughout your career, even if you change your name.
Distinguish your work from others’ in the field
Allow you to create a profile that connects all of your publications, articles, datasets, and other scholarly outputs with your ID
Streamline submissions to publishers, grant funders, and associations, which increasingly integrate ORCIDs and send data to your profile
Automate annual reporting in systems that offer ORCID integration, such as Faculty 180 (coming soon!)
Give you control over what is made public, private, or available only to trusted parties
Once you have registered for an ORCID you can sign in at orcid.org, build your profile and use it to raise the visibility of your work. You can also link your BC single sign-in credentials so that you can use them to log in to ORCID.
Enter your ORCID when submitting publications and grant applications; the publisher or funder will add the ORCID to the publication itself and push information about the article or successful grant to your profile. Import information about your past publications from Scopus, CrossRef and other databases.
Add the link to your ORCID profile to your webpage, faculty profile, email signature, CV, and other publications and presentations. One click will bring researchers and potential collaborators to your list of works. The more you use the ORCID ID, the more it enhances your visibility.
Since its launch, the uptake by full-time faculty has been steady. From May 3 to May 18, approximately 150 of full-time faculty have created an ORCID ID or linked an existing one to their BC ID.
ORCID at BC faculty registration by top departments, May 3 -18
More information about ORCID and the ORCID at BC initiative is available on our ORCID at BC Guide.
A fun new way to ask questions debuts at O’Neill Library.
This past semester, the Boston College Libraries launched the Answer Wall. Located in a high-traffic area near our main stairs, this wall space is an area for students to post anonymous questions on post-it notes on everything from meaning of life (a recurring question) to how students can access library resources and technology. Though many of the questions are light-hearted or pertain to pop culture topics, the Answer Wall has also attracted a number of substantive reference questions and a number of questions on mental and emotional health topics. A dedicated team of library staff members split up the responsibility of responding to these questions each day in the persona of the Wall and so far they’ve responded to over 350 questions, including several in foreign languages. Wherever possible, answers include suggested library resources on the question’s topic or referrals to relevant on-campus services. Curious readers who don’t visit O’Neill Library regularly can follow along on the Answer Wall’s blog or watch for periodic posts of some questions on the Library’s social media pages.
The Answer Wall has proved popular not just in terms of the number of questions. It has been covered by a number of campus publications, including The Heights and The Gavel. Interest doesn’t seem to be tapering off either. Though the number of questions we receive varies widely by day, at the end of the semester we were seeing as many as 11 questions a day, with one recent weekend generating 19 questions that were answered on Monday. And in addition to all of these questions we’ve gotten plenty of post-its full of praise, suggesting that those who walk by are enjoying this new avenue for getting answers. The Answer Wall also spawned an end-of-semester book display that featured a number of resources that were recommended in Answer Wall responses or related to questions that we received.
So far, the Answer Wall has proven to be a fascinating look into student life and a great way of getting a sense of what our patrons are curious about. It has also been a great new way to connect people with BC resources, both within the library and throughout campus. Hopefully it will remain popular for years to come!
Boston College Libraries proudly awarded prizes for the 8th Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Poster Contest, April 26th, 2017 in the lobby of the O’Neill Library.
Boston College Libraries proudly awarded prizes for the 8th Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Poster Contest, April 26th, 2017 in the lobby of the O’Neill Library.
This event highlights the ongoing library initiative to engage students in the use of GIS as an essential tool for research and data visualization. The contest is an opportunity to meet and encourage the talented, enthusiastic students as we recognize their research in topics such as environmental changes, food security and health issues.
The first place awards of a $100 Amazon Gift Card went to:
Samantha Dow, Geology/MCAS, graduate prize: “Mapping channel changes in glacial and legacy sediment reaches of the South River”.
Mary Stack, Geology/MCAS, undergraduate prize: “Farmer’s Markets in Massachusetts”.
