Lender Family Library, Literature and Art from Great Irish Hunger in Library

From the website of QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY in HAMDEN, CT

An Gorta Mor — The Great Hunger, believed to be America’s most extensive collection of art and literature from Ireland’s Great Famine, is on display in the Lender Family Special Collection Room of the Arnold Bernhard Library.

The collection features three oil paintings and a monoprint by Padraic Reaney and the sculpture of John Behan of the Royal Hibernian Academy, whose work representing the hope of the emigrant has been displayed in the United Nations; and a moving piece called “The Leave Taking” by Margaret Lyster Chamberlain of Massachusetts, among others. An original version of Rowan Gillespie’s “The Victim” is also on display.

An Gorta Mor also has an extensive group of books, some extremely rare, bearing accounts of The Great Hunger, and descriptive panels portraying impressions of that tragic time.

The Arnold Bernhard Library is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to midnight; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sundays, noon to midnight

For more information, call 203-582-8634. *Hours are subject to change, especially during holidays and University breaks. Please call to confirm hours.

Click here for a listing of the entire Hunger Room collection.

Come to the Irish-Language Mass at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral – Saturday, March 14th, 2009, at 12 Noon!

Old St. Patrick's Cathedral

Come celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick at New York’s First Cathedral!

In honor of St. Patrick, an Irish- and English-language Mass will be
celebrated at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street in Manhattan,
between Prince and Houston streets, on Saturday, March 14th, at 12:00 p.m.

Father Andrew M. O’Connor of Holy Family Church in the Bronx will
celebrate the Mass, with Msgr. Donald Sakano, pastor of the Old Cathedral,
as a concelebrant. Readings will be done in English by Father O’Connor and in Irish by Padraig O’Cearuill, Language Lecturer of Irish Studies, NYU. The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, led by Mick Moloney, Global Distinguished Professor of Irish Studies and Music, NYU, will perform traditional Irish music. Jared Lamenzo will play the beautiful and historic 1868 Henry Erben pipe organ. More information and photographs of this organ are online at http://www.jaredlamenzo.com/erbenrenewal.

After the Mass, a party celebrating the Feast of St. Patrick will be
held in front of the church, with traditional Irish music and refreshments.

This event is co-sponsored by the New York Irish History Roundtable, Glucksman Ireland House at New York University, and by St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

There is NO CHARGE to attend the Mass or after-party!

The historically-significant Old Cathedral was the seat of the Diocese (and then the Archdiocese) of New York from 1815 to 1879. The architect for this Gothic building was Joseph-François Mangin, who also designed Manhattan’s City Hall.

For more information, visit: http://irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/object/ne.oldstpatricksmass

N. Y. Times Profile of Woodside, Queens

Those of you who are not regular readers of the Sunday N. Y. Times real estate section may have missed the recent profile of Woodside, Queens, “Cheap, Convenient and Teeming.” The article notes the substantial if dwindling Irish community there, and goes on to tell about new immigrants from all over the world who now make the neighborhood their home.

As this is in the real estate section, the article devotes space to the prices of houses, co-ops, and rental apartments—which are affordable, at least when compared to those in nearby Manhattan. The piece also talks about the abundant public transportation, including subway lines and the Long Island Railroad. Among the “things to do” in Woodside the article gives a favorable mention to the burgers at Donovan’s Pub on Roosevelt Avenue.