Welcome to the UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections blog. Discover and explore the historical treasures housed within our Archives, Special Collections, National Folklore Collection and Digital Library
In anticipation of the National Folklore Collection’s (NFC) relocation to UCD’s newly-built Cultural Heritage Centre in early 2027, we were brought in to help prepare some of the collection for this move. As students from UCD’s MA in Archives and Records Management, graduating in winter 2026, we were excited to put what we’ve learnt throughout …
As part of the unique relationship between UCD and the Irish Franciscans (UCD-OFM Partnership), UCD Archives curates many elements of the Franciscan manuscript patrimony. This process began with the transfer of the immensely significant collections of non-Franciscan private paper collections in 1997, including the papers of Eamon de Valera, Kathleen O’Connell, Seán MacEoin, George Gavan …
Continue reading "17th Century Irish Franciscan Manuscript Transferred to UCD Archives"
There is nothing quite like an old photograph, personal correspondence, or tangible artifact to get secondary students excited about learning history. It is easy for students to understand the human dimensions and historical significance of past events when they interact with sources of this nature. Unfortunately, primary source material is not always so exciting. Notable …
Continue reading "From Archive to Classroom: Creating a Workbook on the Downing Street Declaration"
A selection of Songs from UCD's Special Collections Reference was made to the poet MacDara Woods and the setting of his poetry to music at a concert in Dun Laoghaire’s Pavillion Theatre last December. This was a name I recognised having mentioned the poet’s name briefly in a previous blog post. The poet read his …
Continue reading "Waxing Lyrical: Songs, Poems & Singing in Special Collections"
Continuing our posts on small collections held in UCD Archives, we will look at an incomplete history of 'A' Company, 1st battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA, for period 1914–23, written by Peadar McNulty. It is a standalone document in our collections but can be read against McNulty’s files which form part of the Military Service Pensions …
As of late, I’ve noticed the same fox walking by where I live each night. As I watched him go by, it brought me back to something, or rather someone, I had come across while creating an index for the Urban Folklore Project, as part of my work in the National Folklore Collection. The Urban …
Continue reading "Adolphus Cooke in the Urban Folklore Project"
(Cur L 30) Ink and crayon drawing at the head of the letter by A. E. 1867-1935 As it is nearing the end of my fifth month here in Special Collections, I have come across the ways in which the collection greatly inspires people in their academic endeavours, however, I believe the collection can also …
UCD Archive's first post of 2026 concerns one of its small collections: a letter from Alice Hillstead Mušek, Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia, to J. Grierson, 1 Herbert Street, Dublin. Daniel Samek has written an interesting article on Czech-Irish cultural contacts in the first half of the 20th century that began with a visit by British and …
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As referenced in a past blogpost on the coming of spring, a folk belief found in Ireland explains that catching sight of the first lamb of the new year will bring luck if the lamb is facing you. If the lamb has his back turned to you, however, this portends ill-luck instead. Apart from its …
Following the Easter Rising in 1916, Éamon de Valera was imprisoned first, in Mountjoy jail and then, following the commutation of his death sentence, in four English prisons — Dartmoor, Lewes, Maidstone, and Pentonville. He was released under the general amnesty in 1917. Among his papers are a series of Christmas cards sent to him …
Continue reading "Nodlaig Shona Duit: Christmas Cards from 1916"