blog

Disease and Dirt: Public Health in Dublin, 1903-1917

Dublin was one of the most depressed cities in Europe at the turn of the century. Declining industry, overcrowding, unemployment, and poor housing created a cauldron of poverty for many Dubliners. The connection between poverty and disease had been formally recognised in the nineteenth century. These rarely seen images from Dublin Corporation’s Reports Upon The State Of Public Health In The City Of Dublin show some of the measures taken by Dublin’s civic authority to curb the spread of infectious diseases. We hope that it may be of interest to anyone researching the social history of Dublin in the early twentieth century.
29 March 2021

DCC commemorative plaques: Edward Dowden

On Sunday, 29th November 2015, a Dublin City Council commemorative plaque honouring the Irish poet and literary critic Edward Dowden (1843-1913) was unveiled in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
26 March 2021

Dancing In the Kitchen

When I began this piece a few days ago, we hadn’t seen the sunshine in days and the cold air was gripping beneath the grey skies. Can’t meet my friends, go to a gig or go to the cinema, never mind a disco! So I decided I had to start moving for warmth and pretending I was on holiday to lift myself out of the gloom of the winter days.
24 March 2021

Naxos Music Library

There is a quote from the play the Mourning Bride by William Congreve that "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast". In our Naxos Music Library e- resource there is music that can soothe fans of any conceivable type of music.
23 March 2021

The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories

The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices – women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, neglected 19th-century authors and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from all over the world now making a life in Ireland.
22 March 2021

This book will put you to sleep

It’s four in the morning and I can’t sleep. I reach for the book I received as a Christmas present, Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker. Is someone trying to tell me something!
19 March 2021

Sea swimming

Leap in by Alexandra Heminsley is one of a number of books I looked at reading because of my interest and new found habit of sea swimming.
18 March 2021

Happy Birthday Lady Gregory

Lady Gregory is best known for her renditions of Irish myths and legends and for founding the Abbey Theatre in Dublin with W.B. Yeats. She was an important figure in the Irish Literary Revival. Lady Gregory was of great importance for the cultural life of Ireland and played a significant role in shaping the National Theatre of Ireland.
15 March 2021

Comic Books Are Cool

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Batman. Wolverine. Green Lantern. Superman. The Incredible Hulk. Men in Black. Captain America. The Fantastic Four. Iron Man. Spider-Man.
12 March 2021