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
Harriet Hjort by Anna Riwkin (1908-1970) © Anna Riwkin/Moderna Museet, FM 1981 032 2518 Scholarship links between Ireland and Scandinavia in the field of folklore are too numerous to mention, but suffice it to say that in 1921, undergraduate Séamus Ó Duilearga met Norwegian Reidar Christiansen by chance in a Dublin book shop, and this …
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Irish Franciscan college in Rome. St. Isidore’s College (Collegio S. Isidoro) started its task of training Franciscans for the Irish mission in 1625. The anniversary has been an occasion of celebration, not only by the Franciscan order (Order of Friars Minor, O.F.M) in Rome, …
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 …
UCD Woodland Path In April 2023 on a rather damp day, I stepped onto UCD’s campus for a walk. Little did I know then that two years later I would be contributing to the university’s Cultural Heritage Blog. As a recent addition to the Special Collection’s team getting to know its collections, my attention turned …
Continue reading "Waysides, Woodlands and Special Collections"
This is the third and final part in the history of the Sound Archive at the National Folklore Collection. The first and seconds parts can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2 Reels to reels in the Audio Archive This final part of the story begins in the 1960s, with open-reel technology being used …
P202/8 Dan O’Herlihy, [1947] In the summer of 2023 Olwen O’Herlihy, daughter of the actor Dan O’Herlihy and Elsie Bennett, deposited a collection of correspondence that her parents exchanged during periods of separation spanning the years 1945 to 1993. The primary focus of the collection is the early years of Dan’s and Elsie’s marriage and …
Continue reading "Letters of Dan O’Herlihy, UCD Graduate and Actor (1919–2005)"
February 1st, St Brigid’s Day, heralds the beginning of spring in Irish tradition and as such, quite a few of our previous blog posts for the season have discussed the saint in literary tradition and folk tradition, as well as the coming of spring and the beginning of the agricultural year. The first folklore blog …
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"