Collection News
Boxes of Irish History
“Boxes of Irish History” with Sinead McCoole Thursday, October 21st at 7pm Glucksman Ireland House NYU Sinead McCoole, curator of the Jackie Clarke Library and Archive in Mayo, discusses the extraordinary yet reticent man who built a collection of over ten thousand items spanning four hundred years.
“I want to leave the history of my country unedited for the people to judge.” -- Jackie Clarke
In 2005 a private archive and library of Irish history was revealed in Co. Mayo, a collection amassed during the lifetime of one man, Jackie Clarke (1927-2000) of Ballina. In accordance with his wishes, his widow Anne Clarke gave the Jackie Clarke Library and Archives in perpetuity to Mayo Co. Council on condition that the collection remains permanently in Ballina. The material spans 400 years. The earliest item dates from 1617. It includes many important and rare books on the history of Ireland, manuscripts, photographs, legal papers, pamphlets, hand-bills, film, political autograph books, letters, cartoons, maps and proclamations.
It will be an important resource for scholars and writers and a significant addition to the cultural tourism of Mayo. Historian Sinéad McCoole, curator of the collection and author of Hazel: A Life of Lady Lavery and Guns and Chiffon: Women Revolutionaries and Kilmainham Gaol, and Vincent Virga, picture-editor, author of Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations and co-author of Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States discuss the importance of the archive locally and nationally.
Free admission to Members of Glucksman Ireland House and to all students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For non-members: $10 donation at the door for the general event series. In order to ensure a seat at events, please RSVP to 212-998-3950 212-998-3950 (option 3) or email ireland.house@nyu.edu, except for the Blarney Star Concert Series which does not accept reservations.
New Collection Archivist
Mrs. Anne Clarke welcomes Killian Downing to the Jackie Clarke Collection also pictured is Mayor Frances McAndrew and Cllr Peter Clarke, son of the Donor and Deputy Mayor of Ballina.Killian Downing has just been appointed Archivist of the Jackie Clarke Collection. Anne Clarke expressed her delight at his appointment and wished him many years of happiness in Ballina. The Manager of the Clarke Collection Sinead McCoole said that his appointment was timely marking a new phase in the collection’s history, as the scaffold was erected on the former Provincial Bank the new home of the collection and on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the death of Jackie Clarke. Jackie Clarke died on 12 October 2000. Killian will be instructing documentation assistants in archiving and records management, as well as overseeing the move of the vast collection of over 600 boxes into the collection’s new home in 2011. Killian has a Masters in Archives and Records Management from University College Dublin as well as a primary degree and Masters in music from the NUI Maynooth. His specialist area of expertise is in the area of the development of portal websites in Ireland.
Curator/Manager
Sinéad McCoole
The Jackie Clarke Collection
Pearse Street, Ballina, Co Mayo.
Phone: +353 (0)96 70833
Email: smccoole@mayococo.ie