In 2017, the Foundation received a significant donation of books from Mr David Beckett in England. They were part of a collection amassed by his late father John. John Beckett was an avid collector of books on the history of Belfast and Ulster. Among the volumes donated were books by a number of the leading historians of Belfast in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including George Benn, Robert M. Young and S. Shannon Millin. John, who had worked at Harland & Wolff, the famous shipbuilding firm in Belfast, had a particular interest in industrial history and his collection included works by E.R.R. Green and W.A. McCutcheon. Other titles covered such subjects as music, folklore and geography.