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Stained Glass Studios Archive

Harry Clarke (1889–1931)
Stained Glass Studios archive Harry Clarke's is one of a mere handful of names that is instantly recognisable in Ireland. His stunning designs for stained glass windows grace churches great and small in every county on the island. Less well known is the fact that he began his career in the church-decoration business founded by his father, Joshua, in 1886. Young Harry left school in his mid-teens, after the early death of his mother, and went to work in his father's design studio while taking night classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. When Joshua Clarke died in 1921 Harry and his brother Walter kept the business going, with Harry taking over management of the Stained Glass Studios and Walter responsible for the decorating business. Harry, who had never enjoyed good health, died at the age of 40 in 1931.
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The earliest section of the Clarke Stained Glass Studios archives in Trinity (MSS 5970–6167) is the business administration records, including order books, employee records and the financial accounts of a business whose designs were commissioned in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The later section (TCD MS 11182) contains architects' plans, photographs and reference materials. This section also contains more than 2,000 stained glass designs in the form of rough colour sketches, pencil drawings and photographs, mostly for religious institutions. Although the bulk of the material covers the period after Harry Clarke's death in 1931 he remained a guiding inspiration for generations of artists and designers.

Shelfmark: TCD MS 11182/1062, 1125

Jane Maxwell

Dr Jane Maxwell has worked for many years as an Archivist and Manuscripts Curator in the Department of Manuscripts & Archives. She has published, lectured, and curated exhibitions on subjects as diverse as the lives of 18th-century Irish women, and the literary archives of Samuel Beckett.

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