The James Hoban/Early DC History section of the collection is the result of an extensive research and development program undertaken in the period 2000-2008 as background to the commemoration of the 175th. anniversary in 2006 of the death in 1831 of James Hoban, Irish-born architect and builder of the White House and builder of the U.S. Capitol,  and the 250th. anniversary in 2008 of his birth near Callan, Co. Kilkenny in 1758. 

 

This research, which began in Charleston (as James Hoban had in 1787, following a brief period in Philadelphia) under the auspices of the James Hoban Society, was further extended to cover the early history of the District of Columbia, in which Hoban played such a distinguished part, as well as the role of other prominent Irish-born and descended citizens in the revolutionary period and the early days of the Federal Republic. The research also covered other important Irish-born or descended architects and engineers working in the United States up to the present day.

 

Some selected material from the Hoban section of the collection is included here to provide an overall picture of his life and work, as well as of the commemoration program(me) that took place in Washington, Charleston, Kilkenny and Dublin in the period 2006-8. It includes an essay (2008) by Denis Bergin that focuses mainly on Hoban's Irish background, as well as an article (1896) by M. J. Griffin that is the earliest (and possibly only) attempt to assess his contribution to early Washington.