Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The University at Buffalo is getting significant funding to make their James Joyce Collection more accessible to the public by creating a James Joyce Museum, to house it all.
New York State Senator Tim Kennedy on Friday announced $10 million dollars in state funding to help construct a museum for the public to view the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of materials by and related to Irish author and poet James Joyce, a contributor to the modernist avant-garde movement, often regarded to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.
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"The UB libraries have proposed a UB James Joyce Museum here, in Abbott Hall, while also seeking endowment funds for a James Joyce curator position, acquisitions and preservation, exhibitions and programming. The goal of this initiative is to expand public access to the UB James Joyce Collection, while guaranteeing its future success for generations to come," says James Maynard, Curator for UB's Poetry Collection.
Under the guidance of Kelly Hayes McAlonie, UB's Director of Campus Planning, UB Libraries has been preparing to begin work on a design consultation that includes dedicating roughly 5,000 square feet of the first-floor atrium in Abbott Hall as exhibition space for the museum.
"In April 2022, we received an infrastructure and capacity building challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help support this design phase. To date, we are ahead of schedule in raising more than two thirds of the necessary total of matching funds," says Maynard. "Prior to working with a museum designer, we have been seeking input from a variety of community members to create an initial visitor experience, plan and brief. These documents will serve as the starting point for the many conversations and questions inherent in the design process."
The price for the consultation is estimated at $1 million dollars.
The announcement arrives on Bloomsday, the annual commemoration of Joyce’s life and career, named for Leopold Bloom, the main character in Joyce’s masterpiece, “Ulysses."
“This funding is transformational for the preservation of Irish heritage here in Buffalo and all of New York State, and will allow the University at Buffalo’s extensive collection of James Joyce’s work to be truly celebrated,” Senator Kennedy said. “I’ve fought for this state investment for years, because I firmly believe the UB James Joyce Museum will attract visitors from around the world, and further strengthen the relationship between the United States and Ireland."
This collection of over 10,000+ pages of Joyce’s working papers, notebooks, manuscripts, photographs, correspondence, portraits, publishing records, ephemera, and personal artifacts are currently housed within the UB Libraries’ Poetry Collection on the North Campus.
The university is expecting the museum to draw thousands and thousands of visitors from around the world as a historical landmark and international destination.