Nollaig Shona

Best wishes of the Season to all our readers, and looking forward to seeing you again when we open again on the 5th January, 2015. The images here come from the Bairead Family Collection. Stiophan Bairead was first Treasurer of the Gaelic League from 1893 to 1920, and one group of items (G3/15) consists of early Christmas cards from the League.

The Prof. Kevin Boyle Archive Launch and Symposium

On 28th November a memorable and fascinating series of events saw the Professor Kevin Boyle archive officially launched at NUI Galway. A seminar entitled "the Human Rights Scholar-Activist / Activist-Scholar", excellently organised by the School of Law and Irish Centre for Human Rights, saw a host of local national and international speakers, including keynote speaker, Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, present papers on not just Kevin Boyle's major contribution to teaching and practising of law and Human Rights advocacy and activism but on wider, current and important issues of human rights law and conditions in Ireland and internationally.

 Following the symposium, the launch of the archives was officiated by the Attorney General Máire Whelan, a former student of Professor Boyle and an alumni of NUI Galway, spoke warmly and passionately about Kevin's contribution and to the potential of the archive for future research.

You can watch all the proceedings of the symposium - The morning session and the afternoon session.

For more on The Professor Kevin Boyle archive and to access the archive catalogue please click here

You can read Irish Times coverage of the launch here

100 years of College Drama Society

The college annuals of University College Galway are an indispensable record of student life and activity on campus. With updates on study and academic courses, sporting life, achievements of students and academics, contributions to social and cultural life and general news of interest for and by students it is an insight into what being student in Galway was like over 100 years ago.

In an issue for 1914 the Dramatic Society documents the activities of the first year in existence of the UCG Dramatic Society. According to the notes:

"The first year of this society has been very successful, notwithstanding some "excursions and alarums". There was first of all the question whether we were a college society at all, which was pursued by some so far that one night of rehearsal we found ourselves faced with an order by a college official that we are not to be allowed into the Aula Maxima".

UCG Drama Society, 1914

Thankfully things did improve for the society as it is noted how "Twelfth Night" was to be the first production:

"Rehearsals were frequent, but though they take up much time, they were essential and often good fun as well. The actors were all enthusiastic and painstaking, and from the beginning each did his or her best to make the play a success, and a success it was."

A tribute to the success of the play was noted as being the attendance of the President of UCG on the night of the play (December 16^th):

"This tribute of loyalty and respect, not to say affection, acted as a message of encouragement and a stimulus to the actors and made manifest that this was truly "a college night", and such a one as it is hoped will be frequent in the future."

To view the 1914, and other editions of the historic College annuals visit the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room.

UCG Drama Society, 1915, seated at Aula Maxima

Digital Seminar Series Event 2 at Hardiman Building 27 Nov.

Digital Scholarship Seminar. THU 27 NOV, 12-2pm. G1001 Hardiman Research Building.

Creating a database of Irish international trade 1698-1829

Dr Aidan Kane (Economics, NUI Galway), Dr Patrick A Walsh (History, UCD), Dr Eoin Magennis (InterTrade Ireland)

What are the potential benefits of applying mathematical network theory to Humanities sources?

Dr Máirín Mac Carron (History, NUI Galway)

The second event of this semester’s Digital Scholarship Seminar features talks on databases in economic history and on mathematics meeting mythology (abstracts below). Featuring both local and visiting speakers, this event will focus on two projects with interdisciplinary methods at their core. Please join us for this seminar on Thu 27 November. Presentation and discussion will take place in Room G1001, Hardiman Building (first floor) from 12-1pm, and will be followed by lunch and further discussion from 1-2pm.

Connect with DSS: Website | Facebook | Mailing list

Creating a database of Irish international trade 1698-1829

We report on work-in-progress in capturing and interpreting data from a unique set of records of Ireland’s international trade, the “Customs 15" ledgers housed in the UK National Archives. These (hand-written) records span the period 1698 to 1829, with at least one c.50-folio volume for each year. They record (in remarkably internally consistent and stable formats) Ireland’s exports and imports in each year, for hundreds of commodities, detailing quantities, prices, and values, distinguished by main trading partners, and by Irish port, along with summary tables of shipping tonnage and trade-related tax revenue (these latter two also detailed by port). Only a small proportion of the wealth of the data these records contain has been accessible to date. Having digitised a sample of these volumes and captured some data, we report on the challenges of data capture, management, presentation, curation, and interpretation in anticipation of a larger project to make this unique resource available to a wide community. See http://www.duanaire.ie/trade

What are the potential benefits of applying mathematical network theory to Humanities sources?

