SAU Receives Special Book Collections, Significant Donation Will Enhance Irish Studies
by: Barb Arland-Fye, THE CATHOLIC MESSENGER
posted: Apr. 3, 2005

St. Ambrose University received a gift on St. Patrick's Day that will enhance its Irish Studies program in a major way.

Timothy Walch, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, is adding his 1,800 volume collection of Irish and Catholic Americana to the university's Lawrence McCaffery Collection of 400 Irish studies books and journals. Walch announced the gift during a St. Patrick's Day reception in the university's O'Keefe Library.

“This is a special day for me-and not just because it's St. Patrick's Day,” said Walch, a sixth generation American of Irish descent. “Today is a highpoint in a lifelong quest to locate and bring together books and other printed materials that document the journey of a people and their culture from Ireland to America…The saga of their experience is told in the more than 1,800 volumes that I am giving to this university over the next three years.”

He acknowledged McCaffery's contribution to St. Ambrose. “McCaffery is a graduate of St. Ambrose and generally considered the father of the Irish studies movement in this country. I am proud that my own collection would be joining his on the shelves of the O'Keefe Library.”

Walch began his collection 40 years ago as part of a reading assignment during undergraduate studies at Notre Dame University.

“I still remember racing through the pages of Thomas Brown's book, 'Irish American Nationalism.' I am pleased to tell you that two copies of that book are part of this collection. From the modest start, I built the collection on book at a time. The collection moved from Notre Dame to Northwestern to Chicago to Washington D.C., and then here to Iowa. With each trip, the collection grew and grew. I have to acknowledge my wife, Vicki, and my sons Tom and Brian for putting up with what we call 'dad's books.'”

Among the collection are biographies, novel, history. “The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America”(of which he was a contributing writer), and other works. About the only genre not included in the collection is an Irish cookbook.

Asked whether he has read every book in the collection, he responded in good Irish fashion, “I can speak intelligently for two minutes on each book.”

The oldest book in the collection, dated 1833, examines the Irish Rebellion of 1798-told from the victors' side. His favorite work of fiction in the collection is “Young Lonigan,” from the Studs Lonigan trilogy by James Farrell; Walch's favorite selection for nonfiction is “I'd Do It Again!” the autobiography of the late James Michael Curley, a magnetic political figure who was a mayor of Boston.

All of the books in the collection are clearly Irish and not simply books written by authors of Irish descent, Walch said.

“I am often asked how I contracted this malady of books on the Irish. I believe that its source is cultural, communal, and familial. I am a sixth-generation American and yet I have always had a sense that I was Irish to the core. In fact, until I was 12 years old, I firmly believe what my mother had told me when I was a little boy- that God's chosen people, were Irish Catholics living on the east side of Detroit. My neighborhood, my family, my church, all reveled in being Irish and that was who I was then and still am today.”

The collection grew over the years as a result of visits to every used bookstore in every city he has visited. He spends no more than $50 on a book.

Through his involvement on the advisory board at St. Ambrose University's history department, Walch became familiar with and appreciative of the Irish Studies program under the direction of assistant Ryan Dye.

“I decided to donate this book collection to St. Ambrose because it will help to enhance the current Irish Studies program and become a resource for SAU students and the community to learn more about Irish American culture and heritage,” Walch said.

“St. Ambrose also is a special place. It is a university founded by Bishop John McMullen, an Irish Catholic immigrant himself. It is an institution that has educated many thousands of Irish Americans in its nearly 125-year history.”
Ed Rogalski, the university's president, and Dye both expressed gratitude for Walch's contribution.

“This donation separates St. Ambrose from other Catholic colleges and universities that have Irish Studies collections because ours focuses on the Irish American experience and the lives of those who immigrated to the United States after the 1850s,” Dye said.

Walch, who created a database to keep track of his books, isn't about to stop collecting.

“I want to insure that St. Ambrose University will always have one of the largest and finest collections of the Irish and Irish American books in the country.”

Previous News & Events