NUI Galway's library has been presented with a collection of personal letters and material belonging to a close friend of the State's first president, Dr Douglas Hyde.
The collection was presented to NUI Galway's James Hardiman Library this week by the family of Tom Morrisroe who was born and raised in Ratra, near Frenchpark, Co Roscommon, where Dr Hyde lived.
The Morrisroe-Hyde papers include an extensive collection of letters in Irish from Douglas Hyde, who had taught Irish to Morrisroe, as well as material relating to Hyde's visit to the US to fundraise for the revival of the Irish language.
The James Hardiman Library already holds Lámhscríbhinní de hÍde, some 120 manuscripts gathered by Dr Hyde during his folklore studies and other related material.
Tom Morrisroe was a garda who was stationed in Mayo and subsequently in Galway before his death in a car accident in 1954. His daughters, Evelyn Morrisroe Connolly, who lives in New York, and Sr Bernadine (Breege) Morrisroe, who is based in Dunmore, Co Galway, spent their childhood on what is now the NUI Galway campus at Morrisroe House.
"My father and his beloved friend, 'An Craoibhín Aoibhinn', enjoyed a life-long friendship which is reflected in the many letters written to my father from both Hyde's home in Frenchpark and Áras an Uachtaráin," Ms Morrisroe Connolly said.
NUI Galway librarian Marie Reddan said the papers represented "an important primary resource for research into the social, cultural and political history of Ireland in the late 19th century".
