2001 Tercentenary events

Marsh's Library 1701 - 2001

In 2001 Marsh's Library celebrated three hundred years of the first public library in Ireland. A number of events were held during the year to mark the occasion.

Postage stamp

On 14th March 2001 An Post (the Irish post office) issued a fine stamp and first-day cover commemorating the establishment of Marsh's Library in 1701. This is one of the most beautiful commemorative stamps issued by An Post and features a portrait of Archbishop Marsh in his Library.

Services

On the 19th April 2001 Choral Evensong in Trinity College Chapel commemorated Archbishop Marsh as Provost of Trinity College.

On Saturday 5th May 2001 a liturgical presentation of the mediaeval mystery play the Visitatio Sepulcri was sung by the Choral Scholars at Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral. The Visitatio Sepulcri is included in a 14th-century manuscript Processional in Marsh's Library.

On Sunday 27th May 2001 the tercentenary was specially commemorated at Evensong in St Patrick's Cathedral. The Dean of Christ Church and the Chief Justice read the lessons, and the Keeper of Marsh's Library gave the address. Archbishop Empey laid a wreath on Archbishop Marsh's monument in the Cathedral.

Exhibition

On the 9th July 2001 the President of Ireland, Mrs Mary McAleese, opened the tercentenary exhibition This Golden Fleece in Marsh's Library. The title was chosen because when Archbishop Marsh bought Bishop Stillingfleet's great library and brought it to Dublin it was described as 'This Golden Fleece'. The President was welcomed by Archbishop Empey.

The illustrated catalogue of the exhibition was compiled by the Muriel McCarthy, Keeper of Marsh's Library, and Mrs Caroline Sherwood-Smith. The exhibition remained open to the public until mid 2002.

Concert

A private concert of Marsh's music took place in the Library on Saturday 14th July 2001. This concert was held to perform some of the music that Marsh played at his weekly consorts while he lived in Oxford. The music was instrumental and sometimes vocal performed by The Dublin Viols and Zefiro Singers, organised by Mr Andrew Robinson. The programme included music from Marsh's Lute Book and manuscript collection and pieces by Ferrabosco, Viadana, and Tomkins. Also included were two of Moore's melodies to commemorate the fact that Tom Moore used to carry out research in Marsh's Library in the 19th century.

Conference

The tercentenary conference on The Making of Marsh's Library took place from Thursday 4th to Saturday 6th October 2001. The speakers were Prof. J.G.A. Pocock (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD), Dr Edward McParland (Trinity College Dublin), Prof. Michael Hunter (Birkbeck College London), Dr Raymond Gillespie (NUI Maynooth), Prof. Stuart Clark (University of Wales, Swansea), Dr Justin Champion (Royal Holloway College, London), Dr Toby Barnard (Hertford College, Oxford), Dr David Hayton (Queen's University, Belfast), Prof. Andrew Carpenter (University College Dublin), Prof. Ruth Whelan (NUI Maynooth), Dr Thomas O'Connor (NUI Maynooth), and Prof. William Horbury (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).

The conference was officially opened on Thursday evening with an introduction by Archbishop Empey and a talk by Professor Pocock. This was followed by a reception in the Library. Over 50 delegates, from universities and libraries in Britain and Ireland, attended the two-day conference. The lectures were on a wide range of topics connected with the Library, its collections, and the late 17th/early 18th century world into which it was born. The four sessions were chaired by Mr Nicholas Robinson, Dr Kenneth Milne, Dr James McGuire and Dean Robert MacCarthy. On the Friday night there was a conference dinner in the Kildare Street Club.

The conference programme is still available, and the proceedings of the conference have been published.

State Reception

On 8th November 2001 Síle de Valera, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, hosted a reception to mark the tercentenary of Marsh's Library in the Ballroom at Iveagh House, St Stephen's Green.

Video

As part of the library's tercentenary celebrations a video has been made to record all the tercentenary services and events.

Publications

An article by the Keeper, Muriel McCarthy, entitled Elie Bouhéreau, first public librarian in Ireland, was published in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society, vol.XXVII, no.4, in October 2001.

A number of further publications are available:

1. An edition of Archbishop Marsh's Diary, with an introduction, by Raymond Gillespie.
2. The proceedings of the tercentenary conference The Making of Marsh's Library (Oct. 2001).
3. All Graduates & Gentlemen, a second edition of Muriel McCarthy's book on Marsh's Library.
4. The Decorated Bindings in Marsh's Library, by Mirjam Foot.
5. A study of the Bishop Stearne Collection in Marsh's Library, by Toby Barnard (to be published).

Articles

Newspaper articles about the Library in its tercentenary year included:

• Irish Times 7th April 2001, interview with Muriel McCarthy, Keeper of Marsh's Library, by Vincent Browne.
• Irish Times 14th April 2001, feature article on Marsh's Library by Arminta Wallace.

Note: Access to the text of the Irish Times articles requires a subscription.