Why was there a fuss about the Berkeley name?
George Berkeley, an individual hailing from Kilkenny, sent his birth year of 1685 into a life riddled with theological and philosophical exploits, largely based at Trinity. However, his ownership of a Rhode Island plantation and possession of slaves led to the halt of Trinity’s library’s alliance with him. There was more: this philosopher was bent on promoting ideologies that favoured slavery and encouraged racial prejudice.
Can you specify which library we’re referring to?
The largest library of Trinity is our subject here. Once you step into the college campus, you won’t miss the brutalist, industrial-like block of concrete intimidating the Arts Block, neighbouring a golden orb. This entity consists of one third of the BLU complex – the erstwhile Berkeley, the Boland it is now, along with Leckey and Ussher. And on the bright side, renaming notwithstanding, the BLU tag remains intact, no inconvenience there.
Eavan Boland – who was she?
Boland breathed her last in 2020 – a Trinity graduate, her talent in poetry emanated throughout her long career, making her one of the prime female proponents of Irish literature. Her literary contribution encompasses 11 poetry collections, award-winning essay anthologies and volumes of prose. Two of her collections, 23 Poems and Autumn Essay, got published when she was not even 20. Several others, namely, In Her Own Image, Outside History and Domestic Violence closely studied the feminine identity down the years and in the modern world. Women’s experiences were at the core of her writing.
In 1967, she was inducted as a junior instructor at Trinity, and she found herself back there in 1989 as a writer fellow in the Arts Council residency hosted by the TCD’s School of English. Boland’s 1996 saw her as a faculty member in Stanford University, assuming the role of the head of the creative writing programme.
Close to her demise, the Irish government along with the Royal Irish Academy solicited her to author a poem – a tribute to the 100-year journey of women’s right to vote in Ireland. She lent her voice to this piece, Our Future Will Become the Past of Other Women, at the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
Who came up with the idea of giving the library her name?
Ultimately, the decision rested with the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group, who contemplated “evidence-supported proposals”. Mary Robinson, among others, signed a letter to this newspaper in 2021, requesting Provost Prof Linda Doyle to reserve an area on the campus in honour of Boland. The Trinity’s College Historical Society (or the Hist) held a debate in which other ideas were presented, which also included proposals for the Oscar Wilde Library, the Jonathan Swift Library and the Freedom Library.