This year marks the thirtieth birthday of the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo. As well as being a home to theatre for the people and communities of Sligo, Hawk’s Well has supported and developed some of the most successful of Irish theatre productions and companies for the past three decades.
Kicking it all off back in 1982 was a production by Druid Theatre of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It is fitting that this past month Druid once again took to the stage of Hawk’s Well with their currently touring production of John B. Keane’s Big Maggie.
On 12th January 1982 the Druid production of Much Ado About Nothing featured the talents of Marie Mullen, Ray McBride, Sean McGinley, Rebecca Bartlett and many others. The production was directed by Gary Hynes. The Druid Theatre archive, which is proudly held here in the Archives service of the James Hardiman Library of NUI Galway, includes many records from this opening night in Sligo. Here you can view the original programme, cast list and some fantastic images from that original production at Hawk’s Well in 1982.
A recent initiative here at the James Hardiman Library saw the contribution and sharing of some of our digital projects with the Europeana.eu website. Europeana.eu is a portal site where cultural institutions from across Europe can upload, link and share their digital projects that range across books, paintings, film, music, archives, manuscripts and museum objects. As recent as early January 2012, the twenty millionth digital item was uploaded onto Europeana.eu. Now, on Eurepeana.eu, the Balfour Album, a truly unique collection of photographs depicting scenes and life in the west of Ireland in the late nineteenth century, is fully digitised and available.
At the James Hardiman Library, our Institutional Repository and Digitisation Librarian, Fergus Fahey digitised the Balfour Album in 2011. The incredible collection of photographs that make up the Balfour Album was created between 1893 – 1895 by the Belfast photographer, Robert John Welch. It was a gift to the former Chief Secretary for Ireland, Arthur J. Balfour in recognition of his support for the building of the Galway-Clifden Railway. The album was presented to Arthur Balfour in the summer of 1896, a year after the railway had opened. It remained in the property of the Balfour family until 1987 when it was acquired by the James Hardiman Library.
The James Hardiman Library worked closely with the Irish Manuscripts Commission (IMC) on this project. The IMC acts as a national aggregator for digital content coming from Irish cultural institutions for inclusion in Europeana. Now, for the first time, the unique collections and archives of the James Hardiman Library are shared to a truly global audience on Europeana.eu. You can view the items here
The Balfour album is also available as an online exhibition featuring an extensive history and background on the album and scenes they depict hosted by the James Hardiman Library here
Last Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Barry Fitzgerald, the well-known actor. Born William Joseph Shields in 1888, he followed his brother Arthur into the Abbey Theatre in 1915, taking the stage name Barry Fitzgerald so as not to draw the attention of his employers (the Department of Industry and Commerce). Although he did not become a full-time actor until 1929, he played a number of notable roles, including Fluther Good in the premiere of The Plough and the Stars. One of Sean O’Casey’s favourite actors at the time. In 1932 he toured America with the Abbey, and returned in 1936 when the director John Ford cast him in his film version of The Plough and the Stars. Numerous roles followed, including parts in Howard Hawks's Bringing up Baby (1938), and in four more Ford movies, including playing a Welshman in How Green was my Valley (1941). His defining role, however, came in 1944 when he starred as Fr Fitzgibbon alongside Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944), winning an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for the role. He is probably best remembered now for his role as the match-maker Michaeleen Og in The Quiet Man (1951), a film which also featured Arthur Shields.
Information on Barry’s acting career and family can be found in the Shields Family Papers held here at the James Hardiman Library. The full descriptive list of the collection is available at http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/cgi-bin/FramedList.cgi?T13 and some of the items from the collection are available from our digitized collections http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie:8080/digi/exbos/T13/SlideShowThe collection includes many photographs of Barry, as well as correspondence by and about him. In a poignant letter to a fan written shortly after Fitzgerald's death in January 1961 Arthur Shields wrote of his brother 'Barry was a very shy little man and he was uncomfortable in crowds and really dreaded meeting new people, but he was not a recluse and did enjoy certain company, especially when the 'old chat' was good.' (see T13/311).
