Tuam Survivors Reclaim Their History in Landmark Galway Exhibition
The first museum exhibition in Ireland dedicated to the history of a mother and baby home opened at Galway City Museum on Tuesday, July 1, with 18 survivors of the Tuam institution finally seeing their stories, photographs, and personal artefacts displayed on the walls of a national cultural institution — a moment many described as the most significant of their long campaign for recognition.
Background
The Tuam Mother and Baby Home in County Galway operated from 1925 to 1961 under the management of the Bon Secours Sisters. For decades, the institution's history remained largely hidden from public view, its records incomplete and its former residents scattered across Ireland, Britain, and further afield. The scale of what had occurred there — the deaths of hundreds of children, the separation of mothers from their babies, the conditions of confinement — was not widely understood until historian Catherine Corless began her meticulous archival research in the early 2010s.
Corless's work, which identified the deaths of 796 children at the home and raised questions about the location of their remains, triggered a national and international reckoning. A government commission of investigation followed, and in 2021, the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission confirmed the deaths and the discovery of significant quantities of human remains in a structure on the site. The Irish government issued a formal state apology to survivors and their families.
Yet for many survivors, the apology and the commission's report felt insufficient. They wanted their own voices — not the language of official reports — to define how their experiences were remembered. The Survivor Stories: Tuam and Ireland's Institutional Past exhibition, developed in collaboration between Galway City Museum and the University of Galway, is the direct result of that demand.
Key Developments
The exhibition, which runs until September 2026, draws on oral histories, personal photographs, and artefacts contributed by 18 survivors who spent time in the Tuam home or were born there. The project was led academically by historian Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley of the University of Galway, who spent several years gathering testimonies and working with survivors to ensure the exhibition reflected their own understanding of their experiences rather than an institutional interpretation.
Catherine Corless, whose research first brought the Tuam home to widespread public attention, was closely involved in the project's development. She emphasised the importance of gathering survivor experiences firsthand, before the generation who lived through the institution is lost entirely. Dr Buckley described the exhibition's purpose as ensuring the life stories of survivors are preserved and providing a space where they feel genuinely represented — not as subjects of historical inquiry, but as the authors of their own narratives.
One survivor contributing to the exhibition captured the significance of the moment with striking clarity: "For decades, we were silenced and told our stories didn't matter. To see our own photographs and our own words on the walls of a national museum — it means we are finally being seen. It is our truth." The exhibition is accompanied by a podcast series and a programme of public workshops, extending its reach beyond the museum's physical walls.
Why It Matters
The opening of this exhibition is not simply a cultural event; it is a milestone in Ireland's ongoing process of confronting the legacy of its institutional past. For much of the twentieth century, the state, the Catholic Church, and Irish society collectively failed the women and children who passed through institutions like Tuam. The commission of investigation, the state apology, and the ongoing work of excavation and identification of remains are all part of a reckoning that is still far from complete.
What makes this exhibition distinctive is its insistence on survivor agency. Previous commemorations and investigations have often placed survivors in a passive role — as subjects of inquiry, recipients of apology, or witnesses to official processes. Here, they are the curators of their own memory. This shift in approach reflects a broader evolution in how Irish society is learning to engage with historical trauma: not through the sanitising language of official reports, but through the raw, specific, irreplaceable testimony of those who lived it.
The exhibition also arrives at a moment when the physical work of identifying and reinterring the remains of children found at the Tuam site is still ongoing. For survivors and their families, the museum exhibition provides a form of recognition that the slow machinery of official processes has not yet fully delivered. It is, in the truest sense, a community-led act of remembrance.
Local Impact
For Galway city, the exhibition represents a significant addition to the cultural landscape of the summer season. The Galway City Museum, situated in the Spanish Arch area of the city, is already a focal point for visitors and residents alike, and the exhibition is expected to draw significant footfall from across the country and from the Irish diaspora. The University of Galway's involvement underscores the institution's growing role as a centre for research into Ireland's social history.
For the survivors themselves — many of whom are elderly and have spent decades seeking recognition — the exhibition offers something more personal than any official process can provide. Several have travelled from England and further afield to attend the opening, making the journey back to Galway to see their own stories told in their own words. Local community groups and advocacy organisations have welcomed the exhibition as a model for how cultural institutions can engage meaningfully with difficult histories.
What's Next
The exhibition runs at Galway City Museum until September 2026, with a programme of public workshops and events scheduled throughout the summer. The accompanying podcast series will be released in episodes over the coming weeks, making the survivor testimonies accessible to a global audience. The University of Galway has indicated that the oral history archive gathered for the project will be preserved and made available to researchers. Meanwhile, the work of identifying and reinterring the remains of children found at the Tuam site continues, with the government-appointed excavation team expected to provide further updates later this year.
