In Irish folk tradition, the calendar is principally split into ‘Quarter Days’, so called as they divide the year into each of its four seasons of autumn (Lammas / Lúnasa), winter (Halloween / Samhain), spring (St. Brigid’s Day / Imbolc), and of course summer (May Day / Bealtaine), which falls on the 1st of May. In marking the transition … Continue reading Welcome, noble summer!
Our next installment of the Decade of Centenaries series features the diary of Seamus McCann. McCann played an active role in the War of Independence in the north of Ireland, mainly in places around Donegal and Derry. This diary was written by McCann in 1939 and gives an account of manoeuvres, training and ambushes on … Continue reading DoC Series: War of Independence Diary
In these unprecedented times, people have been sharing poetry as a way to lift the public mood. Seamus Heaney’s words ‘If we can winter this one out, we can summer anywhere’ have offered solace and hope. Derek Mahon’s Everything’s going to be alright was been broadcast to the nation at the end of a news … Continue reading Words True and Kind
In this time of uncertainty UCD Cultural Heritage Collections will continue to post blogs about the historical gems in our collections. Hopefully these will provide you with a little ray of sunshine in this dark time. From the work of the Irish Folklore Commission’s first full-time folklore collector of the Donegal Gaeltacht, Seán Ó hEochaidh, … Continue reading As wonderful a woman as ever I did meet
Our second instalment in the Decade of Centenaries series looks at the papers of Richard Mulcahy; 1916 veteran, I.R.A. Chief of Staff during the War of Independence, Leader of Fine Gael and Minister of a number of government departments. Richard James Mulcahy was born in Waterford and educated by the Christian Brothers both there, and … Continue reading DoC Series:Diaries of Guerrilla Tactics
This post is the first in our Decade of Centenaries Series that will run over the coming years. This series will highlight archival material within the UCD Cultural Heritage Collections that relates to this momentous time in Irish history. Some material will be well known to researchers, academics and the public. But other material will … Continue reading DoC Series: Deaths of Republican Soldiers
The walls of the National Folklore Collection are home to a unique collection of art which often goes unnoticed. Acquired by the Irish Folklore Commission and its successors, the collection comprises a selection of paintings of which some were bought and commissioned, but which were mostly gifted by the Commission’s network of contacts throughout the … Continue reading Come look at our art!
February 2nd marks the 138th birthday of UCD’S most famous alumnus, James Joyce, who was born in 1882. UCD Special Collections holds an important collection of Joyce letters and signed editions which are part of a larger collection that belonged to Joyce’s UCD classmate Constantine Curran and his wife Helen Laird Curran. Although these letters … Continue reading Classmates, Correspondents, Counterparts: James Joyce and Conn Curran
With the new academic year just getting under way, students will be receiving their timetables for the next term's classes. Nowadays this is done online through platforms like Moodle and Brightspace. But back in the day this information was disseminated through the publication of College Calendars. They provided students with their course outline, reading lists, … Continue reading Let me check the calendar
Happy New Year to all our followers! We are delighted to welcome you all back to what we hope will be another year of riveting blog posts. So to kick off 2020 let's learn about... Catherine A Murphy was an American academic based a Merrimack College in Massachusetts. Prominent among her academic work was the … Continue reading The Catherine A. Murphy Papers