I recently applied mathematical network theory to Humanities sources, following collaboration with mathematicians, as part of my involvement in an ESF-funded exploratory workshop called ‘Maths meets Myths’, held at Coventry University (10-13 September 2014). My test cases are accounts of saints’ lives (hagiographies) from seventh- and eighth-century Anglo-Saxon England. Following presentation of my preliminary findings, the paper will pose questions such as: does network theory tell us anything that we could not already infer from close textual study? For network theory to be effective, do our sources need to contain a minimum or maximum number of characters? Is it necessary for humanities scholars to work closely with mathematicians in order to get the greatest benefit from such quantitative research tools?

Verne Harris Lecture at Hardiman Building - "Post-Apartheid, Post Mandela"

Verne Harris, Director of Research and Archives at the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Lecture on 

"Post-Apartheid, Post Mandela"

Venue
Seminar Room G011 the Hardiman Reserach Building

Date & Time
20th November, 2014 @ 13:00:00

Verne Harris offers a reflection on reckoning with pasts and making futures in South Africa. He interrogates inter alia the country's continuing transition to democracy, the unfinished work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the legacy of Nelson Mandela.

Director of Research and Archive at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Verne Harris was Mandela's archivist from 2004 to 2013. He is an honorary research fellow with the University of Cape Town, participated in a range of structures which transformed South Africa's apartheid archival landscape, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Deputy Director of the National Archives. Widely published, he is probably best-known for leading the editorial team on the best-seller Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself. He is the recipient of archival publication awards from Australia, Canada and South Africa, and both his novels were short-listed for South Africa's M-Net Book Prize. He has served on the Boards of Archival Science, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Freedom of Expression Institute, and the South African History Archive

For more information please contact tflorath@web.de

Digital Scholarship Series at the Hardiman Building - Autumn 2014 Schedule

Another edition of Digital Scholarship Series of talks and lectures is beginning this November at the Hardiman Building, NUI Galway. With sessions focusing on advances, new projects and research in the Digital Humanities from speakers locally, nationally and internationally, it promises to be a really exciting and interesting series. All information and contact details of organisers can be seen on the following poster:

Announcing Symposium on Archives, Human Rights and Activism & Launch of Kevin Boyle Archive

The family of the late Professor Kevin Boyle, co-founder of the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR), has kindly deposited the Kevin Boyle archive at the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway. This important archive has much to say about the pursuit of human rights in Ireland, the UK and internationally. The Archive will be launched at a series of events at NUI Galway on the 28th November 2014. A day-long symposium, organised by the ICHR and the School of Law, will bring together leading human rights scholars and activists to address the theme “The Human Rights Scholar-Activist or Activist-Scholar" and will also explore issues of human rights, archives and memorialisation. The keynote speaker is Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Chairperson of the UN Human Rights Committee.

Panel speakers include:

Brice Dickson

Michael Farrell

Tom Hadden

Françoise Hampson

Barry Houlihan

Bernadette McAliskey

Marie McGonagle

Tarlach McGonagle

Donncha O’Connell

Pól O’Dochartaigh

Michael O’Flaherty

Louis Boyle

28 November 2014

All are welcome.

Following the Symposium, the Archive of the late Professor Boyle, catalogued and available at the Hardiman Library at NUI Galway, will be officially launched by Máire Whelan, S.C., Attorney General.

For further information:  humanrights@nuigalway.ie

To register for Symposium:  www.conference.ie 

The Will of James Hardiman

James Hardiman, historian and librarian was born around 1782. Hardiman was born in Westport, County Mayo, in the west of Ireland around 1782. His father owned a small estate in County Mayo. He was trained as a lawyer and became sub-commissioner of public records in Dublin Castle. He was an active member of the Royal Irish Academy, and collected and rescued many examples of Irish traditional music. In 1855, shortly after its foundation, Hardiman became librarian of Queen's College, Galway. The university library was later named in his honour.

