Ireland's Great Hunger Museum Collects 165 Pounds Of Non-Perishable Food

From Quinnipiac University: Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University recently collected 165 pounds of non-perishable food items, which were donated to the Connecticut Food Bank.

“We are pleased to work with Quinnipiac University to give back to our community,” said Claire Puzarne, manager of the museum. “It is especially fitting and meaningful to focus our efforts on helping to end hunger in Connecticut.”

The museum, located at 3011 Whitney Ave., is home to the world’s largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials relating to the Irish Famine. The museum preserves, builds and presents its art collection to stimulate reflection, inspire imagination and advance awareness of Ireland's Great Hunger, a tragic period in Irish history from 1845-52 when more than one million people died of famine or famine-related diseases.

Works by noted contemporary Irish artists are featured at the museum including internationally known sculptors John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and Éamonn O'Doherty; as well as contemporary visual artists, Robert Ballagh, Alanna O'Kelly, Brian Maguire and Hughie O'Donoghue. Featured paintings include several important 19th- and 20th‐century works by artists such as James Brenan, Daniel Macdonald, James Arthur O'Connor and Jack B. Yeats.

The museum, which is free to the public, is open Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, 1-5 p.m. For information, visit www.ighm.org or call 203-582-6500.

Photo Caption: Elizabeth C McGarry, a Quinnipiac University employee, sorts some of the non-perishable food items that Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University collected for the Connecticut Food Bank. Photo by Autumn Driscoll of Quinnipiac University.