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Dr Patricia O’Hare (right) was presented with the Kerry Heritage Award, 2019, by Marie O’Sullivan, President, Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, at the Rose Hotel on Sunday. Photo by Dermot Crean
DR Patricia O’Hare, Research and Education Officer, Trustees of Muckross House, Killarney was presented with the Kerry Heritage Award, 2019, by Marie O’Sullivan, President, Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, at the Society’s annual lunch in the Rose Hotel, Tralee, on Sunday.
The award was first initiated by the Society in 1985, to honour individuals/organisations who had made a major contribution in the areas of research/development/promotion of the county’s culture and heritage.
Patricia is the 34th recipient of the award. The presentation was made to honour Patricia, for her outstanding commitment and dedication to Kerry’s rich and varied culture and heritage as exemplified by her role in the development of Muckross Research Library (where she has worked since 1995), and for her research into Kerry’s folk life and social history.
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Patricia is interested in all aspects of the archaeology, folk life and social history, of County Kerry.
She holds post graduate degrees in Archaeology (MA, University College Dublin) and Museum Studies (MA, Leicester University). She has recently been awarded a PhD from University College Dublin. The subject of her doctoral thesis is the calendar custom of the Wren Boys of County Kerry
Over the years Patricia has worked tirelessly, to further the aims of the Muckross House Research Library, which is “to document the traditions, way of life, and history of the people of Kerry.
Since its establishment, almost fifty years ago, the Library has played an important role as a centre for the collection, storage, and preservation, of the documentary material, relating to Kerry.
The Library collections have been collected, donated, purchased or produced in-house down through the years. They are the property of the Trustees of Muckross House”.
Under her guidance Muckross House and Muckross House Research Library, were amongst the first to be awarded Full Accreditation in the Museums’ Standards Programme for Ireland (MPSI) in 2007, a certification, which they continue to maintain.
Patricia has also been instrumental in the setting up of “Féile Chultúir Chiarraí (Festival of Kerry Culture) a week-long series of ‘hands-on’ workshops for Primary School children, from Third to Sixth class. This festival is hosted by Muckross Traditional Farms and takes place in May every year”.
Since 1996, she has compiled and edited the annual Muckross Newsletter and is the author of Kerry People and Places 1860-1960, which was published by the Trustees of Muckross House in 2013.
Patricia has been a council member of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, since 1995 and a member of the editorial subcommittee of The Kerry Magazine, for many of these years.
She has been a prolific contributor to the Magazine and has had articles published in 16 of its 30 editions. She has also contributed to its sister publication the Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society.
