The Donald R. Keough Endowed Collection in Irish Studies was established in 1992 by the University to honor the now-late Don Keough as he stepped down as chairperson of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees and became a Life Trustee. He was elected a Trustee in 1978 and served as the Board chair from 1986 to 1991. Don and his wife, Marilyn, raised six children, five of whom are Notre Dame graduates.

Don was awarded the Laetare Medal in 1993. Considered the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics, Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal is presented annually in recognition of outstanding service to the Church and society.

The Keough Endowed Collection in Irish Studies supports Irish history, art, architecture, and literature acquisitions as part of the Hesburgh Libraries collections. Recent additions include newspaper microfilm sets and some rare travel accounts of Ireland, such as an 1824 illustrated book, A picturesque tour through Ireland by Dennis Sullivan, held only in fifteen libraries. Works on the origins of Ireland, bibliographies, biographies and autobiographies of Irish Catholics living and deceased, works relating to the social, economic, cultural, and religious history of the Irish, Irish immigration history, Irish women’s studies, and works on Northern Ireland are being acquired with funding from the Keough Endowment.