Library Director, Tom Wall congratulates undergraduate Mary Stack, 1st prize winner. (Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)Scott Britton, AUL Public Services, with graduate winners Samantha Dow, 1st prize, and Shan Shan, 2nd prize. (Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)
The second place awards of a $50 Amazon Gift Card, went to:
Shan Shan, Sociology/MCAS, graduate prize: “Inquiring and Visualizing Large-Scale Space: Placing China’s Changing Urban Hierarchy from 1985 to 2010 Into Spatial System”.
Theresa L Rager, Biology/MCAS, undergraduate prize: ”Failing Provisions and Failing Hearts: The association between grocery store access and cardiovascular disease”.
The third place awards of a $25 Amazon Gift Card went to:
Rachel Piccolino, Psychology/MCAS, co-winner undergraduate prize: “Impact of Sexual Education on HPV Vaccination Rates”.
Lesley Lopez, Sociology/MCAS, co-winner undergraduate prize: “Smoking and Stroke Prevalence across the United States”.
Awards were based on map quality, use of GIS as a research tool and originality. Special consideration was given to topics depicting social implications of the research such as environmental issues.
Past winning posters can be found in the university Institutional Repository: eScholarship@BC, under the category Juried Student Work. The entries of our newest winners will join this distinguished group.
We ask faculty to encourage their students to enter next year’s contest. Look for details on GIS Day, which will be November 15th, 2017.
Our thanks go to contest judges: Rudolph Hon, Associate Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Constantin Andronache, Research Associate, Research Services, ITS, Enid Karr, Science Librarian and Barbara Mento, Data/GIS Librarian.
Selected Recent Acquisitions Purchased with Boston College Library Endowment Funds With Thanks to Our Donors
Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library: Sciences, History & Geography (Gale) A full-text, searchable, digital trove of early printed books in Arabic script, so that Boston College scholars no longer need to travel to London or Cairo to consult the original resources included. Purchase Funded by The Vincent A. Wasik Family Library Fund and The National Endowment for the Humanities Library Endowment For more information: Chelcie Rowell, Digital Scholarship Librarian and History Liaison, O’Neill Library, and Kimberly Kowal, Associate University Librarian for Digital Initiatives and Services, O’Neill Library
Citation Connection Databases Added to Web of Science Platform (Clarivate, formerly Thomson-Reuters) Book Citation Index, Data Citation Index, Biosis Citation Index, Derwent Innovations Index, Current Chemical Reactions and Zoological Record and others. Purchase Funded by The Josephine E. Chiles ’03 Library Fund, The Grace C. Elbery Library Fund, The Class of 1927 Book Fund, The Class of 1933 Book Fund, The Class of 1934 Book Fund, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Endowment Fund. For more information: Sally Wyman, Head of Collection Development and Research Services, O’Neill Library
Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922 (Readex)
Part of the World Newspaper Archive Collection, this title offers access to historic newspapers from more than 20 Latin American countries in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The newspapers are full-text and include editorials, obituaries, poetry, advertisements and more. Purchase Funded by The Rubin and Sarah Garber Library Fund and The Yen-Tsai Feng-McNi Book Fund
For more information: Julia Hughes, Bibliographer for African and African Diaspora Studies, Asian Studies, Government Documents, Islamic Civilization and Societies, Latin American Studies and PoliticalScience, O’Neill Library
International Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2nd ed.
Demography, behavior, ethics, methods and much more, this interdisciplinary resource benefits the new Global Public Health Program at Boston College, as well as courses offered by the Connell School of Nursing and the School of Social Work. Purchase Funded by The Pope John XXI Library Fund
For more information: Wanda Anderson, Nursing Librarian, O’Neill Library
Introduction to a Burns Library exhibit exploring Irish women activists and their cultural contexts.
At Burns Library, commemorations of the Irish Rebellion of 1916 began early in 2016. The acquisition of the Loretta Clarke Murray collection, which provides a unique perspective of the Irish nationalist movement through the eyes and words of female activists, along with the Thomas and Kathleen Daly Clarke papers lent significant impetus to create an exhibit based on women’s involvement in the revolutionary period, 1900-1923.