Today marked the anniversary of the death of James Joyce in 1941. A sense of the pressures faced by Nora Barnacle in the immediate aftermath of his death can be seen in the two letters below, which come from one of our collections, Papers relating to the Will of Annie Barnacle (P11). This collection consists of the legal papers relating to the application for an Order of Probate on the Will of Annie Barnacle, 4 Bowling Green, Galway, mother of Nora Barnacle. She died on 9th November 1940, and had made her will in 1936. Complications arose when the original of the will was misplaced, and the letters from Nora barnacle and Miss Weaver to Kathleen Griffin reflect this search. The terse response from Nora Barnacle to her sister [P11/2] reflects the dire straits she was in at the time as a result of James Joyce's death and the fact that she could not contact her daughter Lucia in France. Miss Weaver's letter also reflects how the war impinged on their lives with the news of the arrest of Paul Leon [P11/1]. They have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the original of the will.The rest of the material relates primarily to the work of McDermott and Allen, solicitors for Kathleen Griffin, and their motion for an Order of Probate on the Will of Annie Barnacle. This includes dealing with the legal, medical and funeral costs, as well as the execution of the terms of the will. The material reflects the painfully slow legal process surrounding the case.
The first letter, dated 13 March 1942 is from from Harriet Weaver, 4 Rawlinson Road, Oxford, to Mrs Griffin stating that she had written to Mrs Joyce to see if she had the will. "If the original Will is in Paris it will, I imagine, be quite impossible to obtain it from there. Mr Joyce's secretary-friend in Paris, Mr Paul Léon, a lawyer, has been arrested and interred as a hostage, so Georgio wrote - a terrible fate". She says that Nora is "suffering from bad rheumatism and very lonely", and hopes that the matter of the Will is sorted soon. Note at end stating that this letter was presented as evidence in an affidavit of Mrs Griffin before Tomás Mac Enrí, Commissioner for oaths, on 23rd Jan 1943.
The second letter, dated 8th April 1942 is from Nora Barnacle, Carlion Elite Hotel, Zürich, to Kathleen Griffin, 4 Bowling Green, Galway, saying that Miss Weaver had written to her about her mother's will, and repeats that she doesn't have it. "If at any time a copy of Mothers will was sent to Jim I know absolutely nothing about it" and suggests the lawyer should have a copy. "I may remind you that I have plenty of worries myself Jim's death has been a terrible shock to me Lucia is France and I have no news of her..." Envelope has been opened by the censor.
In the intense and tragic state of modern conflicts, few were as severe as the conflict in Northern Ireland that grew into The Troubles. Lines were drawn which staunchly divided families, communities and cities and which resulted in violence, deaths and a history between Ireland and Britain that would forever be remembered solely as a dark time in our shared consciousness.
Throughout twenty years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland a secret channel of communication linked the IRA to the highest levels of the British government. At the heart of this channel was a single intermediary, Brendan Duddy. His house was the venue for secret negotiations between the British Government and the IRA throughout 1975. He managed the intense negotiations over the Republican hunger strikes in which ten men died (1980-1981) and he was at the heart of the contacts (1991-1993) that culminated in a secret offer of a ceasefire that was a precursor to the public IRA ceasefire of 1994.
Deposited at NUI Galway in 2009, the papers of Brendan Duddy provide a unique insight into this channel from the perspective of an individual who operated at the intersection of the two sides. They include coded diaries of contact kept by Duddy throughout 1975 and early 1976 and a diary kept for several months in 1993 when communication between the British Government and the IRA was at its most intense, as well as documents exchanged between the British Government and the IRA. Taken together with the Ruairí Ó Bradaigh papers, also at NUI Galway, these archives provide a window on the secret back-channel negotiation that was one of the most intriguing aspects of the Irish peace process.
To mark the launch of this incredible collection of papers, the James Hardiman Library has digitised a selection of items from the Duddy Archive. Three documents are taken from three key times in Duddy’s intervention between the IRA and the British government. The first item dates to 1975 as an initial cease fire was negotiated. Second, from 1980/81 marks a period when Duddy listed code words used during telephone conversations between the British Government, the IRA hungerstrikers in the Maze prison and the IRA council. The third represents a period of the early 1990’s when Duddy was again called upon as discussions focused on the Provisional IRA and Sir Peter Brooke, the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Now on in Dublin’s Project Arts Centre is The Making of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore”, a reworking of the John Ford-written 17th century darkly thrilling drama. The original play, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore deals with the hidden and lustful desires of one man for his sister in the 17th century Italian city of Parma. This modern staging of the play places the action on a film set and works the themes of the original around this engaging twist which is being staged by Siren Productions and directed by the Irish Times Award-Winning director, Selina Cartmell.
The play itself certainly has a chequered and daring history, finding itself almost forgotten from the collected works of John Ford as early as the mid-17th century. Interestingly, the play received a full production from Druid Theatre from June to July 1985. Staged at Druid Lane Theatre in Galway and directed by Gary Hynes, the play featured a strong cast and featured the talents of Pat Leavy, Malcolm Douglas, Marie Mullen, Mairéad Noone, Ciaran Hinds, Maelíosa Stafford, Séan McGinley, Jane Brennan, Ray McBride and Darragh Kelly.
