{{Short description|Irish librarian (died 1992)}} {{POV|date=November 2023}} {{Use British English|date=November 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Hewson | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Ballynacally, County Clare, Ireland | death_date = 1992 | death_place = Mater Hospital, Dublin | occupation = librarian | movement = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Michael Hewson''' (died 1992) was an Irish librarian and director of the National Library of Ireland.
==Overview== Michael Hewson was born in Ballynacally, County Clare.<ref name="Champion">{{cite news |title=Recent Death |work=Clare Champion |date=14 February 1992}}</ref> He was the keeper of printed books and later the director of the National Library of Ireland from 1982 to 1988.<ref>{{cite web |title=Corporate Information |url=https://www.nli.ie/corporate-information |website=www.nli.ie |access-date=19 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> In 1985, he oversaw the donation of a large collection of material relating to W. B. Yeats.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Butler Yeats Donation |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/1122/742482-william-butler-yeats-donation/ |website=RTÉ Archives |access-date=19 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> He died in the Mater Hospital in 1992.<ref name="Champion" />
== Early life and family == Michael Hewson was born in Ballynacally, in the parish of Kilchreest, Co. Clare, circa 1930.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last=D. |first=P. |date=1995 |title=Obituary: Michael Hewson |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25511067 |journal=Analecta Hibernica |issue=36 |pages=xiv–xv |jstor=25511067 }}</ref> His parents were John Hewson and Bridget Hewson (née Kelly) and were known to be very active in the Ballynacally community. John Hewson was a ‘well-known’ draper.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=31 December 1982 |title=Ballynacally: Recent Deaths |pages=9 |work=The Clare Champion |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/default.aspx?action=tab&tab=browse&pub=CCH#panel=document}}</ref> His involvement in a number of local organisations and his membership of the executive committee of the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of the Irish language, music, song and dance, led to him to being viewed as a ‘shining light’ of the community.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 December 1970 |title=Mattie Finnucane is New Muintir Chairman |pages=3 |work=The Clare Champion |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/default.aspx?action=tab&tab=browse&pub=CCH#panel=document}}</ref> Bridget Hewson was also a leading member of the Irish Countrywomen's Association and the Apostolic Work Society.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 January 1971 |title=Recent Death |pages=11 |work=The Clare Champion |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/default.aspx?action=tab&tab=browse&pub=CCH#panel=document}}</ref>
Michael Hewson was the oldest of four siblings, including two sisters Mary and Marguerite.<ref name=":1"/> Mary joined The Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, Killashandra and would later move to the United States to continue her work as a nun.<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 August 1984 |title=Ballynacally: Death |pages=10 |work=The Clare Champion |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/default.aspx?action=tab&tab=browse&pub=CCH#panel=document}}</ref> He also had a brother, William. In 1949, at age eighteen, William and his cousin drowned while bathing off the coast of Doughmore, Doonbeg, near Kilkee, Co. Clare. There was an inquest held which stated that when they were found their hands were ‘clasped together’.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 August 1949 |title=Bathing Tragedies: Double Drowning Near Kilkee |pages=6 |work=The Irish Independent |url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/default.aspx?action=tab&tab=browse&pub=IND#panel=document}}</ref>
Hewson was raised Roman Catholic and was educated in St Flannan's College in Ennis.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=McGrath |first=Thomas |date=5 May 1984 |title=Michael Hewson: Director of the National Library |pages=14 |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=}}</ref> While in school, he took part in several sports, including football, hurling, and handball.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} He completed his Leaving Certificate in 1948 and would go on to study classics at University College Dublin.<ref name=":2" />
He took up a job as an assistant librarian in Ennis public library before moving to Dublin in 1953.<ref name=":03" /> He took part in several leisure activities, including orienteering, mountain walking, and bridge.<ref name=":2" /> He also competed in four marathons, with a best time of approximately three hours. Hewson stated in an interview with ''The Irish Times'' that he believed that this was a ‘respectable time’ for a man of his age.<ref name=":2" />
While living in Dublin, he met his wife, Una. They moved to Glasnevin and had five children, two boys and three girls.<ref name=":03" />
== Career == [[File:D&KR 2.jpeg|thumb|An image from Catalogue of Irish Topographical Prints and Original Drawings,<ref name=":0" /> by Michael Hewson and Rosalind M Elmes. Watercolour painting by <bdi>John Harris Jr.: Dublin and Kingstown Railway, From Blackrock, looking across Dublin Bay towards WIlliamstown & Merrion. Dublin in the distance.</bdi>]] Michael Hewson began his career as an assistant keeper staff of the National Library of Ireland in 1953<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Felix M. Larkin |url=http://archive.org/details/librarianspoetss0000unse |title=Librarians, poets and scholars : a festschrift for Dónall Ó Luanaigh |date=2007 |publisher=Dublin; Portland, OR : Four Courts Press : In association with The National Library of Ireland Society |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-84682-017-5}}</ref> which he carried out with zeal and enthusiasm while serving various units in the library.
Having demonstrated diligence while he served various departments in the National Library of Ireland, he was appointed keeper in the Department of Manuscript in 1973<ref name=":03" /> which came as a promotion in the course of his service year.
