The Irish Historic Towns Atlas at the Milwaukee Irish Festival 2024
Jennifer Moore participated in the Hedge School programme on the IHTA at the 2024 Milwaukee Irish Festival.
As part of the Milwaukee Irish Festival, the largest in the world with approximately one hundred thousand visitors, Jennifer Moore delivered three lectures to the Hedge School in the cultural quarter of the festival. Speakers included Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States, Geraldine Byrne Nason, Director of the National Library of Ireland, Dr Audrey Whitty, artist, Paula Stokes, Marquette University Lecturer, Dr Tim McMahon and Director of the Institute of Study Abroad Ireland, Dr Niamh Hamill among others. Questions and discussions followed each talk with interesting and varied perspectives.
The festival grounds, known as the Henry Maier Festival Park, is purpose-built on 75 acres along the shores of Lake Michigan and is the home of various festivals that run over the summer months. There are seventeen stages for music and dance, numerous shops selling Irish goods and the cultural area has everything from Irish dance, a Gaeltacht, theatre, genealogy, exhibition/demonstration area and the Hedge School.
Patrick Fitzgibbons and his wife Jane, run the Hedge School and regularly visit Ireland to meet prospective speakers and artists. The Royal Irish Academy has had a presence there for several years – 2019 Paul Walsh gave a lecture and Renaissance Galway was launched along with an IHTA exhibition on Galway; 2022 John Gibney from the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy spoke about the Ireland 1922 publication; and in 2023 Terry Clavin from the Dictionary of Irish Biography spoke on the Irish Sporting Lives book.
This year Jennifer Moore gave three lectures on the Irish Historic Towns Atlas. The first, ‘From protest to project: how and why the IHTA formed’, looked at Wood Quay protests in the 1970s as a catalyst for protecting Irish heritage and the development of Irish urban history. In ‘Behind the maps: understanding the IHTA’, Jennifer explained how the IHTA can be used as a resource and reading maps. The final lecture, ‘Mapping the future with the past; or the past with the future?’ highlighted the direction of IHTA digital mapping with Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
While some attendees had already purchased copies of the atlas over the years, the online availability of the majority of the atlases allowed for all present to dig into urban history and understand the development and significance of Irish towns and cities. The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh, published in December 2023, showcased what can be done from the data contained within and facilitates spatial analysis and interrogation for the interested user.
