In line with the national move to Level 5 Dublin City branch libraries are closed as and from Thursday December 24th until further notice. We continue to operate our home delivery and online services.
(Podcast) 'Live from the Conniving House: Poetry and Music in Eighteenth-Century Dublin' the 21st Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture, was given by Dr Michael Griffin, University of Limerick at the Dublin City Library and Archive on Wednesday, 24 January 2018.The Conniving House tavern, long since forgotten, opened in 1725. On the water not far from where Sandymount Green is now, it is the cultural and geographical starting point for this lecture on the lively interaction of poetic and musical cultures in eighteenth-century Dublin. The only verbal account that we have of that venue comes from Life of John Buncle, esq. by Thomas Amory, who heard there the famous Larry Grogan playing the pipes while Jack Lattin, ‘the most agreeable of companions’, played matchlessly on the fiddle. Other writers of the period, such as Laurence Whyte and Charles Coffey, recorded an energetic native musical culture. This lecture explores a fascinating moment in the history of Dublin’s poetical and musical cultures, one which yields several compelling instances of cross-cultural connivance.Dr Michael Griffin is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Limerick. He is the co-editor of the soon-to-be published Cambridge Edition of the Letters of Oliver Goldsmith, and the author of Enlightenment in Ruins: The Geographies of Oliver Goldsmith (2013). He has also edited Thomas Dermody: Selected Writings (2012) and The Collected Poems of Laurence Whyte (2016). He has published a range of journal articles and book chapters on eighteenth-century Anglophone Irish poetry and print culture. His essay on Goldsmith’s poetry features in the recently published Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets.Listen to the lectureTranscript to followMusical creditsRob McKillop plays ‘Jack Lattin’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkgeVfqwIpMMike Ferry plays ‘Larry Grogan’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x6c9XlqLFQMaureen Hegarty sings ‘Eibhlín Aruin’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjUkAr-Da4oAbout John T. Gilbert and the Gilbert LibraryJohn T. Gilbert's valuable library of mainly 17th and 18th century books and manuscripts relating to Dublin and Ireland was purchased by Dublin Corporation after his death in 1898. It forms the nucleus of the special collections of Dublin City Public Libraries.Born in 1829, Gilbert was author of the influential three volume 'History of the city of Dublin', published from 1857-59. He was a firm advocate of documenting the history of his native city using primary sources. His work on manuscripts relating to the city alerted him to the need for the preservation of Irish public records, many of which were in a neglected and vulnerable condition. He commenced a campaign, which eventually led to the setting up of the Public Records Office in the Four Courts. He calendared the records of Dublin Corporation, which date from the twelfth century, and began the series of printed volumes The calendar of ancient records of the city of Dublin.The printed catalogue of the books and manuscripts of the Gilbert collection compiled by Douglas Hyde, LL.D & D.J. O'Donoghue is available for consultation in the Reading Room. View John T. Gilbert in the library online catalogue. Thank-you for listening to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. To hear more, please subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud.
The People, places and historical buildings of Dublin 7
Listen back to local Historian and well-known author Bernard Neary from Cabra West as he brings us on an interesting tour of Dublin 7, including the people, places and buildings of interest. Find out where the writer Iris Murdoch was born, where the poet Austin Clarke grew up and where Matt Kiernan made his Uilleann Pipes. Discover interesting facts about local landmarks including the Royal Canal, Broadstone Railway Station and The Four Courts. Reminisce about skipping and conkers games played by children and the picturehouses that dotted the area.Bernard’s new book Dublin 7, published by The Lilliput Press, is available to borrow from your local library and at bookshops."Neary’s beautifully illustrated volume (with maps and photographs) covers the areas of Ashtown, Broadstone, Cabra, Cardiffsbridge, Grangegorman, the Navan Road, Phibsborough, the Royal Canal, Smithfield, Stoneybatter, Church Street and the Quays. ...Neary combines oral history, archival research and personal recollections to create fascinating sketches of the various neighbourhoods, key figures and notable events. Historical accounts, contemporary description and fascinating maps allow the reader to see the evolution of Dublin 7 to the present day." (The Lilliput Press)Recorded at Cabra Library Wednesday 23 August 2017 as part of Heritage Week.Some images of Dublin 7 from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collections and Dublin City Library & Archive Special Collections:
Listen back to a talk by Peter Clarke looking at the 225 year history of the Royal Canal, from its origins in 1789 through all its phases to the present day. The talk traces the planning and construction of the canal and will reference many places, people and events of historical interest along the course of Dublin’s beloved Royal Canal.Image: Foster Aqueduct and Royal Canal House Phibsboro (see larger image)Reserve a copy of Walking the Royal Canal by Peter Clarke from the library catalogue.Recorded at Phibsboro Library on Monday 21 August 2017 as part of Heritage Week 2017.See more at Royal Canal Amenity Group (RCAG).
