Following a University Board meeting, the former Berkeley Library, also referred to as the X Library and “the library complex”, has been renamed as the Eavan Boland Library. The decision comes following the nominations of 850 name submissions by the public. Of the hundreds of names submitted, 50 individuals recommended the library be named as the Eavan Boland Library.
Who was Eavan Boland?
Boland was an Irish poet and alumna of Trinity College Dublin, famous for her writing on feminism and motherhood as well as Irish mythology and politics – she was the daughter of a diplomat, Frederick Boland, and a painter, Frances Kelly. She published eleven poetry collections during her life, including In a Time of Violence, which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, and The Historians, which was published after her death in 2020.
Boland was one of the first preeminent Irish female poets, writing about life as an Irish woman and mother with a strong critical streak of Irish history’s masculine lens.
“Few writers had done more to insert the female experience into the modern Irish poetic tradition,” journalist Fintan O’Toole said of Boland.
Boland was a tenured Professor of English at Stanford University for over 20 years and had previously taught at Trinity as a junior lecturer. She also served as a Writer Fellow in the School of English’s Arts Council Residency. In 2004, Boland received an honorary degree from Trinity to mark 100 years since women were first allowed into the college.
“[Eavan Boland] was an irreplaceable figure in contemporary poetry; our future is lit by her legacy,” one Trinity Alumni said.
Denaming
The library was denamed on April 26th 2023, following a University board-wide vote. This renunciation was because of George Berkeley’s purchase of four enslaved people, who he baptised as Philip, Anthony, Edward and Agnes Berkeley to work on his Rhode Island estate from 1730-31. Philosopher Berkeley is recorded as advocating for enslavement in at least one sermon.
The renaming of the library is the latest in a series of attempts at reparations for Trinity’s participation in colonialism and other legacy issues. It has included initiatives such as the return of stolen crania to Inishbofin in Galway taken in the 19th century.
In 2022, the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group was founded by Linda Doyle in an effort to address and rectify Trinity’s history, particularly their actions during the colonial period.
Their website includes a section where people may submit concerns relating to human remains, or ideas pertaining to the renaming of the library.
“We’ve put together the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group and spent time thinking about what would be the exact right kind of process to have that would give these kinds of questions the proper respect they were due” the Provost claims in a video on their website.
