The Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates is delighted to receive the donation of the Ardtully Papers. This is another important estate collection for OMARC. Our special thanks to Elizabeth Knowles for the donation. Speaking about the collection, Elizabeth noted: ‘It was such a great pleasure to hand over to you on behalf of myself and my cousin Sue Leddy the letters written to our great grandmother Amy Orpen in March and April 1921 after the burning of Ardtully. I was also delighted to find that the other documents and photographs I had brought up, together with the material I still have here, will be welcome in the archive for Irish Houses and Estates.
It means so much to me, as it would have meant to my grandmother Norah and her sister Mollie, Sue’s grandmother, to know that these memorabilia of their youth in Ireland and later life will now go back to Ireland, and form a part of the important archive that you are assembling. As a member of the last generation who knew any of them personally, I find it deeply satisfying to know that their memory will now go on, in the appropriate setting, and will be available to future students and researchers.’
