One of the modules in the MA in UCD’s Irish Folklore and Ethnology program is a brief internship in archival methods. This module typically takes place in the National Folklore Collection (NFC), but the 2020 module was moved online due to COVID-19. For the 2020 module, students were given a number of topics to choose … Continue reading Infectious Diseases in the National Folklore Collection
We continue our Decade of Centenaries series by looking at the collection of Captain Daniel Mulvihill, I.R.A. County Liaison Officer in Kerry. Captain Mulvihill’s collection consists of correspondence files with the officers of the I.R.A Battalions and Brigades throughout the county of Kerry, and with the county and district inspectors of the Royal Irish Constabulary … Continue reading DOC Series: Kerry I.R.A
Amid the stress and worry of the world we now find ourselves living in, the change of pace over the past few months has offered many of us time to think more deeply about our immediate surroundings. Whether small reflections on the pleasure gained from hearing birdsong more clearly, or noticing the small progressive changes … Continue reading The Last Hour of the Night
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!