Also in 1973, he gave a talk titled 'Prints and drawings in the National Library Of Ireland.'<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Ó Lúanaigh |first=Dónall |url=http://archive.org/details/friendsofnationa0000lana |title=Friends of the National Library : forty years of the National Library of Ireland Society |date=2010 |publisher=Dublin : Associated Editions on behalf of the National Library of Ireland Society |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-906429-13-3}}</ref>
In 1975, Michael Hewson published ''The Catalog of Irish Topographical Prints and Drawings in the National Library of Ireland.'' This was sponsored by the National Library of Ireland Society.<ref name=":03" />
Later, in 1976, he was appointed keeper of printed books which he managed for three good years.<ref name=":03" /> During that time, he gave another talk/ presentation titled ‘Caricatures in the Collection of the National Library 0f Ireland.'<ref name=":04" />
In 1982, he got to the peak of his career{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} as a librarian where he was appointed the Director of the National Library Of Ireland immediately after the resignation of Alf Mac Lochlainn.<ref name=":03" />
== Later career and death == alt=Dardistown Cemetery on a cloudy fall day. Rows of gravestones with trees in the distance.|thumb|Dardistown Cemetery, where Michael Hewson was buried. The pinnacle of Hewson's career came with his promotion to director of the National Library of Ireland in 1982, when the previous director Alf MacLochlainn left the role for the University of Galway.<ref name=":04" /> He also became the Honorary Secretary of the National Library of Ireland Society for a year, handing the position over to Dònall Ò Lùanaigh in 1983.<ref name=":0" /> Hewson's directorship coincided with the most difficult time in the Library's history. In 1986, the Irish government decided to change the department responsible for the National Library from the department of education to first the Taoiseach's department and then the Department of Arts and Culture, now known as the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.<ref name=":0" /> This resulted in issues with funding, leading to minimized staffing and shorter library hours.alt=Gravestone of Michael Hewson (Irish Librarian) with two flower pots in front of it. Inscription reads "In loving memory of Michael Hewson, Glasnevin Park, died 3rd Feb 1992".|thumb|Michael Hewson's GravestoneThe 1980s was a time of economic crisis in Ireland. The shift of the National Library's funding from the Taioseach's department to the Department of Arts and Culture meant that its funding decreased to the point where the National Library Society filed a motion with the Taioseach in order for it to provide its accustomed high standard of scholarly services.<ref name=":04" /> Though overshadowed by the economic crisis, there were some highlights during Hewson's directorship.{{tone inline|date=November 2023}} One such highlight was in 1985. W.B. Yeats' son Hewson donated a collection of 1,000 of his father's writings to the Library.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yeats, (William) Michael Butler {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/yeats-william-michael-butler-a9839 |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}}</ref>
Hewson retired from the National Library in 1989, handing off the directorship to Dr. Patricia Donlon.<ref name=":0" />
Michael Hewson died on Monday 3 February 1992. His death was unexpected and came four years after his retirement from the National Library.<ref name=":03" /> He had continued to visit the Library as a reader, including the Saturday before he died.<ref name=":0" />
He was buried in Dardistown Cemetery, Dardistown, County Dublin that had opened a couple years prior in west Dublin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past and Present |url=https://www.dctrust.ie/about-us/past-and-present.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=Dublin Cemeteries Trust |language=en}}</ref> His gravestone reads "In Loving Memory of Michael Hewson'', Glasnevin Park'', Died 3rd Feb 1992".
== Legacy == It was during Hewson's directorship that responsibility for the funding of NLI passed from the Department of Education to the Department of the Taoiseach. It remained the responsibility of this department until 1992 when a new government department was established with responsibility for culture. These steps paved the way for the 2005 establishment of the NLI as an autonomous national cultural institution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=nli |title=Our History |url=https://www.nli.ie/about-us/our-history |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.nli.ie |language=en}}</ref> thumb|Front gate of the National Library of Ireland with the library building in the background
Hewson raised the profile of the NLI{{tone inline|date=November 2023}} by represented it at various national and international committees such as the Irish Manuscripts Commission. He was instrumental in establishing cooperation with the British Library with the founding of the Newsplan project, a co-operative preservation project for newspapers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=nli |title=Newspapers |url=https://www.nli.ie/collections/our-collections/newspapers |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=www.nli.ie |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1"/>
