John Quinn: The Most Influential Tiffin Native You've Never Heard Of

The Seneca County Museum’s 2022 speaker series continues next month, as a Heidelberg English professor presents on an influential person from Tiffin who is unknown by many.

Do you think you have heard of every important native Tiffinite over the last 200 years? John Quinn seems to have escaped the attention of many people, including local historians. Join Dr. Barry Devine, who is an Assistant Professor of English at Heidelberg University, as he presents a program on Quinn on June 9th, at 7 p.m. at the Seneca County Museum.

John Quinn was born in Tiffin in 1871. After a disappointing career in New York's Tammany Hall politics, he earned two law degrees and opened a practice in New
York City. He worked with some of the most famous figures of the early 20th century, including writers like T. S. Eliot, artists like Pablo Picasso, and even got involved in the Irish Revolution with the Easter Rising leader, Roger Casement. He collected over 2,000 rare books and manuscripts from writers like James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, and Matthew Arnold. Quinn's legacy is widely recognized in the fields of modern art, rare manuscripts, and publishing history.

Join Devine at the Seneca County Museum to learn how Quinn went from his father's Tiffin bakery to become one of the most influential, yet invisible, figures of the 20th century.

Devine’s areas of specialty include Irish literature, literary modernism and early 20th century publishing. The free program will be held Thursday, June 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Seneca County Museum located at 28 Clay Street.