Dr. Gavin Wilk

Dr. Gavin Wilk, a former Villanova student, will be on campus on February 20th to deliver a talk entitled “Resolute revolutionaries: Joseph McGarrity and the militant Irish republican networks in the United States, 1922-1940.” He has just completed a Ph.D. in history and used the Villanova Special Collections for his dissertation.

Dr. Wilk will discuss Joseph McGarrity's leadership of the US-based republican organization, Clan na Gael, the local and national organizational structure of the Clan in Philadelphia and the U.S. He will explore McGarrity’s strong ties with Irish Republican Army veterans who had emigrated to the US after the Irish Civil War, and will include stories of leading Irish republicans in Philadelphia and New York. In addition, the discussion with detail McGarrity's involvement with the Irish Hospitals Sweepstake as well as his major role in an IRA bombing campaign in England during 1939. Dr, Wilk will also describe the resources used for his research and particularly discuss the McGarrity collection at Falvey Library.

The talk is scheduled for February 20th at 5:00 pm in SAC 300.

Please contact Craig Bailey or Joseph Lennon for more information. 

Click here to learn more about Villanova's McGarrity collection.