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Legacy
It was during Hewson’s directorship that responsibility for the funding of NLI passed from the Department of Education to the Department of the Taoiseach. It remained the responsibility of this department until 1992 when a new government department was established with responsibility for culture. These steps paved the way for the 2005 establishment of the NLI as an autonomous national cultural institution.

Michael Hewson raised the profile of the NLI by represented it at various national and international committees such as the Irish Manuscripts Commission. He was instrumental in establishing cooperation with the British Library with the founding of the Newsplan project, a co-operative preservation project for newspapers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Despite his directorship coinciding with significant budget constraints, he started extensive refurbishment of the library, redeveloping the Kildare Street Club premises to house the Department of Manuscripts.

As well as working for the NLI, Michael Hewson was a keen user of the NLI’s manuscript collection, seeing it as an important resource for Irish history. As such he researched and wrote various articles on local and national history. Between 1965 and 1981 he published four articles in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal on various aspects of the history of Munster and Co. Clare, his home county. Three of these have been digitised and are available from Limerick City Library. Between 1962 and 1964 Michael Hewson published five popular history articles in The Irish Independent on a wide array of Irish social history topics: the history of the animal designs on early coinage of the Republic of Ireland ; the history of Edward Jenner, inventor of the smallpox vaccine; the surprising history of sedan chairs in 1800s Dublin; the story of Henry Ford’s connection with Co. Cork; and of Vere Foster , inventor of a style of handwriting copybook for young school children.

His most significant published work is the 1975 Catalogue of Irish Topographical Prints and Original Drawings, which he co-authored with Rosalind M Elmes.

Publications

 * Michael Hewson, (Monday 29 January 1962) “Edward Jenner’s Great Discovery.” Irish Independent. p.6.
 * Michael Hewson, (Monday 5 March 1962) "Did our coinage depend on a wrong address?" Irish Independent. p.7.
 * Michael Hewson, (Thursday 7 March 1963) “In the days of the sedan chair.” Irish Independent. p.10.
 * Michael Hewson, (Tuesday 30 July 1963) “The Father of Tin Lizzie.” Irish Independent. p.8.
 * Michael Hewson, (Thursday 13 February 1964) “Vere Foster: generous friend of Ireland.” Irish Independent. p.10.
 * Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘A word-list from south-west Clare’, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 9/4 182–86.
 * Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘A source for 19th century Clare history’, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 9/4 194–95.
 * Michael Hewson, (1965) ‘The diaries of John Singleton, of Quinville, Co. Clare’, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 17 103–09.
 * Rosalind M. Elmes and Michael Hewson, (1975) Catalogue of Irish topographical prints and original drawings.
 * Michael Hewson, (1981) ‘Emigration to the “North American Colonies” from the port of Limerick in 1841’, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 23 67–76.