What happened in Ireland after the 1916 Rising? How did the political, economic and social landscape change and what brought about independence in 1922? Listen back to a three-part lecture series delivered by Maeve Casserly Dublin City Council’s Historians-in-Residence for the South East Area. The lecture topics are:Lecture 1 - Ireland in 1917Lecture 2 - What was the War of Independence?Lecture 3 - What was the Civil War?Recorded at Rathmines Library on 12 and 26 June and Terenure Library on 20 Septemeber 2017.Lecture 1Lecture 2Lecture 3See images from this turbulent time in Irish history in the Birth of the Republic Collection available to search online at Dublin City Libraries and Archive Digital Repository.The Historians-in-residence have compiled a comprehensive booklist to accompany the Irish Revolution series of lectures:The Irish Revolution, 1917-1923: Further Reading (PDF, 363KB)This lecture series is part of Dublin City Council's Decade of Commemorations programme of events.
Dublin City Hall was the venue for our third Heritage Week event, our seminar ‘Living in Victorian Dublin’. This is the second in our annual series, the first was ‘Living in Georgian Dublin’ in 2016 and the next will be ‘Living in Restoration Dublin’ in 2018. Our five speakers each spoke on a different topic, in order to cover all aspects of the Victorian city. Michael Barry was our first speaker. Author of Victorian Dublin Revealed he gave an overview of the entire city, demonstrating how many buildings, both public and domestic, have remained from that era and introducing them through his own splendid photography. Our next two speakers, Dr. Susan Galavan and Dr Jacinta Prunty, formed exact opposites. Susan’s talk was based on her new book Dublin’s Bourgeois Homes: building the Victorian suburbs 1850-1901. The book is based on ten years of scholarship and is the first in-depth analysis of Dublin’s Victorian houses, looking at architectural form, internal organisation, building materials and landlord control all of which were referenced in her talk. Jacinta’s talk was about the Dublin Slums and her book of that title is a work which has been welcomed by geographers and historians alike. It gives a comprehensive and insightful account and analysis of Dublin’s inexorable transformation into a slum city; it provides a template for researchers in Irish urban history; and it awakens social historians to what they have to learn from the historical geographers. The shocking juxtaposition of comfortable bourgeoisie and desperate slum-dwellers, both living in the same small city, made for uneasy but necessary listening.Living in Victorian Dublin Seminar Playlist on YouTube:The first speaker after lunch was Elizabeth Smith, who is a graduate of the Certificate in Local Studies at Dublin City Library & Archive and founder of our Local History Alumni Group. Her topic was Belgrave Square: a microcosm of Victorian Dublin. Elizabeth set out the parameters for the square, its early developers, how the houses evolved from two stories to two stories over basement (according as occupiers found that they could employ servants) and finally, the development of the central square – which was only completed in the 1970s.The final speaker was Peter Costello. He is an author and editor, described by the American critic Robert Hogan as “a contemporary embodiment” of the “tradition in Irish literature of the independent scholar, who has an erudition embarrassing to the professional academic”. Peter is one of Ireland’s leading Joyceans and has written, edited or contributed to some thirty-seven books and is an authority on the history of the Catholic Church in Dublin. It was during the Victorian period that the greatest amount of church-building (both Catholic and Church of Ireland) took place. This was an outcome of the emergence of the Catholic middle-class who were anxious to proclaim their arrival as much as to proclaim their religion. Nevertheless, building styles varied widely, from the Byzantine (Newman University Church) to the neo-Gothic (John’s Lane) to the neo-classical (St Andrew’s, Westland Row). What remained a constant is that Catholic Churches still huddled in side-streets – a prime example being the Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street. This did not change much until the Catholic middle-class moved to the suburbs.Listen back to the talks on SoundCloud:A general theme which cropped up in all of the talks was that Victorian Dublin is somewhat neglected by comparison with Georgian Dublin but the large audience at the seminar indicated that this is beginning to change. We are most grateful to Dublin City Council for allowing us to use the Council Chamber for the seminar and we are grateful to our colleagues, Alastair Smeaton for taking photographs and Gillian Colton for recording the talks for online streaming & podcasting. The presentations can also be viewed at https://dublincity.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/302717
