The RCB Library’s Assistant Archivist, Dr Susan Hood, has completed her three-week tour of book signings and lectures in New York, following engagements in the cities of Boston, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, and Chicago. The principal focus of the tour was to promote her book Royal Roots - Republican Inheritance: the Survival of the Office of Arms which tells the remarkable survival story of the Irish heraldic authority.

The trip also enabled extensive promotion of the RCB Library and its resources. The RCB Library is now the Church’s principal repository for Church of Ireland records, and is used on a daily basis by many researchers from home and abroad. Susan’s lecture tour has raised awareness among several Irish-American groups and professional genealogical organizations about the importance of Church of Ireland archives for family and local history research, and will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the resources available in the RCB Library.

In Boston, Susan was the guest of the Rev. Robert Tobin, Rector of the Episcopal parish of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his wife Maurine. The Tobins are co-editors of How Long O Lord: Christian, Jewish and Muslim Voices from the Ground and Visions for The Future in Israel/Palestine (Cambridge, Mass, 2002) - a series of essays by peacemakers seeking a just peace, while the parish of Christ Church is noted for its outreach to the marginalized in society and its social justice programmes. In Boston, she addressed TIARA – The Irish American Research Association and also the Eire Society at Boston College; and the New England Historic and Genealogical Society at their headquarters in Newbury Street. She also launched her book in The Coop bookstore at Harvard.

In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, she was the guest of the Irish Genealogical Society International - the largest Irish-American genealogical society, whose interest ensured that the “Royal Roots tour” reached the State of Minnesota. In addition to a two-day lecture programme, she also conducted book signings and informal discussion groups with members of this enthusiastic society, and met archivists at the University of Minnesota.

In Chicago, she carried out a day-long series of lectures and signed copies of her book at the Irish-American Cultural Center before traveling on to New York. In the Big Apple, she was the guest of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society – one of the oldest and most active genealogical societies in the United States. In their beautiful ballroom on East 58th Street, Manhattan, she delivered lectures on the Office of Arms; the impact of the Great Famine on Strokestown, County Roscommon, and the importance of Church of Ireland records for genealogical research.

Susan Hood describes the tour as a great learning experience. She was particularly impressed by American interest in the Church of Ireland and its written heritage – much of which is preserved in the RCB Library in Dublin.