“Not much is heard of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats, the somewhat forgotten sisters. They were two significant Irish women of the Celtic Revival, creative and strong, accomplished and pioneering, and a light is belatedly being shone on their work and lives.” “The Cuala Press Project is archiving, conserving and researching the Cuala Archive, donated by the Yeats family to Trinity Library in the 1980s, and a collection of over 100 Cuala prints donated more recently by Vin Ryan of the Schooner Foundation, which supports the project. The collection is being digitised for public access. The project situates Dun Emer and Cuala in the wider cultural, historical and political landscape of the early 20th century. Griffith points out the Yeats sisters’ significance given women’s roles at the time, their agency and their place (or not) within subsequent histories. From the beginning, Dun Emer and Cuala trained and employed only women, aiming to enable them to live independently. They learned needlecraft under Lily, tapestry and weaving with Evelyn Gleeson and hand printing from Elizabeth. The company advertised that they employed Irish hands and used the best of Irish materials, to make ‘beautiful things’.”—”Neglected reputations: The forgotten Yeats sisters, Lily and Elizabeth. Overshadowed by brothers WB and Jack, the female siblings were key to the Celtic Revival and powerhouses behind Dun Emer and Cuala outlets for female writers and artists.”

See The Cuala Press Project and The Yeats Sisters.