As well as working for the NLI, Michael Hewson was a keen user of the NLI's manuscript collection, seeing it as an important resource for Irish history.<ref name=":1" /> As such he researched and wrote various articles on local and national history. Between 1965 and 1981 he published four articles in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal<ref>{{Cite web |title=Journal Thomond Archaeological & Historical Society |url=https://tahs.ie/journal/ |access-date=2023-11-13 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5">[https://tahs.ie/journal/ Thomand Archaeological & Historical Society, Journal], Index of Authors Volumes 1 (1936) – 30 (1988), https://celt.ucc.ie/NMAI1-30.pdf</ref> on various aspects of the history of Munster and Co. Clare, his home county. Three of these have been digitised and are available from Limerick City Library.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Council |first=Limerick City |title=Limerick City Council |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/BooksJournals/NorthMunsterAntiquarianJournal/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Limerick City Council |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Hewson |first=Michael |date=1965 |title=A word-list from south-west Clare |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/nmaj%20vol%209,%20no%204%2018%20A%20word-list%20from%20South-West%20Clare,%20by%20Michael%20Hewson.pdf |journal=North Monster Antiquarian Journal |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=182–186 |via=Limerick City Library}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Hewson |first=Michael |date=1975 |title=The diaries of John Singleton, of Quinville, Co. Clare |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/NMAJ%20vol%2017%2015%20The%20diaries%20of%20John%20Singleton%20of%20Quinville,%20Co.%20Clare,%20by%20Michael%20Hewson.pdf |journal=North Munster Antiquarian Journal |volume=17 |pages=103–109 |via=Limerick City Library}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Hewson |first=Michael |date=1981 |title=Emigration to 'The North American Colonies' from the Port of Limerick in 1841 |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/NMAJ%20vol%2023%2005%20Emigration%20to%20the%20North%20American%20Colonies%20from%20the%20Port%20of%20Limerick%20in%201841,%20by%20Michael%20Hewson.pdf |journal=North Munster Antiquarian Journal |volume=23 |pages=67–76 |via=Limerick City Library}}</ref> Between 1962 and 1964 Michael Hewson published five popular history articles in The Irish Independent on a wide array of Irish social history topics: the history of the animal designs on early coinage of the Republic of Ireland;<ref name=":8">Hewson, Michael (Monday 5 March 1962) "Did our coinage depend on a wrong address?" ''Irish Independent''. p.7.</ref> the history of Edward Jenner,<ref name=":9">Hewson, Michael (Monday 29 January 1962) “Edward Jenner's Great Discovery.” ''Irish Independent''. p.6.</ref> inventor of the smallpox vaccine; the surprising history of sedan chairs<ref name=":10">Hewson, Michael (Thursday 7 March 1963) “In the days of the sedan chair.” ''Irish Independent''. p. 10.</ref> in 1800s Dublin; the story of Henry Ford’s<ref name=":11">Hewson, Michael (Tuesday 30 July 1963) “The Father of Tin Lizzie.” ''Irish Independent''. p. 8</ref> connection with Co. Cork; and of Vere Foster,<ref name=":12">Hewson, Michael (Thursday 13 February 1964) “Vere Foster: generous friend of Ireland.” ''Irish Independent.'' p. 10.</ref> inventor of a style of handwriting copybook for young school children.
==Publications== *Michael Hewson, (Monday 29 January 1962) “Edward Jenner's Great Discovery.” ''Irish Independent''. p. 6.<ref name=":9" /> *Michael Hewson, (Monday 5 March 1962) "Did our coinage depend on a wrong address?" ''Irish Independent''. p. 7.<ref name=":8" /> *Michael Hewson, (Thursday 7 March 1963) “In the days of the sedan chair.” ''Irish Independent''. p. 10.<ref name=":10" /> *Michael Hewson, (Tuesday 30 July 1963) “The Father of Tin Lizzie.” ''Irish Independent''. p. 8.<ref name=":11" /> *Michael Hewson, (Thursday 13 February 1964) “Vere Foster: generous friend of Ireland.” ''Irish Independent.'' p. 10.<ref name=":12" /> *Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘A word-list from south-west Clare’, ''North Munster Antiquarian Journal'' '''9/4''' 182–86.<ref name=":4" /> *Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘A source for 19th century Clare history’, ''North Munster Antiquarian Journal'' 9/4 194–95.<ref name=":5" /> *Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘The diaries of John Singleton, of Quinville, Co. Clare’, ''North Munster Antiquarian Journal'' '''17''' 103–09.<ref name=":6" /> *Rosalind M. Elmes and Michael Hewson, (1975) ''Catalogue of Irish topographical prints and original drawings''.<ref name=":Elmes">{{Cite book |last1=Elmes |first1=Rosalind M |title=Catalogue of Irish Topographical Prints and Original Drawings |last2=Hewson |first2=Michael |publisher=Malton Press for National Library of Ireland Society |year=1975 |edition=New |location=Dublin}}</ref> *Hewson, Michael, (1977) Robert Stearne's diary of the Williamite campaign. ''An Cosantóir'', '''33''' 49–53. *Michael Hewson, (1981) ‘Emigration to the “North American Colonies” from the port of Limerick in 1841’, ''North Munster Antiquarian Journal'' '''23''' 67–76.<ref name=":7" /> *Ainsworth, J. F., & Hewson, M. (1985). Manuscript Collections in Private Keeping: Reports in National Library of Ireland. ''Analecta Hibernica'', 32, 27–33.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ainsworth |first1=John F. |last2=Hewson |first2=Michael |title=Manuscript Collections in Private Keeping: Reports in National Library of Ireland |journal=Analecta Hibernica |date=1985 |issue=32 |pages=27–33 |jstor=25511991 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25511991 |issn=0791-6167}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewson, Michael}} Category:1992 deaths Category:People associated with the National Library of Ireland Category:Irish librarians Category:20th-century librarians