Springfield Museums to Announce Partnership with Ireland’s Office of Public Works

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums will announce a partnership with the Office of Public Works (OPW) of Ireland on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the Wood Museum of Springfield History. Together with the OPW, the Museums will explore the development of exhibitions, educational resources, and community events that enrich and promote the deep and enduring cultural and personal ties between Western Mass. and County Kerry.

Scheduled to speak at the press conference are U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Kerry Mayor Breandán Fitzgerald, Blasket Centre Manager Lorcán Ó Cinnéide, Explore Western Mass President Mary Kay Wydra, and Springfield Museums President Kay Simpson.

The first effort in this partnership is the exhibition “Gone Now, to Springfield: Celebrating the Legacy of the Blasket Islands,” currently on view in the lobby of the Wood Museum. The Blasket Islands (Na Blascaodaí) are a group of islands off the west coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland, uninhabited since 1954. Many Blasket Islanders immigrated to Springfield and Greater Western Mass. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, bringing with them the language, literature, culinary traditions, and familial connections that continue to shape the city today.

Local Blasket Islander Mairead Kearney Shea will attend the press conference. Born the youngest of seven children, she is the last living woman from the island. She came to the U.S. when she was 26 years old in the 1940s and worked as a seamstress at Berkshire Maid. She will celebrate her 102nd birthday in December.