The Labour Party’s presidential candidate Michael D Higgins this week presented his personal archive of writings and documents to the National Library of Ireland.
The archive material spans Mr Higgins’s 40 years of public life as a politician, human rights activist, international statesman, campaigner for justice and peace, academic, writer, and poet. The archive was formally presented at an event in the library on Tuesday which featured guest speaker, the historian Diarmaid Ferriter.
Accepting the documents, Director of the National Library, Fiona Ross said: “The library can now provide a secure home for these papers and make them accessible to future generations of researchers.”
Mr Higgins said he was “pleased that this archive” will be in a place where “it may be of use to those interested in the political, social and cultural life of our country over the last four decades”.
The archive also includes papers and notes from Mr Higgins’ time as Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht, as well as notes from his time in Chile where he acted as international witness to the ending of the Pinochet dictatorship.
“The National Library has been a rich resource for our citizens,” said Mr Higgins. “I sincerely hope these papers may add to the tremendous reservoir of knowledge held by that library, and prove to be of benefit to scholars and citizens in the years ahead.”
