Margaret MacCurtain

Margaret Mac Curtain (born 1929) is a Dominican sister, Irish historian, writer, and educator.

Mac Curtain is a native of County Cork, Ireland. She is the daughter of Sean and Ann Mac Curtáin. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree from University College Cork (UCC) prior to joining the Dominican Order in 1950. She held several positions including Prioress of Sion Hill Convent. In 1964, she earned a Ph.D. in history and was a lecturer in the Irish History Department of University College Dublin from 1964 to 1994. She was also a professor at the School of Irish Studies, Dublin, from 1972 to 1989. She held the Burns Chair of Irish Studies at Boston College from 1992 to 1993. She was awarded the Eire Society of Boston Gold Medal in 1993 for her writings on Irish women's history. When she initially became a nun she was given the name Sister Benvenuta but she restored her own name when rule changes allowed it.

Mac Curtain has been active in political and social causes. She chaired the National Archives Advisory Council from 1997 to 2002 and contributed to the Treoir 2000 report on the state of the Irish language at the end of the 20th century.

• The Birth of Modern Ireland (1969)
• Tudor and Stuart Ireland (1972)
• Women and Irish Society: The Historical Dimension (1978)
• The Gill History of Ireland series (1980)
• Women in Early Modern Ireland (1992)
• From Dublin to New Orleans: Nora and Alice's Journey to America 1888 (1995)
• Grace Gifford Plunkett and Irish Freedom (2000)
• Ariadne's Threads: Writing Women into Irish History (2009)