# Belfast's Linen Hall Library

John Killen brings to life the collections of this unique Irish institution. The Linen Hall Library was envisioned as the archive of its community; its mission statement, written on 1 January 1795, outlines its goals: "The object of this society is the collection of an extensive Library, Philosophical Apparatus and such productions of Nature and Art as tend to improve the mind and excite a spirit of general enquiry; the society intends to collect such materials as will illustrate the antiquities, the natural, civil, commercial and ecclesiastical history of this country \[Ireland\] - provision has been made to render the institution as permanent as the vicissitudes of human affairs permit by making the Library...a general and hereditary property...." According to Killen, "the collections in the Linen Hall tell the story of Ireland, the divisions in its society, its trials and tribulations, its successes and failures; and, throughout, they tell of the spirit of a people. All books tell a story; but the story behind each book can be equally (or more) important. They show the inter-connectivity of human experience in communities that are different in many ways, but similar in that the human spirit is shared by all."

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2011
- By: Library Of Congress
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687538/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021687538?play=1)