I never cease to be amazed every time I walk into the American Irish Historical Society, whose elegant home located at 991 Fifth Avenue, just across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art leaves me in awe. The AIHS dazzles in several different ways. The building is an architectural treasure, one of the few remaining Gilded Age mansions that once lined this prestigious street. There is so much that dazzles it is hard to choose. Is it the marble walls and staircase? Is it the bay windows with the stunning views of the Metropolitan Museum of Art just across the street or is the amazing paintings that seem to hang on every wall? And perhaps most dazzling; it belongs to the New York Irish community!
I won’t rehash the all-too-familiar recent controversy surrounding the AIHS that featured in local newspapers, but instead focus on the amazing woman who is going to revitalize this wonderful institution, Dr. Elizabeth Stack. Before discussing he many qualifications, I would like to share a story about her complete lack of pretension. Someone had stained one of the floors in the stately mansion, but instead of calling for a custodian, Elizabeth whipped out a mop and unceremoniously cleaned the floor herself. The Listowel, Co. Kerry, native Dr. Stack combines an extraordinary resume with a down-to-earth ability to connect to a wide range of people. She seems to be the perfect choice to rebuild bridges to New York’s Irish community.
Dr. Stack is a first-rate scholar. A fluent Irish speaker and former secondary school educator, she was the executive director of the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, N.Y., for six years before taking over the top job at AIHS. Before her tenure in Albany, she served as Assistant Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at Fordham University and has experience teaching history at the university level. She earned a PhD in American history, focusing on Irish immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
We sat in the foyer on the first floor of the society’s stunning home to talk about her role in revitalizing this important institution. Taking over the direction of the AIHS would be challenging under any circumstances, but Elizabeth had no real handover and she had to start running the organization largely from scratch. Despite this huge hurdle, Elizabeth exudes a quiet, but fierce determination to restore the society to all its former glory.
Elizabeth and I were both keenly aware of the many ironies related to the building. When this mansion first opened its doors, probably the few Irish who ever entered were servants of the millionaires who owned the place. We were also aware that times have changed. Whereas once the AIHS was a male-dominated institution, now its director is a woman. Times have surely changed.
We spoke about the history of the organization and its Fifth Avenue home. The AIHS was founded not in New York, but in Boston in 1897. Its founders were Irishmen and Irish Americans who felt slighted by the Boston Brahmins because of their Celtic roots. They determined to create an organization that would celebrate the many Irish contributions to America, many of which predate 1776. Their sense of being outsiders in America played a profound role in creating the AIHS.
We also spoke about the role of New York State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Cohalan, an AIHS stalwart who played a vital role in 1939 in acquiring the Fifth Avenue mansion. Like the AIHS founders, Cohalan chafed at the condescension that WASP elites showed the judge and other Irish Americans. Many of the building’s busts and paintings reflect a determination to show WASPs that the Irish had made significant contributions to American history and that the Irish were inferior to no one. Cohalan passed away in 1946, but his spirit lives on in the AIHS and the building.
The AIHS offers three different tours of the mansion, each one focusing on some special aspect of the townhouse. There is a Gilded Age tour that tells the story of the building’s owners and helps the visitor appreciate the unique history and architectural splendor of one of this unique surviving Fifth Avenue townhouses. There is an Irish history tour that uses the society’s amazing collection of Irish and Irish American historical artifacts to discuss Irish history. Finally, there is a treasures tour that shows the visitor some of the gems of the AIHS collection including an original 1916 Irish Republic Proclamation, paintings by Jack B. Yeats and other prominent Irish painters, and a bust by legendary sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, as well as sculptures by other Irish sculptors.
I have been to two events at the AIHS and there is no more elegant space in New York I know of for an Irish-themed evening. Dr. Stack wants the AIHS to be a home for both Irish and Irish Americans to share Irish culture. Elizabeth also expressed a hope that the AIHS can serve as a venue to discuss the evolution of modern Ireland and the contemporary concerns of its citizens.
Though Elizabeth wants to encourage the New York Irish community to find a home at the AIHS, she wants the AIHS to reclaim its historical mission as a place for scholarship. The AIHS has an amazing library and archive, and she expressed her happiness that scholars are again using the material of the AIHS for important research.
Talking to Dr. Stack, I sensed our mutual passion for Irish history and a shared understanding of the uniqueness of the society’s home and resources. The AIHS is a special legacy, which should be preserved and handed down to future generations. With Dr. Elizabeth Stack at the helm, I feel sure that the ship has been righted and will follow a new course to help Irish America reclaim this treasure to celebrate our unique history and culture.
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