Quinnipiac University Welcomes Author Ellen Alden

From Quinnipiac University: First-time author Ellen Alden will discuss and sign her book, “Yours Faithfully, Florence Burke: An Irish Immigrant Story,” at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, 3011 Whitney Ave. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required here.

“Yours Faithfully, Florence Burke” is based on 19 original Civil War letters from Alden’s great, great grandfather to his wife and children. It is a story of one Irish immigrant struggling to make it in America at a time when the nation was divided.

Alden’s great, great grandfather was an Irish immigrant who lived in Massachusetts and worked as a tenant farmer.

“He came to America for a better life, but found his adoptive country less than hospitable,” Alden said. “An opportunity arises that could make his dreams come true, but it involves great personal risk to both himself and his family. He recalls the gamble he took when he fled the Potato Famine in Ireland, and wonders if he could make a gamble on his life one more time? Will his wife and children understand his decision to join the war?”

Alden is a graduate of St. Michael’s College in Vermont. She earned teaching degrees from Pepperdine University and Merrimack College Graduate School of Education. She worked as an elementary school teacher and lives in Andover, Massachusetts.” For more information, visit here.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University 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 and its long aftermath on both sides of the Atlantic.

The collection focuses on the famine years from 1845-52, when blight destroyed virtually all of Ireland's potato crops for consecutive years. The crop destruction, coupled with British governmental indifference to the plight of the Irish, who at the time were part of the United Kingdom, resulted in the deaths of more than 1 million Irish men, women and children and the emigration of more than 2 million to nations around the world. This tragedy occurred even though exports of food and livestock from Ireland continued and, in some cases, actually increased during the years of the Great Hunger.

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 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.

About Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,784 full-time undergraduate and 2,884 graduate and part-time students in 100 degree programs through its Schools of Business,Communications, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s “Best Colleges” issue. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 381 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit here. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.

Photo courtesy of Quinnipiac University: First-time author Ellen Alden, who will appear at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5. Contributed photo.