The exhibit, “Gone Now, to Springfield,” on display at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History through Sept. 29.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — It is a well-trodden cliche to say that America is a country of immigrants, but that cliche is in the literal DNA of Springfield. The city and the Springfield Museums have partnered with the Office of Public Works of Ireland and the Blasket Centre, a heritage museum in Dunquin, Ireland, to explore their ties, largely from a group of Irish people who made Springfield their home.
The Blasket Islands are the westernmost point in Ireland, just off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. The islands were evacuated in 1953 due to a combination of harsh winters, declining population and difficult emergency access and communication. Many families that lived on the small group of now-deserted islands settled in Springfield.
“A lot of people who came from the Great Blasket Island made their home here,” Springfield Museums President Kay Simpson said. She added that the lives of many became woven into the fabric of Springfield in the first half of the 20th century, from firefighters and police officers to people working in city government. “We really are celebrating the fact that people from this area came to Springfield.”
In May, Springfield Museums Curator Elizabeth Kapp took part in a trip to Ireland organized by Explore Western Massachusetts. “She really was immersed in Irish history and culture,” Simpson said. From those experiences and through working with the Blasket Centre, the exhibit “Gone Now, to Springfield: Celebrating the Legacy of the Blasket Islands,” was created. The partnership is in its early stages, but Simpson said the plan is to explore exhibits and programs that can highlight the shared people and history of the two locations.
Simpson said Irish immigrants settled in areas of Springfield, particularly the Hungry Hill neighborhood. Newly immigrated families moved into the neighborhoods of relatives and others with a shared background, and the community grew. Similarly, there are large groups of people with Italian heritage in the South End and Latino neighborhoods in the North End.
“That’s how the story of Irish immigration really connects to the museums’ mission to tell the stories of all these people,” including Native Americans, Simpson said. She explained that while the Wood History Museum is now largely a museum of items, moving forward, the goal is to make the second floor more a museum of the people of Springfield.
On Sept. 17, Mayor Domenic Sarno, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield), state Sen. Jake Oliveira (D-Ludlow) and state Rep. Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow) were joined by County Kerry Mayor Breandan Fitzgerald, County Kerry’s General Counsel Sighle Fitzgerald, former state Rep. and Irish Cultural Center Board President Sean Cahillane, Simpson, Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau President Mary Kay Wydra, Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance representative Caroline Boland and Melinda M. Phelps and Patrick Sullivan, members of the Springfield Museums Board of Trustees. They celebrated the partnership by honoring the last living person from the Blasket Islands. Springfield resident Mairead Kierney Shea grew up on the Blasket Islands. While she emigrated to the United States in 1948, her parents still lived on the islands when they were evacuated.
Sarno presented Shea with a proclamation of “Mairead Kierney Shea Day.” In a press release, he said, “Springfield has a proud and strong Irish population, especially from our Hungry Hill neighborhood. As Mayor Fitzgerald put it earlier, the story of the Blasket Islands and Irish perseverance can at times be a sad story, but ultimately, it is a story of hope.”
The exhibit, “Gone Now, to Springfield,” is on display at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History through Sept. 29. For more information, visit springfieldmuseums.org.
