Family of John and Pat Hume ask Derry & Strabane Council to manage parents’ archive

During an annual Museum Service report to members, at a Business and Culture Committee meeting on Tuesday, Head of Culture, Aeidin McCarter, said the service had “recently been approached by the family of John and Pat Hume with a request to professionally manage and care for their parents’ archive”.

Ms McCarter added: “The collection consists of papers and a small number of key artefacts associated with John and Pat Hume.

“It is proposed to bring the collection formally into the Museum Service archive on loan where it can be secured, listed and managed professionally by the Curator and Archivist.

“It is the understanding of the service that the Hume family are considering the longer-term future of the collection to ensure its preservation and accessibility.

“The museum team are happy to be part of those considerations and to ensure that in the interim the collection is secured and accessible in line with the wider museum service archive.

“Any decisions on the future of the collection involving Council will be brought to members.”

The archive makes up part of the Museum Service Programme for 2024-2025, which also includes preparation for the opening of the new DNA museum, extension of the Derry Girls Experience at the Tower Museum, and a Workers’ Rights and Social Justice programme in April and May.

SDLP Councillor Rory Farrell noted the “generosity of the Hume family” in sharing these historical items with the city and district.

He added: “It will complement the exiting presentation we have in the Guildhall, where we’ve got the Nobel Peace Prize, so the establishment of this is going to preserve and promote John and Pat Hume’s legacy.”

A special collection of John Hume’s peace accolades from around the world went on display in Derry's Guildhall back in December 2022.

The collection includes the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly awarded to John Hume and David Trimble for their role in the Northern Ireland peace process, the Martin Luther King Jnr Non-Violent Prize bestowed in 1999, and the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize, awarded in 2001.

The former St Columb's College teacher, SDLP leader and architect of the good Friday Agreement, is the only person to have ever received all three distinguished honours. The collection was gifted to the people of Derry by the Hume family in 2021 and is now open for viewing in the Guildhall.

Andrew Balfour,

Local Democracy Reporter