U.S. Postal Service district manager William Downes (left rear) unveils the new Irish immigration stamp together with Phil Haughey (right), co-chairman of Friends of Harvard Celtic Studies, during a dedication ceremony at the Barker Center's Thompson Room. Photo by Kris Snibbe

It’s not often that a postage stamp brings tears to people’s eyes, but that’s what happened July 8 at Harvard’s Barker Center.

At 2 p.m. about 100 people gathered in the plummy Thompson Room with its baronial hearth, massive grandfather clock, and life-sized portraits of Teddy Roosevelt and Percival Lowell. Several tables displayed lavish quantities of food and drink while at the front of the room members of the University Police Department stood at attention bearing the flags of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the United States of America, and the Republic of Ireland.

The group had assembled to mark an unusual occasion – the simultaneous issuing by Ireland and the United States of a stamp commemorating Irish immigration. The event was jointly sponsored by Harvard University Mail Services, the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures, and the U. S. Postal Service.

One could tell that this was an occasion when emotional chords would be struck when Bob Brooks, a training technician with the Postal Service, strode to the front of the room and, in a fine, unaccompanied Irish tenor, gave a stirring rendition of the national anthem of Ireland ("Soldiers are we, whose lives are pledged to Ireland. . .") followed by "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Next, Patrick Ford, the Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures and chair of the Celtic department, spoke about his great-grandfather, Dennis Kildea, a poor Irish boy from Donegal, who in 1860 emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Michigan, where he became a successful farmer and raised 11 children, including three sets of twins. One of these twins was Ford’s father’s mother, Martha.

"I recite this story because it is by no means atypical," Ford said.

In fact, added the next speaker, Bob Cannon, Postal Service head of corporate relations for Boston, approximately 2.6 million Irish immigrants sailed to North America between 1815 and 1850. Much of this diaspora was driven by the potato blight, which struck in 1845 and was responsible for about 1 million deaths from famine and disease.

Many Irish immigrants arrived on sailing ships like the one depicted on the stamp. The stamp, Cannon pointed out, has trompe l’oeil gun ports painted on its side in an effort to deter pirates.

On arriving in America, the majority of Irish immigrants became laborers, Cannon said, working in the mines, on the railroads, and helping to build the nation’s cities. In a personal note, Cannon mentioned that his great- grandfather’s cousin was hanged as a leader of the Molly Maguires, the secret organization that fought for coal miners’ rights in Pennsylvania in the 1860s and ’70s. A group of their descendants, he said, is now fighting to have the Mollies exonerated.

Cannon ended his remarks with a mixed-media presentation – a slide show of old photos of Irish scenes, accompanied by a recording of the song "Kilkelly," performed by folk singer Robbie O’Connell. The words of the song are based on an actual letter from an Irish father to his son in America.

Other speakers included Cannon’s wife, Marsha, who is postmaster of Cambridge; William Downes, Postal Service district manager; Phil Haughey, co- chair of the Friends of Harvard Celtic Studies; John Nolan, Director of Transportation Services; and Orla O’Hanrahan, consul general of Ireland.

Master of ceremonies was Gene Haley, a genial retired advertising man who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1970 with a dissertation on place names in Irish medieval sagas. He is now an associate with the Celtic department, still working on the scholarly project he began as a graduate student.

"It’s a labor of love," Haley said. "Thirty years later I’ve discovered that my field is still my own. No one else has jumped in, and there are still a few delicious holes I haven’t filled yet."

The formal part of the event ended with another song "A Stoir Mo Chroidhe" (My Heart’s Treasure) performed a cappella by Kate Chadbourne, a lecturer in the Celtic department.

As Chadbourne’s clear soprano filled the room, the audience appeared mesmerized, overcome by the nostalgia that Irish song and story seem uniquely able to evoke. It was hardly the sort of emotional experience one might expect at the dedication of a postage stamp!