As this will be our final blog post of 2017, we at UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections (CHC) decided to end the year with some beautiful Christmas cards from within the UCD Archives collections.

Christmas card design by Rita Bronowski (UCDA LA52/41)

Poem written by Jacob Bronowski (UCDA LA52/41)

The Christmas cards above and below were sent to Jack and Máire Sweeney by Jacob Bronowski and his wife Rita through the 1960s. The cards contain original artwork by Rita and printed poems by Jacob.

Christmas card from 1960 (UCDA LA52/41)

Christmas card from 1967 (UCDA LA52/41)

Another collection of Christmas cards come from the papers of  Donnchadh Ó Briain, a member of the Gaelic League, The Irish Volunteers and a founding member of Fianna Fáil. They combine Celtic designs and knotwork with vivid colours and heartwarming Irish sayings.

Sample drawing for an Irish Christmas card (UCDA P83/373)

Christmas card to Ó Briain (UCDA P83/452)

Colourful Christmas card design (UCDA P83/452)

Saying in the old Irish alphabet (UCDA P83/452)

We hope you have been enjoying our Happy Heritage Advent Calendar which has been featuring daily on the CHC Twitter accounts and will continue to do so up to Christmas Eve.

 @ucdarchives           @ucdspeccoll         @bealoideasucd        @ucddigital 

So to you and yours from all of us at UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!