From Errew near Westport, the site of Errew Franciscan Monastery was donated by James Hardiman, the foundation stone was laid on the 21st of July, 1840 and a great number of people were present. Dr. McHale, Archbishop of Tuam was the leader of the ceremonies. James Hardiman laid the foundation stone and placed coins of the day under it, the people of Errew helped with the building. Local tradition in Errew states that James Hardiman had a son called `Black James Hardiman`. `Black` James often visited the Monastery and had special rooms reserved for him there. He married a lady from Galway and lived in Dublin. When his wife died he left Dublin and it is believed that he had no family and his whereabouts were unknown.

James Hardiman, Historian and first Librarian of Queen's College Galway

This will of James Hardiman who died in 1909 fills in the details of this Black James Hardiman. Two beneficiaries are mentioned in the will Lily O’Flaherty Johnston of Kilmurvey House, Aran Island and Brigid (or Delia) O’Flaherty of 51 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin. Lily and Brigid are sisters, and another sister, Julia, had married James. The O’Flaherties were middlemen who became the biggest landholders on Inis Mór, and feature strongly in Tim’s book Stones of Aran: Labyrinth. Because of this will we have an address for James in Dublin, and from the Census returns of 1901 held in the National Archives of Ireland and now available digitally, James’ age is given as 81 in 1901, and Delia’s as 45.

This will and it’s associated material relating to James Hardiman’s grave plot in Glasnevin, was donated by Tim and Mairéad Robinson  as part of their collection to John Cox, the librarian of the James Hardiman Library in September 2013. It is a link between the many strands that go to make up Humanities research. From the work of James Hardiman himself, to the folklore of his local area of Errew, available at http://www.castlebar.ie/clubs/ballyheane/bally2.html. Black James Hardiman features in the work of Tim Robinson in a footnote, that has contributed to an entry by Moore Institute scholar Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, who’s blog entry on the piano at Kilmurvey House available at http://aransongs.blogspot.ie/2013_12_01_archive.html fills in the O’Flaherty of Aran connection with James Hardiman. The address furnished in the will allows us to check the census returns in the online version of the 1901 census digitized by the National Archives of Ireland available at http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Rathmines/Leinster_Road__Part_/1296656/ .

This will provides a tangible link with the family of the first librarian of this Library, and is an example of how one item can link and overlap with other research being done in the humanities.

New exhibition on Irish and Russian Theatre coming to Hardiman Library

A new co-exhibition, “Unchanged but the Spirit. . . ’, launching 7 October 2014, between the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway the Russian State Art Library, Moscow, will for the first time in Ireland, present archive material on the production and stage history of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, from initial staging in 19th Century Russia to later adaptations in contemporary Ireland.

The Chekhovian classic The Seagull has engaged and provoked audiences since its Moscow premieré in 1896. From a poor initial reception from audiences and critics alike, the play was close to being abandoned and forgotten until it received its production at the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Constantine Stanislavsky in 1898. Since then, the play has been regarded as one of Chekhov’s finest works. In an Irish context, the play received a translation and adaptation by playwright Thomas Kilroy, premiering at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 1981. In opening up and combining the archive sources of Kilroy and other theatre archives of the Hardiman Library and of the R.S.A.L collections in Moscow, the exhibition will highlight how across cultures, languages, societies and centuries, theatre and its impact can remain unchanged.

This exhibition will simultaneously stage material from the theatre collections of the Hardiman Library and the Russian State Art Library in both Galway and Moscow throughout the month of October and is a unique chance to see a visual and archival history of The Seagull, in its many manifestations, from Chekhov to Kilroy.

All are welcome to attend the launch of the exhibition by Dr. Ian Walsh, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, NUI Galway, at the Hardiman Building (Room G011) at 6pm, Tuesday, 7 October.