Items on display reflect issues and events leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916, the ensuing Anglo-Irish War, and the Civil War that took place after the much contested 1921 Treaty with England. A handwritten journal from Margaret Skinnider, a combatant in the Rising in Dublin, is featured, as are: two versions of the constitution of Cumann na mBan (Irish Women’s Council, a sister organization to the Irish Volunteers); memorabilia from activist groups such as Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Ireland), co-founded by Maud Gonne; and autograph books circulated by women who were imprisoned during the Civil War. Several brooches—some styled after the Tara brooch, another incorporating a rifle and the abbreviation for Cumann Na mBan—materially represent the organizations that arose during this period of cultural and political activism. A particular highlight is a large and colorful embroidered panel featuring the Four Jewels of Ireland that was designed and executed by Maud Gonne.
Photograph by Gary Gilbert
In the years leading up to 1916, Irish nationalists sought to create an independent identity for Ireland in opposition to British rule. Individuals and groups looked back to a perceived golden age in literature, visual arts, language, crafts, athletics, and folklore. A great sense of national pride drove their politics, and eventually led some to engage in violent rebellion. The cultural revival fed into the ideologies of rebellion leaders and those committed to following them. The language of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic issued on the eve of the Rising in April 1916 reflects the passionately patriotic mindset: “In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.” An original copy of the Proclamation, on loan from The Irish National Famine Museum in Strokestown, Ireland, is also on display thanks to support from the Irish Heritage Trust.
Two events have been held in conjunction with the exhibit. On November 18, collector Loretta Clarke Murray visited and was on hand for a reception and discussion co-sponsored by Burns Library and The Eire Society of Boston. The discussion, facilitated by Burns Visiting Scholar Louis de Paor and BC English professor Joe Nugent, focused on the continuing importance of the Irish language. On February 3, Lucy McDiarmid, the Marie Frazee-Baldassarre Professor of English at Montclair State University, gave a luncheon talk titled “Fairies, Rebels, and the Boundaries of the House in 1916” based on her award-winning study At Home in the Revolution: What Women Said and Did in 1916.
Inghinidhe na hEireann assembly, unknown photographer, 1908 (?). [Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Museum, 13PO-1B54-14]Burns Library has continued to reach out to interested audiences by highlighting a few of the leading women of the Irish Rebellion in a series of entries on the John J. Burns Library blog. The posts have allowed us to provide more extensive information about these extraordinary women than could be contained in the exhibits panels and to reach those who cannot visit in person.
The exhibit has also offered students the opportunity to gain further insight into the time period. At least seven classes have visited the exhibit so far. Feedback from students and other visitors has been rich and varied.
Katherine Oksen, student assistant to Burns Library Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard helped to create mounts for items in the exhibit. Oksen wrote a blog post about the pieces of jewelry she worked on, and commented:
“The opportunity to be able to work on the Irish Women Rising Exhibit was rewarding in that it took elements of events that I had been learning about in my history class and expanded on it, while simultaneously zeroing in on the people my textbooks have tended to ignore. While it would be naive to declare that I can understand exactly what these women went through, I was given a fresh set of stories and materials to at least try to. I really loved having my work and my studies complement each other.”
Catherine McKenna, the Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University and department chair, remarked after bringing students from her “Ireland Rising” course to see the exhibit:
“[They] couldn’t stop talking … about the dozens of interesting things they’d seen and learned. And as for me, it was a revelation—Mollie Gill, Margaret Skinnider, about whom I’d known nothing at all…”
In addition to showing previously unknown documents and artifacts associated with prominent Irish women activists, the exhibit also brings to light roles played by lesser known women, thereby enriching our understanding of the significant but often overlooked contributions that hundreds of women made to Irish nationalist movements during the early decades of the twentieth century that ultimately led to independence from Great Britain and the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
Irish Women Rising: Gender and Politics in Revolutionary Ireland, 1900-1923 will be on display at Burns Library through March 25, 2017.
