Irish famine museum opening at Connecticut university

HAMDEN, Conn. ? Quinnipiac University in Connecticut is opening a museum dedicated to the Irish famine.

College officials say Ireland?s Great Hunger Museum has the world?s largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials related to the famine. It?s set to open to the public on Oct. 11 on campus in Hamden.

The collection focuses on the famine years from 1845 to 1852, when blight destroyed virtually all of Ireland?s potato crops. More than 1 million died and about 2 million emigrated to the United States and other countries.

Quinnipiac President John Lahey, the former grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick?s Day parade, predicts the museum will be a large draw for Irish-Americans and others.

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