Unpublished letters written by W.B. Yeats, Sean O'Casey and Lady Gregory, a collection of Abbey Theatre plays and rare first editions of books signed by authors including James Joyce, have been presented to the library at NUI Galway.
The collection has been donated by Ms Christine Shields, daughter of the late Abbey actor, Arthur Shields, and niece of the actor Barry Fitzgerald. The extensive archive, which was formally given to the university president, Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, yesterday, comprises 15 boxes of archival material, including annotated directors' playscripts of many Abbey productions.
Among the rare first editions is Pomes Penyeach by James Joyce, published in Paris in 1927.
There are also programmes,posters, press cuttings, photographs, correspondence and even financial accounts relating to the Abbey, which had been kept by Shields when he moved to the United States.
The donation was secured through contacts established by Dr Adrian Frazier of NUI Galway's Department of English.
Shields (1899-1970) first performed at the Abbey when he was just 13 years old and became a full member of the company in 1916, the year he was arrested and interned in London for fighting alongside James Connolly in the GPO, Dublin. He rejoined the Abbey on his release and was a regular lead actor in Synge's Playboy Of The Western World in the 1920s and 1930s.
Much of the archive material which Shields kept relates to the US tours the Abbey undertook when he was a producer.
From 1930 he acted on Broadway and settled with his brother, Barry Fitzgerald, in Hollywood. He often worked on screen for the legendary director, John Ford.
Ms Shields is his daughter from his second of three marriages. His first two were to Abbey actresses Baisie McGee and Una O'Connor.
His third wife, Laurie, a Chicago-based journalist, undertook research with a view to writing a biography of him. However, she never completed it, and much of her work also forms part of the archive.
Ms Shields, who is a former US civil servant now working on adult literacy in Oakland, California, said it was always her intention to give the material to people who would appreciate it and be able to use it.
Her parents had missed Ireland desperately, she said, but had stayed in the US as there was more regular employment.
"When my father got together with his brother, Barry, the talk was always about Ireland and the Abbey," she said. "It is a great pleasure for me to be giving this now to NUI Galway."
Dr Ó Muircheartaigh said the donation would give students greater insight into the work and contribution of Arthur Shields.
The college librarian, Ms Marie Reddan, said Ms Shields's gesture would add to the existing theatre archives, including those given by Druid, Macnas, An Taibhdhearc, the Galway Arts Festival, the O'Malley Lyric Theatre in Belfast and, most recently, the John McGahern literary archive.
