Ireland’s Great Famine or The Great Hunger, as it is more commonly referred to today, ranks among the worst tragedies in the sweep of human history.  Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases.  By 1855, more than two million more fled Ireland to avoid a similar fate.  This decimation of her population makes Ireland’s Great Hunger both the worst chapter in the country’s history, and arguably, the single worst catastrophe in 19th century Europe.

The Lender Family Special Collection on The Great Hunger in Quinnipiac University’s Arnold Bernhard Library, with its art and library materials, will serve as an educational and scholarly resource to increase the awareness and improve the understanding, of the causes and consequences of Ireland’s Great Hunger.