Deposited Collections

Biographical history

Brian Farrell was born in Manchester on 9th January 1929 to Irish Parents, Francis and Teresa. He moved to Dublin in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was educated at Coláiste Mhuire, University College Dublin (UCD) and Harvard University. Brian joined the administrative staff of UCD in 1955 and became director of extramural studies. In 1963 he was appointed as an assistant to the registrar. In addition to his work in UCD Brian worked in media, writing articles for the Irish Press and the Irish Independent. In 1962 he joined the newly established Radio Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and presented a number of political and current affairs programmes until his retirement in 2004.

Alongside his career in television Brian’s career in UCD also flourished. He became a lecturer in 1966 in the department of Ethics and Politics progressing to senior lecturer in Politics. In 1985 he was appointed associate professor of government and political science. He retired from UCD in the mid-1990s. Brian predeceased his wife Marie-Thérèse Dillon on 10 November 2014.

Marie-Thérèse Dillon was born in Vienna in 1928. She was an only child of Dr TWT Dillon and Marie Berringer. Her uncle James Dillon was leader of the Fine Gael Party from 1959–65. Another uncle Myles Dillon was a Celtic Scholar and a senior professor in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies from 1949–72. Her grandfather was John Dillon, the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He served as an MP for over 35 years. Marie-Thérèse was educated at the Sacred Heart School in Leeson street, she also attended the Domestic College in Edinburgh developing her interest and skill in dress design. She worked as a manager in Larhams clothing factory in Dun Laoghaire.

After her father died in 1946 Marie-Thérèse’s mother suffered ill health. She died at the age of 57 in August 1955.

Brian and Marie-Thérèse married in Cambridge, Boston on Monday 11th April 1955. They returned to Ireland in June the same year and began their married life together. They had eight children, four daughters, one of whom died in infancy, and four sons.

Archival history

These papers were deposited by Miriam Farrell-Shtaierman in June 2022.

Scope and Content

In July 1954 Brian Farrell travelled by air from Dublin to America. He had won a Fulbright Scholarship to Harvard University. He left behind his fiancée, Marie-Therese Dillon. Over the next eight months Brian and Marie-Thérèse exchanged almost daily letters, the letters contained in this collection, until her departure from Cobh on 15 March 1955. She arrived in New York on 22 March 1955. From there Brian and Marie-Therese set off for George Roach’s house in Rhinebeck and then on to Harvard.

They married, in Cambridge, on Easter Monday 11th April 1955. After the wedding Brian and Marie-Therese moved into Brain’s bedsit, 146 Upland Road, and Brian continued his studies. For their last month in America they returned to George’s house in Rhinebeck. They arrived back to Cobh on 21st June 1955 and onwards to the Dillon House in Booterstown, Dublin.

Correspondence between Marie-Therese and Brian, July 1954–March 1955.

Letters from Brian and Marie-Thérèse to Mrs. Dillon, September 1954–June 1955.

Photographs, not dated; 1946; April 1955.

• Access: Available by appointment to holders of a UCD Archives reader's ticket. Produced for consultation in original format. Original material will be retrieved on Fridays only. It will be made available for consultation in the UCD Special Collections reading room on Level One of the James Joyce Library.
• Language: English.
• Finding Aid: Descriptive catalogue