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Former President of Ireland gifts rare book collection to DePaul University

Works from global stateswoman, human rights leader Mary Robinson feature famous Irish poets, authors

By Craig Keller / March 14, 2024 / Posted in: CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY / Twitter / Facebook

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CHICAGO — Mary Robinson, the first woman elected President of Ireland and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has gifted a collection of rare works of Irish literature from her personal library to DePaul University.​

The collection includes hundreds of first-edition, signed works by many of 20th-century Ireland’s most important poets, playwrights and prose authors, as well as other writers of the modern era. W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney, each of whom received the Nobel Prize in Literature, are well represented, particularly Heaney, who Robinson knew. It also contains many volumes of poetry by Eavan Boland, a lauded, contemporary poet and former Stanford University professor who died in 2020. With this gift to DePaul, Robinson seeks to honor Boland, with whom she also maintained a special friendship.

“The opportunity to engage with this respected leader, and then maintain the connection through her literary collection, will allow students and faculty from many parts of the university to consider, in an interdisciplinary way, the impact of literature and the arts on their own engagement with social issues,” said Mary McCain, director of DePaul’s Irish Studies Program​. “Various works in the collection can aid in the development of empathy for those from different cultures and perspectives and help our students deepen their sense of their own unique identity and place in the world."

Robinson was Ireland’s seventh president from 1990 to 1997 and high commissioner at the U.N. from 1997 to 2002. She also served as chancellor of Trinity College Dublin from 1998 until 2019. She remains an active, internationally renowned advocate for human rights, with a particular focus on climate justice. She is the current chair of The Elders, an international group of global leaders working for peace, justice and human rights, founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela.

The Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago and the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee have generously pledged funds that support the collection’s transference to DePaul and its integration as a resource that enhances DePaul’s Irish Studies Program and benefits other areas of the university. The organizations were attracted to the project by their own missions of promoting Irish culture in Chicago, their desire to support DePaul’s efforts to further the study of Ireland among students, faculty and the broader community, and their esteem for Robinson.

The Consulate General of Ireland in Chicago made the initial contact with DePaul on behalf of Robinson.

“DePaul was approached, as the [Irish] President’s office was keen that the collection sit in a teaching university with a deep connection to Ireland — preferably through an Irish studies program — and a commitment to affecting positive change in its community and beyond. For this reason, DePaul was a natural partner,” Consul General Kevin Byrne said.

Robinson paid tribute to Boland in expressing appreciation for the collection’s new home.

“I am delighted that DePaul University will provide an excellent home for my personal collection of Irish writers, and that my great friend Eavan Boland will be remembered by this collection being in her honor,” Robinson said. “I am grateful to the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago and the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee for providing funding in support of the collection being transported to DePaul, where it will form part of the Irish Studies program. I also appreciate the support of the Consulate General of Ireland in Chicago who made the initial contact on my behalf. I look forward to an opportunity to visit DePaul University in due course, and my real hope is that the books will be easily accessible to anyone who is interested in reading them.”

Robinson’s lifelong commitment to advocacy in Ireland and on the global stage for civil and human rights and climate justice is a compelling example of passion, energy and determination on behalf of marginalized populations and communities. Her gift to DePaul complements the university’s Vincentian commitment to academic access, community engagement, social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion. Since its founding in 1898, DePaul has remained dedicated to making education accessible to all, with special attention to including underserved and underrepresented communities. Through education and research, the university promotes peaceful, just and equitable solutions to social and environmental challenges.

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Media Contact:
Russell Dorn
rdorn@depaul.edu​