The Final IRA Executive Meeting Attended by Liam Lynch, 23-26 March 1923

The 24 May 2023 will mark 100 years since the IRA Chief of Staff Frank Aiken issued a ‘dump arms’ order to republican forces, bringing an end to the military fighting of the Irish Civil War. It also marked a seminal moment, in what Éamon de Valera (then President of the de jure Republican Government) … Continue reading The Final IRA Executive Meeting Attended by Liam Lynch, 23-26 March 1923

The First Successful Non-Stop East to West Transatlantic Flight 

As part of the UCD MA in Archives and Records Management course, I am working on a project to catalogue the papers of Timothy Aloysius Smiddy in UCD Archives.  Timothy Smiddy was the first official diplomatic agent of the Irish Free State. In 1924 he was appointed as Ireland's envoy extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to … Continue reading The First Successful Non-Stop East to West Transatlantic Flight 

The Temperance Movement in Ireland: The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association

The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA) was founded in Dublin in the Presbytery of St Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street in December 1898 by Father James Cullen SJ. Present at that first meeting were four well known Dublin women: Anne Egan, Lizzie Power, Mary Bury and A.M. Sullivan. Although little is known of these four … Continue reading The Temperance Movement in Ireland: The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association

DOC SERIES: Papers of Margaret and Fr Tom Burke

The papers of the Burke family of Castlegar, County Galway, were deposited in UCD Archives by Colonel Dan Bryan in September 1975, and catalogued by Marie Altzinger in December 1981. The collection was assembled by Catherine Burke O’Donovan and covers the War of Independence and Civil War period. All the correspondence (except items UCDA P30/10–11, … Continue reading DOC SERIES: Papers of Margaret and Fr Tom Burke

‘This horrible civil war is poisoning everything’: The Letters of Mary Spring Rice (1880-1924)

Mary Spring Rice (1880–1924) was the second child and only daughter of Thomas Spring Rice, 2nd Baron Monteagle of Brandon, Co. Kerry, and his wife, Elizabeth Butcher. She grew up at Mount Trenchard, Foynes, Co. Limerick and was fluent Irish speaker: an active member of the Gaelic League, Mary also served on the board of … Continue reading ‘This horrible civil war is poisoning everything’: The Letters of Mary Spring Rice (1880-1924)