UCD LIBRARY CULTURAL HERITAGE COLLECTIONS
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
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"
In part one of this post, we looked at a file in Josephine McNeill’s papers concerning her husband, James McNeill, governor-general of the Irish Free State. The office of governor-general was viewed with suspicion by many as a symbol of continued British involvement in Irish affairs, and it was disliked and downgraded in importance by …
Continue reading "“A considered policy”: the Governor General and Éamon de Valera (Part 2)"
The largely ceremonial role of governor-general in the Irish Free State (1922–1963) was to act as the official representative of the Crown. The office was viewed negatively by many as a symbol of continued British involvement in Irish affairs. Timothy Healy (1855–1931) held the role from 1922–1928, James McNeill (1869–1938) from 1928–1932, and Domhnall Ua …
Continue reading "“A considered policy”: the Governor General and Éamon de Valera ( Part 1)"
The section of the catalogue of Eamon de Valera’s extensive papers, covering his time as President of the Executive Council and his first period as Taoiseach (1932–1948), includes material on negotiations with the UK; the drafting, publication and approval of the 1937 Constitution; the Emergency; and Irish neutrality. Among this rich documentation, is a file …
Thirty-three years ago, in September 1990, starting out into what used to be called an ‘MA by major research’, I first set foot in UCD Archives searching for sources for my dissertation on Ireland’s engagement with the League of Nations. There was then no Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) collection in the National Archives; it …
Among the papers of Eamon de Valera about the Civil War period, one section covers the reorganisation of Sinn Féin, peace moves and the ceasefire (November 1922–August 1923). The documents in this section are wide-ranging, demonstrating that archives do not exist in isolation and are not neatly concerned with one topic. As the Civil War …
Ar an 15ú lá Iúil 2022, céiliúrfaimid comóradh céad bliain i ndiaidh bhreithlá an t-údar, Cathal Ó Sándair. Bhain sé cáil amach lena shraitheanna leabhar do dhéagóirí. Agus muid ag druidim i dtreo an chomóraidh seo, chaith foireann Sainchnuasaigh UCD am ag catalógú tromlach na leabhar a scríobh Ó Sándair, mar chuid den obair ar …
Continue reading "Taobh Thiar Den Laoch, Reics Carló / Behind the Hero Reics Carló"
Agus muid ag ceiliúradh fhoilsiú an chéad fhoclóir Béarla–Gaeilge le 60 bliana anuas, breathnaímid siar ar réamhtheachtaí an fhoclóra chéanna agus an fear dílis a stiúraigh an togra úd. As we celebrate the publication of Ireland’s first English–Irish dictionary in 60 years, we take some time to look back at its predecessor that served us …
Continue reading "Ag Cruthú Foclóir Nua / What It Takes to Build A Dictionary"
The Protestant ascendancy, and members of the wealthy upper middle classes, have tended to dominate in discussions of the Protestants of independent Ireland, with little knowledge of the cultural or folk aspects of Protestants’ identity and behaviour or of the socio-economic diversity of Irish Protestants. In particular, the experiences of rural and urban working-class Protestants …
Continue reading "Culture and Tradition and the Protestants of Independent Ireland"
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 …