Brian O’Nolan in the Archive: Assembling Myles and Flann

Abstract

What might be considered the largest O’Nolan archive can be found in the Burns Library collection at Boston College. This archive holds papers, letters, and books, but the focus is also on the artefacts of this manifold writer’s life. Boston College has showpieces such as the Underwood typewriter on which Flann O’Brien’s novels and Myles na gCopaleen’s columns were written. There is Myles’s famous wide-brimmed black hat and his coat. There is Brian O’Nolan’s violin and his passport. Marion Quirici has worked extensively in these archives as a former student at Boston College. Quirici argues in her article ‘Brian O’Nolan in the Archive: Assembling Myles and Flann’ that there are archives and unconsulted writings at the University at Buffalo that are waiting to be discovered. She encourages us all to find what might be undiscovered material in our own university libraries and to reclaim this work for the future of O’Nolan studies. To read the article, click Download or View PDF.