In September we blogged about the opening of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.

Now we can report the opening of the Irish Cultural Museum of New Orleans, 933 Conti St. in the French Quarter. (Yes, an Irish museum in the French Quarter of an American city!)

From the museum website:

Beginning in the 1700’s New Orleans received thousands of Irish who made a treacherous journey from their distant homeland across the Atlantic. And only here will you learn of the sacrifices and contributions these unsung heroes have made to this great city. From the appointment in 1769 of Irish military strategist Alexander O’Reilly as the second governor of Louisiana, to the thousands of Irish who perished digging the New Basin Canal, the Irish Cultural Museum of New Orleans traces the city’s Irish Heritage through rarely seen archival maps, photographs, and newspaper articles.

There are also grand plans to build The Irish American Museum of Washington D.C., though progress in the effort appears to be rather slow.