"Indigenous Aid to Ireland During the Great Hunger"
Tuesday March 25, 2025 was the opening of the new exhibit "Indigenous Aid to Ireland During the Great Hunger" from Quinnipiac's Great Hunger Institute!
Even though the first nation tribes, like the Choctaw and Cherokee, were suffering their own displacements they still raised funds to send money for aide to the peoples of Ireland during the Great Hunger. The exhibit focuses on the connection of these gifts that has been honored in recent times.
Speakers for the exhibit opening included:
Catherine Conway, Ireland Lacrosse
Dr. Christina Dickerson, Quinnipiac University
Prof. Christine Kinealy, Quinnipiac University
Dr. Jason King, Irish Heritage Trust
Daniel Leeman Smith, Citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, New York University
Kiara M. Tanta-Quidgeon, Quinnipiac Alumni and member of the Mohegan Tribe
This exhibition pays tribute to the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat Indigenous peoples in Canada West (now Ontario) and Choctaw and Cherokee Nations in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) who contributed to Irish Famine relief in 1847.
While the donations made by the Choctaw Nations have long been acknowledged by historians, and increasingly by Irish politicians and the public, the role played by the Cherokee Nation has received less attention. The exhibition also features research based on newly discovered archival records in Canada that contain detailed evidence of collective decision-making and deliberations by the Indigenous Peoples, also referred to as First Nations, to provide aid for the Irish. The Anishinaabe letters are marked with their doodems (totems) that ratify treaty relations with other Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. Doodems also signified good will towards the recipient.
The donations to Ireland and, to a lesser extent, to the poor in the Highlands of Scotland, were offered in the context of broken treaties, broken promises and constant displacement. The Choctaws and Cherokees were still recovering from the recent, and traumatic, Trail of Tears, which had forced them to relocate hundreds of miles to ‘Indian Territory’. The First Nations in Canada were also constantly being uprooted. Moreover, all Indigenous Peoples were coping with increasing settler encroachment that resulted in considerable privation and broken relations with white settlers and with the American and the British governments.
The Home Rule Cartoons Collection comprises 29 political cartoons that were published in Ireland in the late 19th century. The cartoons were donated to Ireland's Great Hunger Institute in 2014 by Irish historian Gerard Moran. In 2017, the Institute and the Arnold Bernhard Library will be mounting a shared exhibition that will feature selections from the collection.
The Arnold Bernhard Library is currently cataloging a collection of bound Illustrated Newspapers from the 19th Century. These volumes have already been digitized and may be accessed via Ireland's Great Hunger Museum's Database.
The Irish American Cultural Institute Collection consists of almost 4,000 books on Irish literature, history, culture, and society, donated to Ireland's Great Hunger Institute in 2014. This collection includes first editions and rare copies of works by Lady Gregory, W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw and Sean O'Casey. Arnold Bernhard Library's staff are currently in the process of cataloging the collection.
The Irish Women's Movement : From Revolution to Devolution by 
Ancient Ireland : Life Before the Celts by 
Building Peace in Northern Ireland by 
Irish Literature : A Social History by 
Re-Imagining Ireland by The Arnold Bernhard Library and Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University have recently accepted a donation of print copies of The Irish Echo spanning several decades. Additional information about this collection will be added to this page in the future.
The Poverty Collection was acquired recently by Ireland's Great Hunger Institute and comprises 65 volumes published between 1683- 1914. The volumes in the collection cover a variety topics related to poverty in Ireland over the span of two centuries. The collection is currently being cataloged by the library.
