The HardiBlog

We at the University of Galway Library are heartbroken to learn of the passing of a long-time friend of the Library and tireless champion of art and culture in the West of Ireland, Ronnie O’Gorman. Ronnie’s family link to the University’s library dates back to the 19 th century, when his grandfather, Philip O’Gorman, was hired as Clerk in the Library in November 1887 on the recommendation of Acting Librarian, Professor D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson.  He held this position until 1898, after which he went on to rent a shop on High Street before buying the building on the Shop Street end of Church Lane, now Easons, where he opened a book shop which grew into a thriving printing works, the Galway Printing Company, running the length of the lane.   Ronnie was well known to all in Galway as founder of The Galway Advertiser and, as readers of his weekly column will know, he had a keen scholarly interest and contagious enthusiasm for the history of Galway city as well for Irish Art and Irish lite

Archives and heritage collections are enduring, authentic and reliable sources of information, but in the 21st century, it is clearer than ever that they cannot remain static, resisting reinterpretation. Art and cultural productions provide an invitation to engage with complex stories and subjective experience, and increase knowledge and understanding of the past in a way that the realm of history and heritage (certain, quantifiable) finds difficult to achieve on its own. Unlike historical records that are sealed documents of the past, art proposes a continuation of historical moments by pulling them into the present in meaningful ways. Following the launch of the Imirce repository of Irish emigrant letters and memoirs in March 2024, Eibhlίn Göppert and David Burke selected letters from the Kerby A. Miller Collection to underpin an exhibition that creatively explores the enduring themes of migration.  The Exhibition  Port-Tales (2024) is a collaborative exhibition by artist Eibhlίn G