Obituaries

Keeper of Marsh’s Library who became its most dedicated guardian

Muriel McCarthy was the library’s first female and first Roman Catholic keeper

Muriel McCarthy in Marsh’s Library in 2009. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

Sat Aug 14 2021 - 07:00

Muriel McCarthy
Born: July 4, 1931
Died: July 28, 2021

Muriel McCarthy, the first female and first Roman Catholic keeper of Marsh’s Library, Ireland’s oldest public library, has died following a long illness. For more than 40 years – 22 of which she was the keeper, McCarthy passionately promoted the library’s historical collections of books, climbing up and down ladders to reach rare editions for international scholars, hosting exhibitions on everything from botany and astronomy to medicine and religion, and giving engaging tours of the 18th-century building on St Patrick’s Close, Dublin.

For McCarthy, no task was ever too much trouble if it brought further acclaim to her beloved library. She wrote a book on the library’s history, Marsh’s Library: All Graduates and Gentlemen (1980 and 2003). She also co-edited (with deputy keeper Ann Simmons) two books of papers from international conferences in the library in 2001 and 2007: The Making of Marsh’s Library: learning, politics and religion in Ireland 1650-1750 and Marsh’s Library – A Mirror on the World: law, learning and libraries 1650-1750. The latter conference commemorated the 1707 Act of Parliament which established Marsh’s Library. A privately funded project of Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, the library was designed by William Robinson, surveyor general of Ireland, in 1701 and subsequently filled with 30,000 rare and early printed books on science, music, history, politics, religion, law, literature, medicine, witchcraft and travel.

McCarthy spent many hours alone, wrapped in a winter coat, opening up the library for the occasional scholar or curious tourist

McCarthy’s strong attachment to Marsh’s Library began in the late 1960s when she volunteered there a few days a week. Then, she worked for many years as an unpaid librarian before being given a small stipend. At that time, many of the books were in a poor state; the galleries and reading rooms were freezing cold and the toilet was in a shed in the yard. McCarthy spent many hours alone, wrapped in a winter coat, opening up the library for the occasional scholar or curious tourist or when the Church of Ireland clergyman Canon Cecil Bradley – then deputy keeper of the library – popped in for a chat.

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Through her patient devotion to the library, she became a scholar herself. Over the years, she gave illustrated lectures on the library in Ireland and in the United States, raised money for building works to the library and to fund fellowships for international scholars. Renovation works – including the addition of a seminar room and indoor toilets – were completed with funds from the American Irish Foundation in the mid-1980s and a standalone conservation bindery funded by an American couple, the Delmases, was added in 1988. McCarthy was appointed keeper of Marsh’s Library in 1989 and remained in that position until 2011.

Hands-on knowledge

In an interview with The Irish Times in 2009, McCarthy said she learned almost everything about the job by doing it, supplementing her hands-on knowledge with classes in paper conservation and book bindery. “Working here opened so many opportunities to me and opened my mind to so many things... it has enriched my life more than I can say,” she said.

Her hard work and enthusiasm were rewarded with an honorary doctorate from Maynooth University and an honorary masters from Trinity College Dublin. And although she was a committed Catholic and active member of the Carmelite Church in Whitefriar Street, Dublin, she was made an honorary lay canon of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh for her commitment to the library. She was also a recipient of the Dublin Lord Mayor’s prize and a gold medallist at the Royal Dublin Society.

Muriel McCarthy and her twin sister, Mairead, were the middle children of four born to Liam and Christina Breslin. The family lived in Clontarf where Muriel and Mairead attended the Holy Faith School. However, the death of her father when she and her twin sister were eight and her brothers were 11 and three resulted in her mother getting work as a live-in housekeeper for St Joseph’s Young Priests Society on Merrion Square. The family lived in a flat on the top floor of the building.

Like many of her generation, Muriel left school early and worked for a time in Pilkingtons antique shop on Kildare Street. She met her husband-to-be, Cork-born Charles McCarthy, when she was 17. The couple married two years later and their three children were born and reared in their home on the Howth Road in Raheny, Dublin. When their children moved away from home and Muriel was already ensconced in the work for Marsh’s Library, the couple moved into a renovated apartment in the library. The death of Charles McCarthy, a well known trade unionist and academic, in 1986 left Muriel bereft but she soldiered on, dedicating more and more of her time to her work at the library.

Prof Ruth Whelan from Maynooth University said that Muriel became the doyenne of early printed librarians and libraries. “She acted as the unofficial guardian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin, advised on the preservation of the Bolton Library, Cashel and was an inspiration to the next generation of librarians entrusted with keeping these early print treasures safe and making them known.

Colleagues say that she had a great talent for bringing the glitterati of Dublin together for the summer exhibitions she held at Marsh's Library

“Muriel often remarked that the foundation of the library by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, at his own expense, was an ‘act of incredible generosity’. We could say the same of Muriel’s devotion to that library and of the many ways that she built it into an internationally known institution.”

Fearless

Renowned for her fearlessness, her feistiness and her great sense of fun, McCarthy was also politically astute and negotiated State-funded salaried positions for staff at the library during her tenure. She was equally at ease speaking to the local ladies of the Liberties as she was showing the library to visiting professors, ecclesiastical scholars or American patrons. So popular was she in the locality that the bells of St Patrick’s Cathedral were rung on her birthday.

Colleagues say that she had a great talent for bringing the glitterati of Dublin together for the summer exhibitions she held at Marsh’s Library. Opened by high-profile individuals including the former president Mary Robinson, the poet Seamus Heaney and the novelist Edna O’Brien, they were stylish events with live performances by musicians and beautifully illustrated catalogues that fast became collectors’ items.

McCarthy’s fascination with books and cultural matters also brushed off on her adult children. Her older daughter, Paula, runs a fine art press and gallery at the University of Wisconsin in Madison; her son, Justin, is a musician and her younger daughter, Martina, is a librarian and teacher. McCarthy retired from her job as keeper at Marsh’s Library when she was 80 and continued to live in the apartment there until ill health prompted a move to Newtownpark House nursing home where she died at the age of 90.

Muriel McCarthy (nee Breslin) is survived by her daughters, Paula (Panczenko) and Martina (Kealy), her son, Justin, her grandchildren, Caroline, Susan, Richard, Julianne, Charlie and Max and her best friend, Ann Simmons. She is predeceased by her husband, Charles, her twin sister, Mairead, and brothers, Sean and Liam

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