Founded in 2012 in Hamden, Connecticut, as part of Quinnipiac University, Ireland's Great Hunger Museum was created to document and interpret the Irish Great Famine of 1845 to 1852 through history, literature, artifacts, and art. Developed from John L. Lahey's long interest in famine history, it assembled the world's largest collection of Great Hunger-related art, including nineteenth-century and contemporary Irish and Irish-American works, and supported research through its Famine Folios series. After closing amid financial strain and the COVID-19 pandemic, the collection was transferred to Fairfield in 2022, where it continues to preserve the famine's memory and meaning in the United States.