Announcing: 'Interpreting Landscape': Symposium on Tim Robinson

Tim Robinson

Interpreting Landscape

Moore Institute International Symposium

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Hardiman Research Building, National University of Ireland, Galway

Booking essential: http://www.nuigalway.ie/mooreinstitute

Schedule:

10.30 Registration and coffee/tea. Venue: entrance to Room G010, Atrium of the Hardiman Research Building

11.00 Welcome by Daniel Carey, Director of the Moore Institute. Venue: Room G010

11.05 John Wylie, Exeter University: So near and yet so far'.

Discussion

11.50 Justin Carville, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design: 'Lines of sight and historical topographies: photography, anthropology and archaeology in the West of Ireland'

12.30 Nicolas Fève, photographer: introduction to his photographic practice and interpretation of landscapes evoked by Tim Robinson, followed by Justin and Nicolas in conversation, and discussion

13.00 Lunch break and opportunity to visit the exhibition ‘Interpreting Landscape: Tim Robinson and the West of Ireland' / ‘Rianú Talún: Tim Robinson agus Iarthar na hÉireann', in the Atrium, Hardiman Research Building. This exhibition displays elements of the Robinson Archive in the James Hardiman Library, together with photographs by Nicolas Fève and extracts from John Elder, Nicolas Fève and Tim Robinson, Connemara and Elsewhere (Royal Irish Academy, 2014). A display of other archives relating to landscape can be viewed in the nearby Special Collections Reading Room.

13.45 Nessa Cronin, National University of Ireland, Galway: ‘Interpreting island space: gender, science, and empire in the life and work of Maude Jane Delap (Valentia Island, 1866-1953)'

Discussion

14.25 John Elder, Middlebury College, Vermont: 'Dwelling on the edge'

Discussion

15.15 Short break

15.30 Screening of ‘Unfolding the landscape', a filmed interview with Vincent Woods, Tim Robinson and Nicolas Fève. Venue: Seminar Room G011, Hardiman Research Building

16.30 Close of symposium

Please click on the link below to register for this event

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/interpreting-landscape-tickets-12853502171

Join Us For Culture Night 2014 at the Hardiman Library!

The annual wave of all things culture is ready to pour over Galway City and County (as well as all of Ireland!) as Culture Night 2014 arrives on 19th September. The Hardiman Library is delighted to be staging a series of events that celebrates the richness of its Archive collections. From 6pm all are welcome to join us for a special evening of film, talks and tours that covers over 500 years of local and national history as well as opens up the story of how Galway and Hollywood came together and is recorded in the archive of the Oscar-winning director John Huston, whose vast film archive is held by the Hardiman Library.

Commissioned by John Huston in 1958 to prepare a scenario for a film on Sigmund Freud, Jean Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, actually wrote two scenarios - the first before visiting Huston at St Clerans, County Galway in autumn 1959, and the other afterwards. Both were far too long, but after much pruning and rewriting Freud: The Secret Passion premiered in 1962.

This illustrated talk by Prof. James Gosling will explore the script of The Secret Passion, contained within the Huston Family Archive at the James Hardiman Library, written by Sartre, edited by Huston and then later rejected by Sartre. Prof. Gosling will share his extensive archive research on the script held at the Hardiman Library and also on the other various versions held in Paris. The findings will prove to be an entertaining and enlightening evening showcasing one of Galway's great cinematic histories.

There will be a special showcase of archival material from the Huston Family Archive.

Following this event, at 7pm, all are welcome to join us for a tour of 'Performing Ireland 1904 - 2014', an exhibition showcasing the Abbey Theatre Digital Archive and also a tour of the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room of the Hardiman Library.

Date: 19th September
Time: 6pm
Venue: Moore Institute Seminar Room, Hardiman Research Building, NUI Galway
Contact: barry.houlihan@nuigalway.ie

Land - Ownership, Occupancy & Use: the O'Connor Donelan Archive

Letter from John O'Connor Donelan to his mother
21 July 1893

Land–its ownership, occupancy and use– has been a central motif in Irish history and in the Irish imagination for centuries. Land has been a source of wealth and income, as well as a key marker of social rank and political power. A history marked by confiscation and plantation resulted in the land being a site for conflicting claims and identities in Ireland. Accordingly, primary documentary records relating to Irish landed families and estates provide a rich resource for the investigation of many aspects of Irish history. 

