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Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield was established by leaders of the Gaelic-American Club of Fairfield and investigates the Famine and its impact through art. We have partnered with Quinnipiac University to serve as the new caretakers and curators of the IGHM collection, and our museum interprets the Famine visually, allowing artists — both those contemporaneous with the Great Hunger and those working today — to explore the impact of the loss of life, the leeching of the land, and the erosions of language and culture. Through its display of outstanding historical and contemporary images, layers of history are peeled back, to uncover aspects of the Famine indecipherable by other means.

Per Special Request*

Layers of History: Kilmallock in County

Limerick During the Famine

Famine Commemoration Day Presentation

by Loretto Leary

May 18th 2025

A town's rise and fall is like an ancient tapestry interwoven with layers of history—at times it is woven with golden threads of prosperity, displaying vibrant scenes of bustling streets and booming trades. As time passes, the tapestry's colors fade, and fraying edges whisper stories of abandonment in empty streets and silent village squares. In County Limerick, Kilmallock is a town interwoven with layers of history, which has known both the golden threads of prosperity and the silent squares of abandonment.

In 1832, Kilmallock was recognized as a historic town in County Limerick, renowned for its rich ecclesiastical and architectural heritage. Once a fortified settlement, it housed monasteries, castles, and stone houses, tracing back to a monastery founded by St. Maloch in the 6th century. The town declined sharply after Cromwell’s forces dismantled it and became caught in historic battles surrounding the famine and the Irish Civil War in 1922.

READ PRESENTATION

* Due to the overwhelming response to Loretto Leary's presentation on Famine Commemoration Day at the GAC we have published her presentation in it's entirety

Images of the Founders' Gala on April 5th 2025

The Founders’ Gala April 5th at the

Gaelic American Club

It was not just a celebration; it was a testament to the unwavering commitment of our community to preserve and share the story of Ireland’s Great Hunger.

We gathered in recognition of the remarkable journey - one fueled by passion, resilience, and the belief that history must be remembered, honored, and taught. Our museum’s mission is not only to safeguard the most extensive collection of Great Hunger art in the world but also to expand it, ensuring its relevance for future generations.

With that vision in mind, we are proudly unveiled two rare and significant watercolor paintings by Alfred Downing Fripp, RWS (1822–1895), Galway Family Preparing Food in a Cottage and Irish Mendicants. These works, painted in 1845 at the very onset of the Great Hunger, are poignant reminders of a history that must never be forgotten. Their acquisition marks a significant step forward in our promise to grow this collection, making IGHMF a living center for dialogue, education, and cultural preservation.

The Irish community has always been the best storyteller of its own history. Through the art we safeguard, we give voice to those who suffered, persevered, and built new legacies. This museum belongs to all of us - not just as a repository of the past, but as a beacon for the future.

The community support at the Founders Gala strengthens our mission and brings us closer to realizing a permanent home for IGHMF in the Fairfield Historic District. Together, we are building something enduring - something that will educate, inspire, and stand as a tribute to our ancestors.

Thank you for being part of this journey.

SEE PHOTOS

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Fairfield Hosts Irish Famine Commemoration Day to Honor Resilience and

Remembrance at the

Gaelic American Club in Fairfield, CT

Loretto Leary
Contributor @IrishCentral
May 20, 2025

On Sunday, May 18, the Gaelic American Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, hosted the 2nd Annual Irish Famine Commemoration Day Ceremony, an event held in conjunction with Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield.

This solemn and poignant gathering paid tribute to the millions affected by one of the darkest periods in Irish history - the Great Hunger of 1845 to 1852.

The ceremony commenced with the stirring performances of the Irish and American National Anthems, sung by Judy O’Halloran Sullivan and Con O’Halloran, setting a reverent tone for the occasion.

The Irish Famine Immigrant Experience

on Staten Island

Author and Journalist Loretto Leary will share the incredible history of the Irish Famine Immigrant Experience on Staten Island and connecting that history to Rowan Gillespie's sculptures, Statistic 1 and 2, currently on exhibit at Fairfield University's Walsh Gallery (April11 - August 16, 2025) in the An Gorta Mór: Selections from Ireland's Great Hunger Museum.

Wednesday, June 18th from 6:30 - 8 PM @fairfieldlibrary

1080 Old Post Road in Fairfield, CT

TO REGISTER

An Gorta Mór: Selections from Ireland's

Great Hunger Museum

Fairfield University's Regina Quick Center for

the Arts Walsh Museum Exhibition

Fairfield University Art Museum

1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, Connecticut 06824

April 11 – August 16, 2025

This exhibition will present some of the highlights of the collection of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum. This remarkable collection investigates the Irish Famine of 1845-1852 and its impact through art, by some of the most eminent Irish and Irish-American artists of the past 170 years.

Information on the Museum Founder’s Ball, the Walsh Museum event, and the unveiling of Alfred Downing Fripp’s paintings, will be updated here as we get closer to these events.

WATCH VIDEO

Paul Muldoon Event on November 7, 2025

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities and Founding Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004 and has also served as president of the Poetry Society and poetry editor at The New Yorker.

MORE TO COME

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IGHMF needs your support

Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield is a work in progress and needs your support to see it to completion.

You can help IGHMF along this journey by making a donation and by volunteering your time.

Please visit the IGHMF Donation Page