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
What is a museum? If you ask anyone, the answer might be very simple: it’s a place where you go to admire art and learn about history. But more often than not, we overlook the importance of the museum as a part of history itself. How many of us have actually tried to learn about …
P234/291 Photogravure by Emery Walker: portrait of Yeats by Charles Shannon, 1908 +++ In this final blog post for 2024, we will look at letters in Josephine McNeill’s papers concerning the death of W.B. Yeats. These letters include what is claimed by his wife, George, to be the last letter he wrote. Some of the …
Continue reading "“The poet’s funeral”: the death of W.B. Yeats in letters to Josephine McNeill"
This is the second part in the history of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection. The first part can be found here. Caoimhín Ó Danachair in the sound recording studio, Irish Folklore Commission This part of the story begins in 1939 when Séamas Ó Duilearga had a chance meeting with a member of …
Continue reading "The Evolution of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection"
Choosing a colour – whatever the reason may be – is an act which all humans practice in abundance, both consciously and subconsciously. Once upon a time (pre-screen/digital era) printed colour charts – also referred to as swatches – of all shapes, sizes and materials were used as reference point for many; say for a …
Continue reading "Historical Hues: colour charts in Special Collections"
Josephine McNeill (1895–1969) was appointed in 1950 by Seán MacBride as minister to the Netherlands, Ireland’s first female diplomat. She was appointed minister to Sweden in 1955, and went on to hold the joint appointment to Austria and Switzerland from 1956 to 1960, after which she retired. She was a graduate of UCD, holding a …
Continue reading "A Viceregal Party and the Dublin Horse Show"
Caoimhín Ó Danachair played many important roles within the Irish Folklore Commission and later the Department of Irish Folklore; recording informants, capturing photographs, looking after the questionnaire system and much more. He first joined the staff of the Commission in January 1940, having spent the period of 1937-1939 training in comparative folklore and ethnology as …
During my time in Special Collections, I worked on two main projects: tidying the new storeroom and searching for provenance within a particular collection. Both tasks required physically handling almost every book I encountered. The biggest revelation from this work was the sensory nature of special collections. I went into the tasks knowing I would …
Continue reading "Internship at UCD Special Collections: A Surprisingly Sensory Situation"
UCD is home to a collection of some 5000 printed and handwritten items belonging to the Irish Franciscans, including a copy of the Annals of the Four Masters signed by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh OFM (d. 1643), and notes compiled by John Colgan OFM (d. 1658) as part of his research into Ireland’s history, place-lore, and …
Continue reading "A DOMINICAN LETTER IN UCD’S FRANCISCAN COLLECTION"
Jonathan Swift, author, satirist and clergyman, was born in Ireland to English parents in 1667. While he spent many of the early years of his education and career between both countries, he was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in 1714. Swift had hoped for a senior clerical appointment in England, but despite this, …
Provenance in relation to books refers to what is rather grandly called ‘custodial history’; this could be mistaken for the rap sheet of a frequent tenant of Mountjoy rather than a blameless book. At its simplest, provenance refers to the previous owners of the book, from the first purchaser who inscribed his or her name …