The Archives of the Hardiman Library hold a number of landed estate collections relating to major estates and families in the West of Ireland. The O’Connor Donelan collection provides a good example of the value of such records. The papers relate to the O'Connor Donelan family of Sylane, Tuam, County Galway. The papers cover the legal dealings of the family, the management of their various lands, and personal papers relating to various family members. The bulk of the personal material relates to Thomas O'Connor Donelan (1812-1874) and his sons. His eldest son Dermot had an interest in genealogy and forestry, and his other three sons were doctors in Dublin, Leeds and Manila.

Thomas O'Connor Donelan,
c. 3 years old, c. 1870

A Galway landowning family, the O’Connor Donelan family papers relate principally to the nineteenth century, though reflecting the activities of both the Donelan and O’Connor families in earlier centuries. The papers document various aspects of the lives and range of interest and responsibilities of the family: the legal aspects of their affairs, the challenges of estate management and the personal concerns (including political activities) and contacts of family members in the nineteenth century. The collection offers the researcher a valuable case-study of a modest Galway landed estate of the nineteenth century.

Also available online from NUI Galway is the Landed Estates web site, www.landedestates.ie, a comprehensive and integrated online resource guide to landed estates and gentry houses in Connacht c.1700-1914.

Lease for Cuilmore [Peterswell, County Galway]., containing three acres, for use as a priest's residence for 999 years, at £11 per annum. 31 January 1846

Minutes and moments in Galway History - Galway Urban District Council Archives

As part of the Local Authority Collections of the Hardiman Library Archives, the minutes books of  Galway Urban District Council, ranging from 1899-1922, cover a key period in the development of Galway city and its environs. The Urban District Council was set-up after the 1898 Local Government Act, it replaced the Board of the Galway Town Commissioners. As an 'Urban District Council' rather than a 'Corporation' the body was subordinate to Galway County Council, in administrative terms this put Galway City on the same level as towns such as Athlone and Clonmel.

Galway Urban District council was responsible for the upkeep of Galway'’s roads, street lighting and the collection of tolls. Unlike it predecessor body the Galway Town Commissioners it was also responsible for the provision of 'social housing'. During the period covered by this collection a number of housing schemes in Galway city were undertaken by the Urban District Council, including the construction of 'working class' homes in Henry Street. The period covered by this collection also saw the replacement of the tram service to Salthill with a bus service.

The minute books of the Galway Urban District Council also include a number of references to political events of the time including The First World War, The Conscription Crisis and the War of Independence. One such entry on 18 July 1918 sees a request for assistance made to The Galway U.D.C. from the Irish Recruiting Council, regarding recruitment into forces fighting in the First World War. The Galway U.D.C minuted that they were willing to meet and hear the request from the Irish Recruitment Council. A following meeting, dated, 1 August 1918, notes that Colonel Arthur Lynch M.P. addressed the meeting on behalf of the Irish Recruitment Council and explained the necessity of having voluntary recruiting carried out in order to obviate the necessity of conscription.

18 July 1918

A resolution passed on 17 June 1920 explicitly stated that the Urban District Council recognised "the authority of Dáil Éireann as the duly elected Government of the Irish people".

17 June 1920

So much economic, social and political evidence can be gleaned from such documents. When considering one of the duties and responsibilities of the Galway U.D.C. was upkeep and maintenance of roads within the district, even details regarding condition of the roads can steer researchers toeards information regarding population growth, increase in number of vehicles in Galway City at the time and even the impact the First World War was having by increasing military traffic in the region. An entry from Aril 1919 gives reasons as following for degrading of road conditions:

 ". . . .That the traffic from the County districts over the roads within the Borough boundary has been considerably increased in recent years, and that to this has been added a large volume of Army motor traffic which resulted in increased expenses in the repair and up-keep of the roads."

17 April 1919

All these images are from volume LA4/3 and are from just one volume of a series of four which are a vital and unique resource for a study of the period of key development in Galway and indeed nationally at the time. A full description can be seen here: http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/FlatList.php?col=LA4

A Creative Collision from the Beginning - The Galway (International) Arts Festival Archive

At the half-way point in this year's Galway International Arts Festival, it is a good time to catch a breath after what has been such a packed week of the festival. This year being the first 'International' Galway Arts Festival (though of course it always was International!) it is a good opportunity to open up the archive of the Galway Arts Festival and look back at some of the hits and big events from over the years.

