Papers of Evelyn Gleeson and the Dun Emer Guild

Context

Creator(s): Gleeson Evelyn, 1855-1944, founder of Dun Emer Guild

• Administrative History ↴

  Evelyn Gleeson was born in Knutsford, Cheshire on 15 May 1855. Her father, Dr Edward Moloney Gleeson (1815-1895), from Kilcolman, near Nenagh, co Tipperary, ran a general medical practice in Knutsford. He founded the Athlone Woollen Mills in 1859. Her mother Harriet Gleeson (née Simpson) was from Bolton, Lancashire. The family moved to Athlone in 1863 but Evelyn was educated in England where she trained as a teacher. She studied art in London for some years, principally at the Ludovici Atelier (1890-92) and for six months with the textile designer Alexander Millar, artistic director of carpet manufacturers Templetons of Glasgow. Templetons purchased several of Gleeson's carpet designs. While living in London she became involved in the suffragette movement and attended meetings of the Gaelic League and the Irish Literary Society. Evelyn Gleeson moved to Ireland to improve her health and in 1902 she bought a house called 'Runneymede', renamed Dun Emer, in Dundrum near Dublin which was to be the base for an arts and crafts business. She invited her two friends Elizabeth Corbet (Lolly) Yeats (1868-1940) and her sister Susan Mary (Lily) Yeats (1886-1949) to join her in the Dun Emer crafts studio. The Dun Emer enterprise was financed by Evelyn Gleeson with additional funding and support of her friend, the botanist Dr Augustine Henry (1857-1930). Evelyn was in charge of tapestry and handtufted carpets and rugs; Lily Yeats, who had trained under May Morris, was in charge of embroidery, and Lolly Yeats was in charge of handprinting limited editions of books by Irish authors in the style of William Morris's Kelmscott Press. In 1904 the Dun Emer crafts studio was organised into two parts: the Dun Emer Guild under Gleeson and Dun Emer Industries under the Yeats sisters. In 1908 the two groups parted completely with Evelyn Gleeson retaining the Dun Emer name and the Yeats sisters establishing Cuala Industries in Churchtown, co Dublin, comprising the Cuala Press and an embroidery workshop. In 1910 Evelyn Gleeson became a founder member of the Guild of Irish Art workers. In 1912 the Dun Emer workrooms moved to Mangan Hall, Hardwicke St, Dublin. After the departure of the Yeats sisters Evelyn Gleeson carried on with the weaving of rugs, tapestry and embroidery drawing inspiration from Early Christian interlace and zoomorphic patterns. Church patronage accounted for the bulk of the orders although they also made dresses, drapes, cushions, carpets and other items. A number of young women joined as workers and trainees, among them Augustine Henry's niece May Kerley to help with carpets and rugs, bookbinder Norah Fitzpatrick, and Maire Walker (Abbey actress Máire Ní Shuibhlaigh). Evelyn Gleeson's widowed sister, Constance MacCormack [1862-1921), lived at Dun Emer together with her children Grace (1898-1982), Katherine ('Kitty') (1892-1975), and Edward (1889-1906). Constance managed the household at Dun Emer and both Grace and Kitty worked in the Guild from an early age. Kitty was an amateur actress, theatre set designer and author. As designer for Dun Emer Kitty worked on such projects as the Honan Chapel, Cork tapestries (1917), gold vestments for St Patrick's church, San Francisco (1923), and the carpet presented to Pope Pius XI (1931). Kitty carried on the work of the Guild after her aunt's death, aged 89, on 20 February 1944. The last home of Dun Emer, the shop in Harcourt St, Dublin closed around 1964.

• Archival History ↴

  The collection was presented by Evelyn Gleeson's grand nephew Dr Patrick Kelly in 1993 with additions in 2000.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation