Michael O'Malley is Professor of History at George Mason University, Virginia. He is the author of Keeping Watch: A History of American Time (Viking, 1990); Face Value: the Entwined History of Race and Money in America (Chicago, 2012), and The Beat Cop: Chicago's Chief O'Neill and the Creation of Irish Music (Chicago, 2022). O'Malley is also co-editor of a collection of essays, The Cultural Turn in US History: Past, Present, and Future (Chicago, 2009). His most recent book, tentatively titled The Color of Family: History, Race and the Politics of Ancestry, looks at how authority over identity has shifted from community, to state and federal administrative records, to commercial genealogical companies, like Ancestry.com, linked to DNA databases. It partly examines the surprising fact that the State of Virginia has declared him to be "colored." The book is in process for publication by the University of Chicago Press and should be out in 2024. O'Malley helped establish the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at GMU, and was one of the early pioneers in the use of digital media.

The Beat Cop is a biography of Francis O'Neill (1848-1936), an Irish immigrant who rose to be chief of the Chicago Police and who was obsessed with defining and collecting Irish folk music. The book discusses political authority and culture-making in the Irish diaspora. This lecture will explore the significance of O'Neill in accumulating and promoting Irish traditional music, and how this related to his role as a police officer.

This public lecture will take place in-person at the Council Chamber, Lanyon Building, Queen's University Belfast, and online via Teams.

Please join us afterwards for a reception in the Canada Room