Boston College's digital collections: Bob Hanvey

Bobbie Hanvey, Irish photographer, writer, and musician, has recorded people and life in Northern Ireland since the 1970s. The Burns Library at Boston College is the institution that holds the bulk of Hanvey's unpublished work. Holdings have accumulated to more than 19,000 photographs documenting personalities and life in Northern Ireland during and after the "Troubles." There are another 31,000 photos on the way. The photographs are in negative- and positive-film format; since film materials are not access copies, the digital surrogates will provide the only access to the collection.

To date, over 3,400 images have been digitized, and over 2,000 are available online. On Nov. 5, 2009 the Boston College Libraries will officially "launch" this project with a presentation at 4:00pm in the Francis Thompson Room in the John J. Burns Library. Bobbie Hanvey will attend. There will be an exhibit of photographs at both the Burns Library and at the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Library.

Have a look at the images in Boston College's digital collections site or browse a selection in Flickr.

These collections connect to a wide array of disciplines: Irish studies; political science; anthropology; sociology; literature; history; art history; communications; theater... and this is just the start! Boston College has allowed Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works usage of the photographs, and supplied download-able jpeg files suitable for use in on the web, in projected presentations or in Word documents.

Photo of Seamus Heaney, Bobbie Hanvey Photographic Archives, John J. Burns Library, Boston College