American Irish Historical Society plots move from NYC to Cooperstown
Few — if any — outside of an apparently small circle know why, but word out of New York City on February 14 has the American Irish Historical Society moving from its $52 million, 125-year home on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to somewhere in the Town of Otsego – perhaps the Village of Cooperstown.
If the Society has a specific location in mind, that would be news, too. Town of Otsego Supervisor Ben Bauer, Village of Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh, and Otsego County Board of Representatives Chair David Bliss each said they knew only what they had read in a report surfacing February 13 in the on-line newsletter Irish Central (www.irishcentral.com) by the publication’s founder, Niall O’Dowd.
Mr. O’Dowd reported that the Society’s Board of Directors met late last week, with many on the Board blindsided by a motion to move the organization upstate. Four members of the board, including the president-general, resigned after the motion was approved.
“This caught everyone off guard,” Mr. O’Dowd said in a conversation with The Freeman’s Journal. He said he spoke with one board member who resigned who told him he stepped down “because – Cooperstown.”
“It’s nothing against the Village, that’s for sure,” Mr. O’Dowd said. “No one can figure out where this came from. It’s baffling.”
Searching for a connection between the Society and Cooperstown, he speculated, “The Freeman’s Journal was the name of the leading newspaper in Ireland in the 18th Century, maybe that’s what called them up your way.”
Mr. O’Dowd said one of the resigning Board members with whom he spoke after the vote said supporters of the surprise move chose Cooperstown because it is “halfway between the two great American Irish centers of Boston and New York.”
“But who’s going to drive three-and-a-half hours to visit up there?” the Board member asked. “Or if a scholar wants to study the archives which are not digitized, they would have to drive 200 miles to get access. It makes no sense.”
Mr. O’Dowd called the Fifth Avenue building “the jewel in the crown for Irish American history in the United States,” a library and cultural center housing many of the most valuable Irish American and some Irish historical documents found anywhere in the world.
The New York Times first reported in March 2021 that the Society suddenly put its building on the market, writing “the mansion has long symbolized the immigrant ascent of Irish America. The Irish tricolor and the American stars and stripes flying from its bowed façade staked claim on rarefied pavement, directly across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” The Times reported at the time that a Society board member said the sale of the building “would allow the society to preserve its extensive library in some undetermined location, and he played down the significance of the mansion the society has called home for 80 years.”
Mr. O’Dowd reported a sale of the Manhattan mansion may be imminent, despite opposition from the Irish government and a petition from some 40,000-plus asking New York Attorney General Letitia James to step in to block the sale and an investigation on the management of the organization. Under state law, the sale of property by a nonprofit organization is contingent on the approval of the attorney general or the State Supreme Court.
The American Irish Historical Society did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
“There are a lot of people very upset by all of this,” Mr. O’Dowd said. “The building is a treasure and an important part of our lives in America.”
This is totally crazy!! I love Cooperstown, it is a beautiful area and I have relatives near there but it is NOT easy to get to for a scholar. No public transportation, unless you sit on a bus (maybe???) for about 5 hours one way. I can drive from NYC to Boston in under 4 hours (depending as always on traffic) but you DO NOT go in the direction of Cooperstown. So I am not sure where they get the idea that it is “halfway between Boston and New York” — if you truly want to be half way between those cities it should be moved to somewhere in CT
For the Irish, April Fools Day, can be any day of the year !
Durham, NY might be the ideal spot to relocate the AIHS. It is a heavily Irish area – particularly for vacationers. It is also much closer to NYC – about half the distance to Cooperstown. Easy to get to via the Thruway and Route 145/23. It means traveling from New York City, but not nearly as long a trip as to Cooperstown. I believe there are also buses that take this route.
As a dual citizen of Ireland…I LOVE the idea. Scholars come the Historical Assn all the time for research. The more interesting and diverse goings on in Cooperstown, the better!
Sliante’
Maryann Keenan Dietz
Please calm down all of you lovers of all things Irish! Cooperstown is so similar to Erin that it may bring a tear to a scholarly eye! Imagine the funds that will be available to do more of what the Irish Cultural Society was born to do. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Cooperstown please do so before you object to the idea of relocating. Cooperstown is bit of paradise with historic sights, wonderful accommodations, a beautiful lake, and a hometown population that loves its current status as the home of The Baseball Hall of Fame and the loveliest little one stop light town. Judge not until you check the facts.Change is difficult for many but almost always means progress and growth!
My grandparents raised six children in Hell’s Kitchen, one of them my father, who became a NYC fire captain. Molly, my grandmother, whom I never met, died in her fifties, from poverty and struggle. I am sure they look with pride at the rise of the Irish, and their equal standing, in the heart of New York City. To diminish that is sad indeed.
I was one of the first female graduates in science from Fordham University, and I’m visiting New York City with two of my grandchildren in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, we can still see this jewel, where I’m interested in finding out more about Hell’s Kitchen. Most of the immigrant tenement stories are in the Lower East Side. I sure wouldn’t be driving upstate though as beautiful as the sun may shine there. The heart of immigration is in NYC, where they lived, labored, and died.