The John J. Burns Library of Rare Boston College has acquired three significant archives of material for its Irish Collection, which is already considered to be the most comprehensive collection of Irish research materials in the United States. The three new acquisitions are an important George Bernard Shaw collection, the Bobby Hanvey Photographic Negative Archive and the Samuel Beckett-Robert Pinget collection.
The Shaw collection comprises 3,400 items related to the playwright, including manuscripts, letters, autographed books, photographs, etchings and paintings. The Hanvey photographic collection contains more than 11,000 negatives by the prominent Irish photojournalist from County Down who documented the major political and cultural figures and events throughout “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Included in this collection are 700 photos of poet Seamus Heaney. Lastly, the Beckett-Pinget Collection consists of correspondence in French between Becket and the swiss-born writer Robert Pinget as well as a letter from William Butler Yeats, a letter from Brendan Behan and a collection of posters and ephemera on “The Troubles.” ♦
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