Dublin’s first ever Historian-in-Residence for Children

In partnership with Dublin City Libraries, Dublin City Council Culture Company launched Dublin’s first ever Historian-in-Residence for Children. This new Creative Residency will have children and history at its core and is an invitation to local children to work collaboratively, to uncover their own local history, create their own storytelling of that history, discover new passions and see their ideas and interests reflected in the work created.

Based in Richmond Barracks, this residency is aimed at 9 -12 year olds, young collaborators will work with the Historian-in-Residence for Children, Dervilia Roche, to create workshops, projects and activities for others. Richmond Barracks, in Inchicore, is also home to the newly rehoused Inchicore library and is open to the public, with full health and safety measures in place. For more information about Historian-in-Residence for Children and other tours and events at Richmond Barracks visit richmondbarracks.ie.

Through collaboration with children, schools, youth groups and community clubs this residency will allow children to explore local and social history, and will aim to empower the children in their own personal journey of discovery through stories and history. This new residency will aim to create history clubs and programmes made by children to further local curiosity about history, develop new skills amongst the collaborators, and have lots of fun discovering new stories from our city along the way.

Deputy City Librarian, Brendan Teeling, said: “Since we started the Dublin City Council Historians-in-Residence project back in 2017 the historians have done fantastic work, bringing history to life and engaging with people in every corner of the City. Building on that success, we are delighted to work with our partners at Dublin City Council Culture Company on this new Historian-in-Residence for Children. We know Dervilia Roche will do a great job, and look forward to seeing lots of children getting excited about the history of our City."

So if you would like to know more about experimenting, learning and sharing through history with the Historian-in-Residence for Children, you can get in touch with Dervilia at [email protected], she will begin work on September 1st!

All photos are by Mark Stedman.