Belfast's Linen Hall Library holds over 350,000 leaflets, posters and artifacts from the strife between Protestants and Catholics. A most informative and enthusiastic librarian is eager to show the collection and describe its history. In the 1960s as protests and organizing began to heat up, the forward thinking librarian of this essential storehouse of Irish history told the staff to bring in every scrap of political material they encounter that relates to "The Troubles". The collection chronicles the civil rights movement from its very beginning. It is the only collection of its type in the world, because most archives gathered their material retrospectively whereas this storehouse amassed items as the movement and its arguments formed at the onset. The library's collection is nonpartisan and willingly welcomes donations from both sides. This was not without risks, as the librarian told us that Irish law prohibits paramilitary collections in a public library. However, the neutrality of the collection and its importance is honored by both sides. In fact, both Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and the Northern Ireland Secretary of State both send annual Christmas cards to Linen Hall Library. On New Years 1994, the library was firebombed, although the collection was not harmed. The following week, Sinn Fein published a half page ad in the Irish Times saying that the "young volunteers" responsible did not realize the importance of the political collection. Contributions are still made regularly, including a police station unloading its entire archive of videotape footage, Sinn Fein city council member periodically delivering files, and from multiple donors who ask not to be identified. One collection of unknown contents is embargoed.
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| 2 (and a fraction) of the 350,000 items in the Troubles collection |
Extremely Informative, Helpful and Enthusiastic Librarian Gerry Devaney, Linen Hall Library, Belfast