Celebrating the Tercentenary Year of the Birth of Nano Nagle

New Publication

Nano Nagle: The Life And The International Legacy
Research project, supported by Ireland and England Units

As the important book produced by TJ Walsh is nearly 60 years old, a more up-to-date life is now required to present the charism to the many young scholars researching Nano Nagle today. The new book will a scholarly history of Nano Nagle and her legacy to education around the world. It is not a commissioned history, rather it is an official scholarly study arising from a research initiative between the Presentation Sisters, Ireland and England, and UCD Foundation. The initiative provides a grant to support post-doctoral research and direct research/publication costs only, for the production of a scholarly book. It administered via UCD Foundation and the UCD Finance Office.  The researchers have office space at UCD, and UCD travel insurance.

The lead researcher is Prof Deirdre Raftery, who is a historian of education at University College Dublin. Deirdre has received many international awards for research on the history of women religious, including a Fulbright (Boston College), a Hibernian Research Award (University of Notre Dame) and an Ireland-Canada University Foundation Award (University of Toronto). Deirdre is a member of the board of the National Archives of Ireland.

The text of the book is being written by Deirdre Raftery, with Drs Catriona Delaney and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck, for which they are doing extensive primary source research, drawing on many archival collections of the Presentation Sisters. It will be a fresh account of the education legacy of Presentation women, and a celebration of their global engagement with education needs. It will be published by Irish Academic Press, in 2018. Book Launch: November 2018.

The researchers observe the 40-year rule in PBVM archives, whereby materials less than forty years old cannot be used in research; the research observes best practice in with regard to data protection, and the researchers are not conducting any interviews with living persons for use in the research.

Pictured above: Dr Deirdre & Sr Marie Therese King digitising Nano Nagle’s letters for use by researchers internationally