Irish Collection
When the Illinois Chapter of the American-Irish Historical Society ran out of space to hold their library in 1927, the organization’s Secretary, Alexander Pope, hoped to find an opportunity to reach a larger audience by moving their collection to DePaul. In 1934, funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration were made available to catalog the mainly Irish-American related titles for access. Books of purely Irish interest were later added by Roger Faherty, Eugene F. O’Riordan and Rev. Hugh P. Smyth, C.M. During the 1940s, Rev. Jeremiah Lehane, C.M. began to focus on Irish literature, especially authors identified with the Irish Renaissance to coincide with academic programs and programs. Dr. William Feeney (Department of English) contributed manuscripts and playbills relating to Irish theatre and he acquired titles for the collection with funds provided by Eugene O’Riordan. A fund from the Meehan family accounts for acquisitions to the collection in recent years.