In 1978 Boston College professors Adele Dalsimer (English Department) and Kevin O’Neill (History Department) began a collaboration teaching interdisciplinary Irish Studies classes, in response to student and faculty interest arising from the formation of Irish Studies programs at universities across the United States. Their collaboration was formalized as the Irish Studies Program in 1980. Dalsimer and O’Neill co-directed the program.

The program initially included courses in literature, history, performing arts, and medieval art history. Courses could be taken as electives, a six-course undergraduate minor, or a graduate concentration. A core of courses co-taught by Dalsimer and O’Neill covered eighteenth- to twentieth-century Irish history and literature. Irish language, music, and art were added to curriculum, as well as a PhD major in Irish History, by the mid-1990s.

In the early 1980s the directors created relationships with institutions in Ireland, establishing the University's first Junior Year Abroad at University College Cork, and a summer theater workshop at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The exchange with Ireland was furthered by the establishment of the Maeve O’Reilly Finley Endowed Fellowship and Father Martin Harney Fellowship, which funded post-graduate study in Ireland for Boston College students, and a matching fund for a University College, Cork graduates to study at the Boston College Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

In 1986 the program took over publication of the Irish Literary Supplement, a semi-annual scholarly journal originally published by Robert G. Lowery and the Irish Studies Press, New York City. Dalsimer and O’Neill served as editors. The Irish Studies program brought lecturers on Irish politics, religion, history, and arts to Boston College from Ireland and the United States through the Thomas J. Flatley Endowed Lecture series, the Levine lecture series, the Ancient Order of Hibernians lecture series, and the Public Affairs series.

The 1990s saw an expansion of programming. The Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies was formed in collaboration with the John J. Burns Library in 1991 to “teach courses, offer public lectures, and engage with the rich resources of the John J. Burns Library in their ongoing research, writing, and creative endeavors.” The Irish Studies Program also expanded its arts focus through its sponsorship of the annual Gaelic Roots Music, Song, and Dance festival beginning in 1993, and the Irish Focus Film series in 1994.



Sources:

"Irish Studies at Boston College" section from "Proposal for Irish Studies Endowment," Box 2, Folder 2, Kevin O’Neill papers, BC.2021.107, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

"Irish Studies Program," University Academic Planning Council survey of programs and departments, Box 2, Folder 2, Kevin O’Neill papers, BC.2021.107, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

"The Irish Tradition at Boston College (9/95)," Box 2, Folder 3, Kevin O’Neill papers, BC.2021.107, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Whiting, Doug. “University to begin publishing prestigious Irish literary journal.” Boston College Biweekly 6, No. 9 (30 January 1986): 1.

Kevin O'Neill was born in 1949. He received his B.A. from Marquette University (1971), his M.A. from Loyola University of Chicago (1973), and his PhD from Brown University (1979). He was a Fulbright Fellow at University College Dublin in 1976. He began his teaching career as a professor in the History Department at Boston College in 1977, a post he held until his retirement in 2021. He co-founded the Irish Studies Program at Boston College, co-directing it from 1978-2000 and as sole director from 2001 until 2003.

In 1984 O'Neill published his dissertation research as Family and Farm in Pre-famine Ireland: The Parish of Killeshandra (University of Wisconsin, Madison Press; re-released in 2003). In 1991-1992 he was a Fulbright Professor of Irish History at University College Dublin. His research there on the diaries of Mary Shackleton Leadbeater led to an array of conference papers and published chapters in edited collections.

O'Neill served as a member of the International Advisory Board of Irish Historical Studies; a member of the Fulbright Committee for Ireland (1997-2000); and as a historical advisor for the Strokestown Famine Museum, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, Ireland (1991-1997). He participated in the Global Citizens Circle, Boston in 1998 with “Northern Ireland: A New Government for a New Millennium” with Mo Mowlam, MP.

Sources:

"Dalsimer Lecture Celebrates Kevin O'Neill." Irish Literary Supplement Vol. 38 No. 2, March 2019.

Kevin O'Neill's curriculum vitae, on file, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

"A New Beginning." Irish Literary Supplement Vol. 5 No. 1, March 1986.