The Gamble Library Irish Collection is an essential resource for those researching Irish Church history. It contains approximately two thousand items relating to the wider religious and political history of the island and holds the biographies of many notable Irish personalities. The collection incorporates the congregational histories of most of the Presbyterian Churches in Ireland.
Part of the Gamble Library's Irish Collection.
The Gamble Library Irish Collection contains around two thousand items relating to Irish history, with special reference to religious and political history, especially the history of the Presbyterian Church, making it an essential resource for research into Irish Presbyterianism. It also contains the biographies of many key Irish figures and the congregational histories of most Presbyterian Churches in Ireland, both North and South.
The Gamble Library Irish Collection is an indispensible resource for research into Irish church history, especially the history of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Approximately two thousand items.
The vast majority of items in the Irish Collection are searchable through the Gamble Library's OPAC available here
Some of the older books have not yet been catalogued. A card catalogue listing uncatalogued, older books from the Irish Collectin is available in the library to provide help finding resources and their location.
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Custodial Information
Union Theological College has legal ownership of this collection. Copyright does not rest with the College for all the resources. Researchers must arrange copyright permission.
The Gamble Library was established in 1873 by Caroline Gamble in memory of her late husband, the Rev. Henry Gamble. Prior to 1873 a core library collection existed, composed of stock from the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod. These Synods united in 1840 to form the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The Gamble Library of 1873 contained 4,000 books, including the complete works of the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church. Several large book donations have been made to the library, such as the gift of 6,000 volumes by the Rev. Dr. W. Fleming Stevenson and Principal J.F. Paul's library. In 1971 the library of the Magee Theological College was associated with the Gamble Library of the Presbyterian College, Belfast. Some of the Irish Collection came from Magee College, Londonderry and has been retained in Union Theological College since its formation.
![MS11/23 - Eire. Constitution. Draft. Dublin: Published by the Stationery Office: Printed by Cahill & Co., [1937] Annotated by T.F. O’Rahilly. MS. Inscription by Éamon de Valera Thanking O’Rahilly for his Assistance](/sites/default/files/styles/media_crop/public/2018-04/MS11-23.jpg?itok=P7V_xvTZ)
