Donnelly's Arm for Boston exhibition

Dan Donnelly's Arm, currently on exhibition in America, won't be coming home anytime soon.



It had been expected that the mummified right arm of the famous Irish pugilist, which held pride of place in The Hideout for almost half a century, would be returning to Kilcullen in January following the end of the 'Fighting Irishmen' exhibition which has run in two separate venues in New York since September 2006.

But arm owner Josephine Byrne received an email this week that the Burns Library in Boston College have asked to host the exhibition from February through September 2008.

Saying that it was just what her late husband Des would have wanted, she happily gave her permission for the arm to be brought to Boston as part of the exhibition that was put together initially by New York realtor and boxing fan Jim Houlihan.

"Robert O'Brien, who heads the Boston College library for the last 20 years, is on of the leading academics in Irish Studies and is very excited to display the Fighting Irishmen exhibit," he says. "The exhibit will be displayed in the library, where it can be exposed to students, faculty, trustees, and many leaders in Irish American cultural societies."

Brian Byrne.