What happened in Ireland after the 1916 Rising? How did the political, economic and social landscape change and what brought about independence in 1922? Listen back to a three-part lecture series delivered by Brian Hanley Dublin City Council’s Historians-in-Residence for Dublin City Library & Archive. The lecture topics are:Lecture 1- Ireland in 1917Lecture 2 - What was the War of Independence?Lecture 3 - What was the Civil War?Recorded at Dublin City Library and Archive on 12, 19, 26 June 2017.Lecture 1Lecture 2Lecture 3See more images from this turbulent time in the Birth of the Republic Collection available to search online at Dublin City Libraries and Archive Digital Repository.The Historians-in-residence have compiled a comprehensive booklist to accompany the Irish Revolution series of lectures:The Irish Revolution, 1917-1923: Further Reading (PDF, 363KB)This lecture series is part of Dublin City Council's Decade of Commemorations programme of events.
(Podcast) 'Gentlemen’s Daughters in Dublin Cloisters: The social world of nuns in early 18th century Dublin', the 20th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture, was given by Dr Bernadette Cunningham, Royal Irish Academy at the Dublin City Library and Archive on Wednesday, 25 January 2017.The lecture looks at the social world of the communities of Poor Clare and Dominican nuns who established themselves in the Oxmantown/Grangegorman area of Dublin in the early eighteenth century.Dr Bernadette Cunningham is Deputy Librarian at the Royal Irish Academy and she is an expert on the history of 17th and 18th century Ireland. She is a graduate of University College Galway and University College Dublin, with degrees in History and Political Science and a PhD in Irish. She holds a post graduate qualification in librarianship from Aberystwyth.Bernadette has published widely on early modern Irish culture and intellectual history. Books include The world of Geoffrey Keating (Dublin, 2000); The Annals of the Four Masters: Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century (Dublin, 2010); Clanricard and Thomond: 1540–1640: provincial politics and society transformed (Dublin, 2012), and (with Raymond Gillespie), Stories from Gaelic Ireland: microhistories from the sixteenth-century Irish annals (2003).The lecture was published in 2018 and is available to purchase and borrow. How to purchase / check availability in the library catalogue.Listen to the lectureTranscriptSources referenced in the lectureAbout John T. Gilbert and the Gilbert LibraryJohn T. Gilbert's valuable library of mainly 17th and 18th century books and manuscripts relating to Dublin and Ireland was purchased by Dublin Corporation after his death in 1898. It forms the nucleus of the special collections of Dublin City Public Libraries.Born in 1829, Gilbert was author of the influential three volume 'History of the city of Dublin', published from 1857-59. He was a firm advocate of documenting the history of his native city using primary sources. His work on manuscripts relating to the city alerted him to the need for the preservation of Irish public records, many of which were in a neglected and vulnerable condition. He commenced a campaign, which eventually led to the setting up of the Public Records Office in the Four Courts. He calendared the records of Dublin Corporation, which date from the twelfth century, and began the series of printed volumes The calendar of ancient records of the city of Dublin.The printed catalogue of the books and manuscripts of the Gilbert collection compiled by Douglas Hyde, LL.D & D.J. O'Donoghue is available for consultation in the Reading Room. View John T. Gilbert in the library online catalogue. Thank-you for listening to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast. To hear more, please subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud. You can also visit our website - dublincitypubliclibraries.ie