US museum illustrates horror of Irish Famine

While he grew up in New York, John Lahey recalls, the Famine was almost a taboo topic.

But these days, the Quinnipiac University president and former grand marshall of the New York St Patrick’s Day parade is determined to show the world the horror and learn from the tragedy.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, which the Connecticut university is opening to the public on Oct 11 in Hamden, has the world’s largest collection of visual art, artifacts, and printed materials related to the Famine, officials say. It’s known in Irish as Músaem an Ghorta Mhóir.