Eoin McKiernan

Who was Eoin McKiernan?

Eoin McKiernan, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt., was one of the major early scholars in the interdisciplinary field of Irish Studies in the United States and the founder of the Irish American Cultural Institute. He is credited with leading efforts to revive and preserve Irish culture and language in the United States. A biography, Irish America Reawakening: The Eoin McKiernan Story, describes his life's work in full.

Born John Thomas McKiernan in New York City, Dr. McKiernan adopted the old Irish form of his name, Eoin, early in his life. While in college, he won a scholarship to study Irish language in the Connemara Gaeltacht in the west of Ireland, galvanizing his commitment to the language, a cause he championed throughout life. In 1938, he married Jeannette O’Callaghan, whom he met while studying Irish at the Gaelic Society in New York City. They raised nine children. In Jeannette’s death he lost his greatest patron.

Dr. McKiernan attended seminary at Cathedral College and St. Joseph’s in New York, leaving before ordination. He earned degrees in English and Classical Languages, Education and Psychology, and American Literature and Psychology. Later in life, McKiernan was awarded honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland, Dublin [1969]; the College of St. Rose, Albany [1984]; Marist College, Poughkeepsie [1987]; and the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul [1996].