Commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising Event at the University of Delaware Library Sunday, April 24, 2016, 12:30-2 p.m.

University of Delaware Library

181 South College Avenue Newark, DE

Free and open to the public

Light refreshments

An event commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin will take place at the Hugh M. Morris Library on April 24, 2016, in conjunction with the Special Collections exhibition "'A terrible beauty is born': The Easter Rising at 100." Featuring remarks by exhibition curator, Maureen Cech (Senior Assistant Librarian, Manuscripts and Archives Department), and talks by Associate Professor Bernard McKenna (Department of English) and Professor John Montaño (Department of History), the event will be held from 12:30-2 p.m. in the Class of 1941 Lecture Room.

Shortly after noon on April 24, 1916, Pádraig Pearse emerged from the newly formed headquarters of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic at Dublin's General Post Office. A small band of republicans’ brief insurrection over Easter Week 1916 resulted in their declaration of independence from Great Britain to form the Irish Republic (Poblacht na hÉireann). Quickly and violently squashed by the British, the Easter Rising became a defining moment for the complex landscape of Irish culture, politics, and history in the twentieth century.

The Special Collections exhibition "'A terrible beauty is born': The Easter Rising at 100" commemorates the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising through an examination of events and attitudes before and after the events of Easter Week 1916, including the Gaelic Revival, the rise of Irish Nationalism, the War of Independence (1917-1921), the Civil War (1922-1923), and Irish literature produced in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland during The Troubles in the latter half of the twentieth century.

The Special Collections gallery will be open from 2-3:30 p.m. for additional viewing of the exhibition.

A digital version of the exhibition can be viewed here.

Illustration: "Let Erin Remember." Printed postcard sent by Kathleen Clarke to Maeve Brennan. Laid into Maeve Brennan's copy of Robert Brennan's memoir Allegiance (Dublin: Brown and Nolan, 1950). Special Collections, University of Delaware Library.