Morristown library to celebrate book by one of its own, with Celtic music, May 10

Cheryl Turkington of the Morristown & Township Library has published her third book, which traces the history of Morristown's Little Dublin community.
Cheryl Turkington of the Morristown & Township Library has published her third book, which traces the history of Morristown's Little Dublin community.
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Cheryl Turkington of the Morristown & Township Library has published her third book, which traces the history of Morristown's Little Dublin community.
Cheryl Turkington of the Morristown & Township Library has published her third book, which traces the history of Morristown's Little Dublin community.

The Morristown & Township Library doesn’t just collect books… it writes them, too.

Cheryl Turkington, assistant archivist, explores the history of Morristown’s Little Dublin community in Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Times: Morristown, New Jersey’s Irish Immigrant Past.

The library is throwing a party to celebrate this new publication–Cheryl’s third book–on May 10, 2013, at 7 pm.  The band Dicey Riley will perform, and Cheryl will have copies of the book for sale.

Her are more details from the library.

 FROM THE MORRISTOWN & TOWNSHIP LIBRARY

MORRISTOWN, NJ—The Morristown & Morris Township Library is hosting a special ‘after hours’ program to celebrate the publication of the Library’s new book Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Times: Morristown, New Jersey’s Irish Immigrant Past, written by Cheryl Turkington, on Friday, May 10. One of the highlights of the evening is a special ‘after hours’ performance of traditional Irish music by Morris County’s own Dicey Riley. Copies of Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Times will be available for purchase and the author will also be available to sign copies for the public. The free program begins at 7 p.m. and is supported through funding from the Friends of the Morristown & Morris Township Library.

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Times––written by Cheryl Turkington, an assistant archivist in the Library’s North Jersey History & Genealogy Center––takes a fresh look at the story of Irish immigration to Morristown and the vibrant Dublin neighborhood that nurtured generations of residents for over 100 years.

How did the Irish community live, work, worship, celebrate and sustain itself in a new world? And how did these immigrants and their descendants impact the town they chose to make home? People who share an interest in our community’s history will enjoy reading about this segment of Morristown’s population whose contributions to society have stayed in the shadows for too long.

Turkington conducted numerous interviews and relied on the vast resources of the Library’s History Center in order to put together this wonderful history. Copies are available for $15.95 (plus tax) the night of the event (cash or check) or from the History Center on the Library’s lower level.

Dicey Riley will perform at the Morristown & Township Library on May 10, 2013.
Dicey Riley will perform at the Morristown & Township Library on May 10, 2013.

Dicey Riley has been performing traditional Irish music in Morris County, NJ, since 1998. The group covers traditional jigs, reels, and hornpipes, as well as ballads, folksongs, and sing-alongs.

The band’s four musicians––Kevin Johnson, Tommy Johnson, John McGoldrick and Lou Timney––interchangeably play fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bodhran, penny whistle, and Irish flute, while also creating pleasant vocal harmonies. They have played for pubs, restaurants, churches, private parties, weddings, and corporate functions, as well as playing previously at the Morristown & Morris Township Library.

Cheryl Turkington has been the assistant archivist in the North Jersey History Center at the Morristown & Morris Township Library since 1989. She earned a B.A. at the University of Connecticut and continued her training there in the Public History & Archives Management Program. She is the author of Setting Up Our Own City: The Black Community in Morristown (1992), and Greeting the Past: A Walking Tour of the Dublin Neighborhood in Morristown, N.J. (2006).

 

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