Alley Theatre host programme exploring US connections

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…

EXPLORING Strabane’s historic connections with North America is the aim of a fascinating progamme taking place at the Alley Theatre this month, and throughout the summer season.

Delivered by Derry City and Strabane District Council, the programme kicked off on Thursday, with a special exhibition curated by Council’s Museum Services, titled ‘Ulster-Scots and the Declaration of Independence’, to mark the anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.

The travelling exhibition, which will run until August 30, is on loan from the Ulster Scots Agency, and includes a selection of objects from Derry City & Strabane District Council’s Museum collection.

A series of talks by a number of leading experts in Ulster-American history will also be held at the Alley Theatre, in tandem with the exhibition.

Upcoming featured guest speakers include Dr William Roulston of the Ulster Historical Foundation on July 18, with William Blair, director of collections at the National Museums of NI, concluding the series on July 25.

The talks will focus on some of the key figures of the age, who originally hailed from Ulster, including John Dunlap, who printed the new US constitution in 1787, and Charles Thomson who designed the Great Seal of the United States in 1782.

The narrative around the forefathers of President Woodrow Wilson, who have long been associated with the townland of Dergalt and the homestead building located just outside Strabane, which is currently maintained by the Ulster American Folk Park, will also be touched upon.

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIETY

Looking ahead to the exhibition, curator at the Tower Museum, Roisin Doherty, said that the programme of events will highlight the important roles that immigrants from Strabane, and the surrounding areas, played in the laying the foundations of society in America.

“With the mass emigration of the Ulster Scots to the US, it was inevitable that many rose to prominence within the spheres of business and politics within the new colonies,” she said.

“The programme offers the chance to find out more about some of the individuals whose prospects flourished in the US, and who left a lasting legacy in the new world.”

Among the events taking place is a special talk on Strabane’s very own John Dunlap.

Born in Meetinghouse Street in 1747. Dunlap left his native Strabane for America in 1756 and went on to be a printer, soldier and newspaper publisher.

Today, he is most frequently recalled as, not just the man who printed the US Constitution, but also as the printer of the Declaration of Independence.

Fittingly, the National Trust’s Gray’s Printing Press in Strabane will be open from now until July 27, with further dates in August and September, to give an insight into an industry in which the Strabane of the very late 1700s and early 1800s played a leading role.

In August, a blue plaque will be unveiled by the Ulster History Circle to commemorate the prominent New York businessman and financier, Alexander Ector Orr, who was born in Strabane in 1831.

He is known as ‘the Father of the New York Subway’ for arranging the financing and construction of this major rapid transport system which opened almost 120 years ago in October 1904.

For more information on the full programme of events, please visit: www.derrystrabane.com/subsites/4th-july