We are proud to hold the archive of the Galway Arts Festival here at the James Hardiman Library. It is a rich resource of history, great memories, major names and acts from all spectrum of the Arts and a record of just how the Arts Festival has grown and developed over the years, where today it stands as one of the great international arts festivals.

Here we open up some of the archives to see just how strong the programming was from its early years in the 1980s. Theatre names such as Druid of course stand out, along with Footsbarn Theatre Company and also a version of Waiting for Godot by Jim Sheridan . Literary names are full of heavy-hitters like John McGahern, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Kilroy and Paul Durcan to name a few. Art exhibitions from Robert Ballagh, Brian Boske, Patricia Burke-Brogan and others filled the visual art programme. Music from Padraig O'Carra, De Dannan, Doloros Keane, again to just but a few, were among the musical acts.

We hope you enjoy just a few highlights from the Galway Arts Festival Archive. The Archive catalogue can be viewed in full here and any queries please be in touch! Email - library@nuigalway.ie

Life in NUI Galway, 110 years ago

A set of 20 photographs, mainly from 1904, the Anderson Family Photographs refer to Alexander Anderson and his family, and show life in Galway University at a time of transition both for the family themselves and society as a whole.

Anderson was the first person to suggest the existence of black holes and the first to speculate about what would happen if a star collapsed under its own gravity.  He was a great man, whose ideas were ahead of his time.  Anderson was a teacher and researcher in Experimental and Mathematical Physics as well as being an able University Administrator.  He devoted much of his life to University College Galway. 

Originally from Coleraine, Anderson began his career at Queen’s College Galway in 1877.  He graduated in 1880 with a gold medal for his BA.  He then took first place in an open scholarship to Sydney Sussex College in the University of Cambridge where he studied Physics and Mathematics and came out as sixth wrangler in 1884.  He returned to Galway in 1885 and shortly after, succeeded Joseph Larmor as Professor of Natural Philosophy.  He was also president of Queen’s College Galway for thirty-five years.  Anderson’s interest in the practical applications of physics is illustrated by the fact that his department was providing a medical radiography service in Galway from 1898.  He was also involved in industrially sponsored research.  Around 1899 the Eastman-Kodak Company provided a fellowship for the study of X-ray photography.  Unfortunately the tissue of a child was damaged and scarred by an X-ray exposure.  This activity attracted worldwide attention, as it was the cause of probably the first instance of litigation on the injurious effects of ionising radiation though the verdict was in favour of the College. (Details of the case are available from one of our small collections, P61, at http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/col_level.php?col=P61 ).

During his career in Galway, Anderson ensured that the Physics department had state of the art equipment including the then newly invented X-ray and radio apparatus and cathode ray tubes.  It is said of Anderson that his primary interest lay in teaching and that he was rarely content to give a piece of theory from a textbook without first improving or simplifying it.

He married Emily, daughter of William J. Binns of the National Bank in Galway; they had a son and three daughters. Mrs Anderson was active in reform organisations and, with her daughters, attended local suffrage meetings; they were founder members of the Connaught Women's Franchise League in Galway in January 1913. Their daughter Emily was educated privately before entering QCG in 1908; she won a literary scholarship after an exceptional performance in her first-year examinations, when she placed first in English, French, German and Latin; in 1909 and 1910 she held the college's Browne scholarship, and in 1911 graduated BA. She specialised in German, and undertook postgraduate work at the universities of Berlin and Marburg. She was professor of German in UCG from 1917 till her resignation in 1920, when she moved to the Foreign Office in London. She was awarded an OBE for intelligence work in the Middle East, and translated and published The letters of Mozart and his family (1938) and The letters of Beethoven (1961). With her mother she was a founding member of the Connaught Women's Franchise League.

Their only son, also Alexander, enlisted in the 4^th Connaught Rangers Battalion as a lieutenant, and was attached to the Royal Flying Corps. He was reported missing on 23 November 1916 and ended up as a Prisoner of War. He was awarded a B. Sc. (Honoris Causa) in 1917 and later appears on the Army List for the Connaught Rangers from 1918-1920.

 

The photographs are part of the research material gathering by the late Dr. Tom O’Connor, Department of Physics, for work he did on a history of that department. They give us a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Anderson family who grew up on the grounds of University College Galway.