and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Listen to Liz D’Arcy talk about conserving the Wide Street Commission Maps. Hear how she painstakingly removed sellotape, cleaned, repaired and strengthened these important maps. Liz D'Arcy, Paperworks, Studio for Paper Conservation is qualified with an MA in Conservation of Fine Art on Paper. Liz is an accredited member of the 'Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic works in Ireland' (I.C.H.A.W.I) and a member of the 'Irish Professional Conservators and Restorers Association' (I.P.C.R.A).Between 1757- 1851, the Wide Street Commission had a major impact on the development of the city, transforming it from a medieval city to the Dublin we know today. Its function was to provide “Wide and Convenient Streets” for Dublin and it had extensive powers to acquire property by compulsory purchase, develop new streets, demolish buildings and impose design standards on building lots which were sold to developers. Dublin City Archives hold the Wide Street Commission Archives, which comprises maps, minute books and drawings. www.dublincityarchives.ieRead more about the conservation project and view Wide Street Commission map collection image gallery.Search and browse the Archive of the Wide Street Commission Maps online.Conserving Wide Street Commission Maps - TranscriptAudio only:Recorded at Dublin City Hall on 24 August 2016 at Dublin City Archives' 'Living in Georgian Dublin' seminar. Part of Heritage Week 2016 programme.Dublin City Archives is grateful to the Heritage Council of Ireland for funding under the Heritage Management Project Scheme 2016 to conserve 23 Wide Street Commission Maps in 2016. Conservation NoticeIn order to reduce handling damage and to ensure the long term preservation of these fragile maps, all researchers are requested to view the digitised images in the first instance. High-Res versions can be provided on request. Viewing of original maps is strictly by appointment only: please apply to [email protected] Please note: A minimum of 3 days notice is required to process your request and a maximum of 10 maps may be ordered per visit.
Listen to Harold Clarke's charming account of restoring the beautiful Georgian building, no. 19 North Great George's Street. When Harold first viewed the house it was suffering from 180 years of dereliction but he recognised its beauty and bought it just three days later.In this illustrated talk, Harold outlines the challenges he faced during his faithful restoration of the house, its long history, and the delightful features he uncovered, most particularly its beautiful decorative plasterwork. The before and after photographs offer a fascinating insight into this most successful restoration process. I'm sure you will agree the results are splendid, from the beauty of the friezes and plasterwork in the drawing room and dining room, to the library room with its ceiling painted in the Dublin colours, the 100 stepped staircase, the entrance hall and the garden room.Recorded at Dublin City Hall on 24 August 2016 at Dublin City Archives' 'Living in Georgian Dublin' seminar. Part of Heritage Week 2016 programme.Restoration of no. 19 North Great George's Street by Harold Clarke - TranscriptAudio only:See Also: In his talk Harold mentions Conor Lucey's work on Michael Stapleton, which is available to borrow from our catalogue The Stapleton collection: designs for the Irish neoclassical interior (2007).
O'Connell Street...the story of the street and its buildings
In this podcast, architects Klaus Unger and Stephen Kane present a history of Dublin City's main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, formerly named Sackville Street. Hear about the unique design features of some of its famous landmark buildings and the stories behind them. Klaus and Stephen outline the origins of O'Connell Street area as it evolved from the tangle of medieval Dublin, before discussing the influence of the Wide Street Commission, Lord Gardiner, and renowned architects Edward Lovett Pearce, Richard Cassels, Gandon and Francis Johnston (Nelson's Pillar).O'Connell Street...the story of the street and its buildings - TranscriptFor further reading, Klaus recommends David Dickson's Dublin: The making of a Capital City and Muiris De Buitléir'sA portrait of Dublin in maps : history, geography, people, society.Recorded in Rathmines Library on 23 August 2016 as part of our Heritage Week 2016 Programme.
