Tyler Mignault

The Whitney Ave. building that is home to the former Quinnipiac Great Hunger Museum remains unused.

The student-led petition to reopen Quinnipiac University’s Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum reached over 2,000 signatures, leading to a letter sent to President Marie Hardin by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.

On Oct. 31, three members of Ireland’s Great Hunger Bord — Turlough McConnell, Catherine Shannon and Joseph McDonagh — met with Hardin. As DeLauro was unable to attend, District Director Jennifer Lamb read DeLauro’s letter addressed to Hardin. DeLauro is a U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District.

In her letter, she detailed her upset from the museum’s initial closure and urged the university to reconsider the decision.

“Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum provided a sobering experience of the suffering and resilience of the Irish, a story that unfortunately has been replicated across many decades and cultures,” DeLauro wrote in her letter. “With the building in Hamden specifically designed to enhance the story which the collection tells, the museum became a community treasure and I supported the efforts to reopen it in its current collection so it could continue its critical mission of education and understanding.”

The museum was opened in 2012 by President Emeritus John Lahey, but was later closed in 2020 by President Emerita Judy Olian during the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum housed a collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials, serving as a resource for students, staff and the local community. It also attracted visitors from Ireland.

“I have long advocated to keep Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum open,” DeLauro wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “The museum contains the world’s largest collection of Great Hunger-related art and artifacts that illuminate the story of The Great Famine and the suffering and resilience of the Irish.”

In 2021, the university announced the permanent closure of the museum and over 100 people, including state officials, gathered at the building on Whitney Avenue in protest.

After the announcement, DeLauro immediately began working with local advocates as well as directors of Ireland’s Great Hunger Bord to request the museum be reopened and advocate for the collection not to be dismantled.

In her letter, DeLauro also highlighted that after the museum’s closing, the university had plans to move the collection to the Gaelic American Club of Fairfield (GAC). However, the GAC did not have the qualifying tax status needed to accept the collection.

The university once again said that they are collaborating with Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield, Inc. (IGHMF) to provide public access to the collection. President Hardin has not issued a statement.

“(IGHMF) has made meaningful progress on establishing a new home for the collection in Fairfield,” John Morgan, associate vice president of public relations, wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “In the meantime, IGHMF is showcasing art from the collection through exhibitions around the state and region.”

However, it has been five years since the museum’s closure and the full collection remains inaccessible to the public — a fact that continues to leave DeLauro, Lahey and local advocates unsettled.

“My views on this matter have not changed over the past five years during which time the museum doors have remained closed, the collection is largely collecting dust in Hamden/North Haven, and the stated plan to move the collection to some entity in the Town of Fairfield remains a pipe dream,” Lahey previously wrote wrote in a statement to The Chronicle.

DeLauro echoed this concern.

“The paintings and sculptures comprising the collection remain in storage without professional curatorial oversight,” DeLauro wrote. “I continue to remain concerned about the safety of the collection and about the future of the building located on Whitney Avenue in Hamden, which itself is a unique and award-winning work of art.”

Without that “curatorial oversight,” the collection could potentially be in jeopardy, according to DeLauro.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Bord member Joseph McDonagh shared the same upset and confusion for the state of the collection.

“It is baffling to think that the University intends to give this asset to a private group in Fairfield who have no prior experience, either with museums or the Great Hunger, a group that has demonstrated little or no ability to raise the $5-7 million needed to build the facility that they are planning,” McDonagh wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “And when you consider that Quinnipiac University already has an Irish Studies program, a partnership with University College Cork in Ireland, and the Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, it makes even less sense.”

McDonagh also noted what is needed to reopen the museum: a board of trustees for the collection, funds to make the museum self-sufficient and collaboration with university academic departments.

A board of trustees previously existed but was dismantled.

The push for reopening the museum and keeping the collection safe is not new. The non-profit bord formed in 2022 and “is a global network of people committed to remembering and memorializing the worst catastrophe of 19th century Europe,” according to IrishCentral.

Since its formation, the bord took a special interest in Quinnipiac’s former museum and has since been working to spread awareness and advocate for the museum to be reopened. 

In 2023, the bord sent an open letter to former President Joe Biden, asking for his help as he too is of Irish descent. The letter can be found on the bord’s official website, as well as more information on the Great Hunger and the push for Quinnipiac’s museum to be reopened.

As the advocacy for the museum ramps up again, those involved hope to see the university reconsider the closure.

“I will continue to work with the collection’s advocates on a solution, and I urge Quinnipiac University to consider reopening the museum at its Whitney Avenue location,” DeLauro wrote. “The collection must remain accessible and intact for students and the wider community.”