Temporary Exhibition, October-November 2025
Irish Gothic: The Big House
was a temporary exhibition open from October-November 2025.
The exhibition was made in connection with a talk on Irish novelist Molly Keane, focused on the theme of grand decaying Anglo-Irish estates in gothic novels.
Prepared by Archivist Marcus Lindenburg (MA, MSLIS), with assistance from Susan Davey Getz (MA).
This exhibit was centered primarily on Molly Keane’s 1938 novel, The Rising Tide, with nods to other writers of Irish Gothic. This genre, based largely in the writing of the Protestant Anglo-Irish class, is heavily reliant on its themes. These themes define the novels within this genre and are easily spotted by fans and scholars alike. This exhibit was designed with these themes in mind, using Keane’s novel as a way to guide the audience through the genre.
Garonlea
The original home of the novel, charged by Lady Charlotte and her Edwardian sensibilities. Traditional, serious, and classical. This room was our standard exhibit space.
The audience walked between the two households of the novel, transforming themselves through the exhibit as they left behind the old world and found themselves in the new and modern.
Rathglass
The modern Big House in Keane’s novel. This room takes you to a new home, full of gothic literary themes and a new world of terrors. Tables in this room were dedicated to the authors and themes of Irish Gothic, including letters, loss of innocence, family inheritance, the supernatural, fire, and decay.
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![Decay Title Card]()
Decay Title Card
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![Decay Display]()
Decay Display
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![Family Inheritance Display]()
Family Inheritance Display
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![Gothic Books Display]()
Gothic Books Display
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![Fire Display Card]()
Fire Display Card
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![Gothic Letters Display]()
Gothic Letters Display
