Audrey Whitty
Director, National Library of Ireland
Assumed office
February 2023[1]
Preceded bySandra Collins, with an acting director between
Personal details
EducationUniversity College Dublin (B.A., M.A.)
Trinity College Dublin (Ph.D.)
OccupationLibrarian, curator

Audrey Whitty (born May 1977) is an Irish archaeologist, librarian and curator. As of February 2023,[1] she is the director of the National Library of Ireland.[2] She was deputy director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), a curator at the Corning Museum of Glass and a curator of glass and ceramics at the NMI.[3]

Early life and education

Whitty is one of the three children of Eileen (née Stack) and Richard Whitty.[4] She studied at University College Dublin, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History and Archaeology, and a Masters in Archaeology.[5]

Career

Museums

Whitty worked for the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) from 2001. She was curator of the ceramics, glass and Asian collections, in the Art and Industrial Division of the museum.[3] While working with the museum, she was awarded a doctorate in the History of Art by Trinity College Dublin, and her thesis about the donations of Albert Bender to the National Museum was published as a book in 2011.[5][6] Bender had given a significant collection to the museum in memory of his mother but for many years there was no space to display it, and Whitty was involved in the re-establishment of a public exhibition of much of the Bender collection.[7]

In 2013, taking a career break, she[8] went to work for the Corning Museum of Glass in New York state, as curator of European and Asian Glass. She returned to Ireland, and the NMI, in 2015, as Keeper (Head) of the Art and Industrial Division, dealing with decorative arts, design and history.[3]

In 2019, she was promoted to head all collections and educational operations of the National Museum, and in 2021, she was appointed as its deputy director.[5][9] Whitty was involved in the decision to remove Michael Collins' bloodied cap from display as it involved the exhibition of human remains.[10][11] She curated the exhibition (A)Dressing Our Hidden Truths about the scandalous mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries[12][13] where thousands of children died.[14]

National library

Whitty was designated as the new director of the National Library of Ireland.[15][16] She took up that office in February 2023,[1] for a five-year term.[15]

Other roles

Whitty was elected to the board of the Irish Museums Association in 2018, and has been chairperson since 2020.[3] Whitty is a trustee of the Stourbridge Glass Museum,[17] and was from 2020 until February 2023[18] a member of the board of North Lands Creative, a "centre for the study and development of glass as an artform" in Caithness, Scotland.[19]

Publications

Whitty has more than 70 publications, including a book, a book chapter and a peer-reviewed journal article:

  • "The Albert Bender Collection of Asian Art in the National Museum of Ireland".[6]
  • "The Industrial Design of Waterford Glass, 1947–c.1965", full chapter in J. M. Hearne (ed.) Glassmaking in Ireland: From the Medieval to the Contemporary. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2011, pp. 215–228[20]
  • "Frederick Carder’s Years at Stevens & Williams", Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 56, 2014, pp. 370–74[21]

while other publications and contributions include:

  • Article: "Francòis-Eugène Rousseau: Pioneer of French Art Nouveau Glass", The Glass Society of Ireland Newsletter 29, 2002, pp. 3–4[22]
  • Article: "The Caspar Purdon Clarke Indian and Persian Collection of the National Museum of Ireland, 1878/’79", Museum Ireland 4, 2004, pp. 68–75[23]
  • Article: "The Golden Age of Irish Glass", Irish Arts Review, Summer 2012, pp. 124–127[24]
  • Brochure piece: "CultureCraft – Culture in the Making" (an exhibition of contemporary craft to mark Derry/Londonderry as UK Capital of Culture 2013) ISBN 978-1-906691-36-3 – pp. 26–29[8]
  • Review of: "From Pupil to Master": a contemporary glass exhibition at the Solomon Fine Art Gallery, Dublin (12–27 October 2012); in Glass Network: The CGS Quarterly Magazine, Issue 47 (March 2013), p. 13[8]

Personal life

Whitty is married, with at least one daughter.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sinead Crowley (reporter), Audrey Whitty (interviewee) (9 February 2023). The life and times of Brendan Behan (television production). Dublin: RTE. Event occurs at 1:02.
  2. ↑ "Kerry student excels in national Poetry Aloud competition". independent. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Audrey Whitty". Irish Museums Association. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Whitty, Audrey (2010). The Albert Bender Donations of Far Eastern Art to the National Museum of Ireland in the Context of his Cultural Interests in Ireland and California. Dublin, Ireland. pp. ii.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. 1 2 3 "Audrey Whitty (Deputy Director/Head of Collections and Learning)". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 Whitty, Audrey (2019) [2011]. The Albert Bender collection of Asian art in the National Museum of Ireland. Dublin: Wordwell, in association with the National Museum of Ireland. ISBN 978-1-905569-57-1. OCLC 767865882.
  7. ↑ Maxwell, Nick (13 March 2013). "Museum Eye: A Dubliner's collection of Asian art: the Albert Bender exhibition". History Ireland. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 National Museum of Ireland – Annual Report 2013. Dublin, Ireland: National Museum of Ireland. 2014. pp. 6, 38, 40.
  9. ↑ "Lockdown artwork by glassmakers on display at Mayo's Museum of Country Life". Connaught Telegraph. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  10. ↑ Woulfe, Jimmy (17 December 2018). "Michael Collins' bloodied cap taken off display". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  11. ↑ "Cold Case Collins – what really happened at Béal na mBláth?". RTÉ.ie. 25 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Wills, Clair (20 May 2021). "Architectures of Containment". London Review of Books. Vol. 43, no. 10. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  13. ↑ Walsh, Rory (26 March 2019). "Addressing Our Hidden Truths – Alison Lowry's profound and moving piece". Newstalk. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  14. ↑ "9,000 children died in Irish mother-and-baby homes, report finds". NBC News. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  15. 1 2 "New Director announced – Audrey Whitty". National Library of Ireland. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "Dr Audrey Whitty has been appointed as the new Director of the National Library of Ireland". Books Ireland. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  17. ↑ "Stourbridge Glass Museum appoints new curator". Stourbridge News. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  18. ↑ "Audrey WHITTY personal appointments". Company information service (gov.uk). Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  19. ↑ "Who We Are". North Lands Creative. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  20. ↑ National Museum of Ireland – Annual Report 2011. Dublin, Ireland: National Museum of Ireland. 2012.
  21. ↑ Whitty, Audrey (2014). "Frederick Carder's Years at Stevens & Williams". Journal of Glass Studies. Corning, New York: Corning Museum of Glass. 56: 370–374. ISSN 0075-4250.
  22. ↑ National Museum of Ireland – Annual Report 2000-2002 (in English and Irish). Dublin, Ireland: National Museum of Ireland. 2003. p. 83. ISSN 1649-0339.
  23. ↑ National Museum of Ireland – Annual Report 2005 (in English and Irish). Dublin, Ireland: National Museum of Ireland. 2006. p. 87. ISSN 1649-0339.
  24. ↑ National Museum of Ireland – Annual Report 2012. Dublin, Ireland: National Museum of Ireland. 2013. p. 32.
  25. ↑ Kritzeck, Mandy (14 August 2013). "Meet Audrey Whitty". Corning Museum of Glass. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
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