The historic University Calendars of National University Ireland, Galway, have been made available on-line following a recent digitisation initiative at the James Hardiman Library. Founded in 1845 as Queen's College Galway, the Historic Calendar project provides a truly unique insight into the history, development and achievements of Galway's university, as well as full graduate lists of its alumni. This project provides digital access to the calendars from 1851 to 1934 and tracks the movement of the University from Queen's College to University College Galway to its present identity of National University of Ireland, Galway.
Queen's College, Galway, was founded
by Letters Patent under "the Great Seal of Ireland", bearing the date
the 30th of December, 1845, and was administered by a Governing Body which
consisted of a President, Vice-President, Bursar and included a faculty and
academic staff of twenty Professors as well as the University Librarian and a
Curator of the University Museum.
The Professors were divided into
three faculty: Arts, Medicine, and Law. The Faculty of Arts was further divided
into Literary and Science divisions. The literary division of the faculty consisted
of languages such as Greek and Latin and also History and English Literature.
The Science section included Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry,
Natural History, Logic and Metaphysics, Mineralogy and Geology Civil
Engineering and Agriculture.
The Faculty of Medicine featured
courses on Anatomy and Physiology, the Practice of Medicine, Practice of
Surgery, Materia Medica and Midwifery. The faculty of law included the
Professors of English Law, Jurisprudence and Political Economy.
The calendars offer a detailed
account of the course structure and content of a given course at Queen's
College and the entrance requirements and expected course work of the students.
The prescribed reading lists for students across all disciplines also appear.
Other rules and regulations which
were outlined to all prospective students was the code of discipline. This
stipulated, for instance, "That no student shall appear within the College
gates, except in academic costume; and that for every violation of this rule a
fine of one shilling be incurred." Students could also expect to face
disciplinary measures if they fell afoul of the following offences: "Habitual
neglect of attendance, for divine worship, at such church or chapel as shall be
approved by his parents or guardians, Habitual neglect of attendance on the
religious instruction provided for students of his Church or denomination in
the licensed boarding-house in which he may reside, Immoral or dishonest practices, Treasonable or seditious conduct, Drunkenness, Grievous offences against College rules or
discipline, Wilful and serious injury to the property of the College."
Also of interest to scholars of
the history of education in Ireland or of those of the development of
particular subjects or disciplines are the exam papers. The Calendars feature
annual exam papers for each course and discipline within each faculty and
detail the exam process as well as method and type of examination expected by
students.
The period 1845 - 1934 covers a
challenging and turbulent time in Irish history. Queen's College was founded
just as famine was devastating the population in the West of Ireland and also
nationally, and continues to trace education and social history in Ireland that
ran parallel to the likes of the foundation of the Land League, the Home Rule
Movement, The Easter Rising, World War I, the War of Independence and the Civil
War and also during unrest in mainland Europe. Some of these political and
social changes are reflected in the Calendars with the Irish language and cló
Gaelach increasingly being used after 1926. The increased use of the Irish
language in the university is just one important initiative that was debated
around this time and also was considered in the revised Irish Universities Act
of 1929. The calendars are a vital resource in studying and examining third
level education in Ireland while also providing a record of those who studied
and taught at the College and University. Advertisements and references to
local services and businesses offer an important social reflection of those
suppliers who were servicing the college and its population at the time. The
historic calendars will also play an important role for genealogical
researchers as well as research of local history in the West of Ireland.
The calendars of Queen's College
Galway/University College Galway are available in full and online at this link:
http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/calendars
Further digital projects from the James Hardiman
Library can be viewed here: http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/collections/archives/digitisedarchives/
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