Picture Perfect? Some Postcards from Galway in the early twentieth century

With the summer in full swing, and Galway all set for the Arts Festival and Race Week, we thought it would be a good time to mention one of our recently acquired small collections, a set of 18 postcards from the Galway area ranging in date from c.1900 to c.1950. Postcards of Galway, in common with the rest of Ireland, grew with the evolution of tourism in the early twentieth century, with tourist venues like Salthill and Conamara featuring heavily. Begun by a number of English companies, local photographers also go involved. For more on the evolution of postcards of Galway see Paul Duffy's recent publication "Postcards of Galway".

The Emergency: Ireland in Wartime, 27-28 June 2014 - Conference at NUI Galway

The Emergency: Ireland in wartime, 27-28 June 2014

A great conference upcoming here on campus at NUI Galway, coming at the 75th anniversary of World War II, will focus on it's place in an Irish context, known as 'the Emergency'. With renowned international and Irish keynote speakers including Robert Fisk, Brian Girvin, T. Ryle Dwyer, Mervyn O'Driscoll and Michael Kennedy, as well as a wide range of academics and scholars, it promises to be a really interesting two days. For full conference details click here. 

Schedule

Friday 27 June Coffee and Welcome 09.30 Panel 1:   “High Diplomacy” 10.00 – 11.30 ·         Dr Paul McNamara (NUI, Galway) ·         Mr Steven Murphy (University College Cork) ·         Dr Barry Whelan (NUI, Maynooth) Coffee 11.30 – 12.00 Keynote 12.00 – 13.00 ·         Dr Mervyn O’Driscoll (University College Cork) Lunch 13.00 – 14.00 Panel 2: “Wartime shortages in an international context” 14.00 – 15.15 (Room G010) ·         Dr Bryce Evans (Liverpool Hope University) ·         Dr Peter Rigney (Trinity College Dublin) Panel 3: “Exiles in Ireland” 14.00 – 15.15 (Room G011) ·         Dr Gisela Holfter (University of Limerick) ·         Ms Neasa McGarrigle (Trinity College Dublin) Coffee 15.15 – 15.30 Keynote 15.30 - 16.30   ·         Prof. Brian Girvin (Glasgow University)    Film screening 17.00 – 19.00 ·         The Enigma of Frank Ryan ·         Q & A: Prof. Des Bell with Dr Fearghal McGarry Conference Keynote 20.00 – 21.30 ·         Dr Robert Fisk (venue: Radisson Hotel) Saturday 28 June Panel 4: “A land of opportunity”? 09.45– 10.45 ·         Dr Jackie Uí Chionna (NUI, Galway) ·         Dr Bozena Cierlick (University College Cork) Coffee 10.45 – 11.00 Panel 5: “Britain’s war in an Irish context” 11.00 – 12.30 (Room G010) ·         Dr Pat McCarthy (Military History Society of Ireland) ·         Dr Steven O'Connor (Trinity College Dublin) ·         Mr Joseph Quinn (Trinity College Dublin) Panel 6:  “Employment options – Ireland and the United Kingdom” 11.00 – 12.30 (Room G011) ·         Dr Mary Muldowney (Trinity College Dublin) ·         Dr Jennifer Redmond (NUI, Maynooth) ·         Ms Mary Hawkins (NUI, Galway) Lunch 12.30 – 13.30 Keynote 13.30 – 14.30 ·         Dr T. Ryle Dwyer Coffee 14.30 – 14.45 Panel 7: “Neutrality Discourses” 14.45 – 16.15 (Room G010) ·         Dr Bernard Kelly (Edinburgh University) ·         Dr Karen Devine (Dublin City University) ·         Ms Lili Zach (NUI, Galway) Panel 8: “Activists and the news agenda” 14.45 – 16.15 (Room G011) ·         Dr Leo Keohane (NUI, Galway) ·         Dr Kevin McCarthy (University College Cork) ·         Mr James O’Donnell (NUI, Galway) Coffee 16.15 – 16.30 Keynote (followed by concluding remarks) 16.30 – 17.30 ·         Dr Michael Kennedy (Royal Irish Academy)