The Druid Theatre Archive here in the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway, holds a rich record of this production that includes programmes - which detail cast lists, headshots, productions credits and an article detailing thoughts on the play written by author John Banville - entitled "In the teeth of the whirlwind"; posters, photographs flyers, invitations, tickets and play posters. There are also many press reviews and articles from regional, local and national press. This unique collection of play records and ephemera is a fantastic research resource and provides an insight into how one of Ireland’s premier theatre companies staged a work over twenty-five years ago which has now found its place back on a major Irish stage.
As Irish people go to the polls to elect the ninth President of Ireland, the Archives and Special Collections of N.U.I. Galway are delighted to present records and memories of our first President, Douglas Hyde/Dubhghlas de hÌde. Hyde (1860–1949) was born near Castlerea, co. Roscommon, on 17 January 1860, the third son and fourth child of the Revd Arthur Hyde (c.1820–1905), rector of Kilnactranny, co. Sligo, and his wife, Elizabeth (1834–1886), daughter of the Ven. John Orson Oldfield, archdeacon of Elphin.
Douglas Hyde was Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland on 26 June 1938, in the first inaugural ceremony in the nation's history. An account from The Irish Times dated 27 June 1938 reads:
“In the morning [Dr Hyde] attended a service in St. Patrick's Cathedral presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Gregg. Mr. de Valera and his Ministerial colleagues attended a solemn Votive Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, and there were services in the principal Presbyterian and Methodist churches, as well as in the synagogue. Dr. Hyde was installed formally in Dublin Castle, where the seals of office were handed over by the Chief Justice. Some 200 persons were present, including the heads of the Judiciary and the chief dignitaries of the Churches. After the ceremony President Hyde drove in procession through the beflagged streets. The procession halted for two minutes outside the General Post Office to pay homage to the memory of the men who fell in the Easter Week rebellion of 1916. Large crowds lined the streets from the Castle to the Vice-Regal Lodge and the President was welcomed with bursts of cheering.”
The Archives and Special Collections of the James Hardiman Library, N.U.I. Galway offers a rich account of the personal as well as professional life of our first president. Some of the most precious items are those which were bequeathed by Douglas Hyde to NUI Galway on his death in 1949. The Lamhscribhinní Dubhghlas de hÌde are 116 items of manuscripts relating to Irish language, folklore and culture that Hyde collected over the course of his life. They range in date from 18th to 20th centuries. During a year-long project involving the James Hardiman Library and the Irish Script on Screen project, eleven of manuscripts were digitised and are fully available online here. Pictured is an example of the manuscript text and is taken from LS de hÌde 7. These digitised manuscripts are a vital resource for any researcher in the field of Irish language and culture and is a testament to Hyde’s own dedication to Irish language.
Also in the archives is a letter written by Hyde (Ref - G29) Hyde on behalf of Connradh na Gaeilge in [1912]. The letter is signed “An Craoibhín' (Douglas Hyde), Connradh na Gaeilge, Baile Átha Cliath”, to Miss Anna Nicol, Parkhead, Glasgow, and is an appeal for donations for a fund for 'teaching and propagandist work in the Gaeltacht'. (2 items)
A hand-written poem (Ref G30) of 26 lines entitled 'Don Dochtuir Seóirse Sigerson' by Douglas Hyde, is a warm tribute to an old friend of his, Dr. George Sigerson and is written in a traditional declamatory style and dates from [1922].
A bound volume of photographs features the Hyde family during the 1890s. All of the photographs are taken at Frenchpark, County Roscommon and the subjects are mainly Douglas Hyde and his family, other family members including his father, family pets and Douglas Hyde with locals. There are sixty-six images in total and the photos show Hyde in relaxed shots and rural locations and offer an insight into the personal life of the then future president.
Material relating to Hyde also features in the Morrisroe Connolly Collection (G37) Tom Morrisroe was a close friend of Hyde and was also from Roscommon. Morrisroe joined An Garda Sìochana and served in Mayo and Galway until his death in 1954. The collection features hundreds of letters between Hyde and Morrisroe, photographs of Hyde and press cuttings of Hyde’s tour of America in 1906.
The Bairèad collection (G3) also held by the James Hardiman Library relates to three members of the Bairèad family of Roscommon who were involved in Irish language and cultural movements. This collection features series of letters between members of the Bairèad family and Douglas Hyde and others such as Padraic Pearse and Eoin McNeil.
For a full search of our library holdings of Hyde material and other papers relating to the first President of Ireland click here. For archives and manuscript material, visit the Archives homepage.
