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On Monday 22nd February 2016, a special tea party is being hosted by an tArdmhéara Críona Ní Dhálaigh at the Mansion House to mark the transfer by Valeo Foods of the archives of W & R Jacobs and the transfer of the Appleyard Collection by Douglas Appleyard to Dublin City Council.The archives of W & R Jacob and Company, consisting of over 330 boxes, were acquired by Dublin City Library and Archive in 2012. Following a major cataloguing project they will now be opened for public access in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library and Archive at 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.View a sneak preview of some of the records relating to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the occupation of the factory.Update: View below photo slideshow of the Mansion House Event, 22nd February 2016:Members of the public who apply for a researcher's card at Dublin City Library and Archive will be able to view our extensive database listing all items in collection and request access to original items in the Reading Room. Access to Human Resource records will be in accordance with Data Protection Legislation.The richness and diversity of the collection is likely to generate significant public interest. It includes a wide range of corporate records, relating to over 150 years of biscuit making, including recipes dating from the 1880s. It contains a wealth of colourful marketing and advertisement material from mock-ups of packaging, sample tins, brochures, posters, and television and radio commercials. Links with the world of sport and celebrity have been uncovered with records relating to W & R Jacob’s long-term sponsorship of soccer and the Irish Radio and Television Awards. However, it is the rich tapestry of social history which emerges from the collection which will most resonate with researchers and the general public. Thousands of Dubliners were employed by W & R Jacob between 1851 and 2009, and the collection provides insight into the working lives and living conditions of those that were employed by the firm.Above: Jacob's workers at lunch.Future Events associated with the Jacob's ArchiveIn April 2016, as part of the Dublin City Council 2016 Program, an exhibition on "W & R Jacobs’s and the Easter Rising" will be launched in the Business Library at the Ilac Shopping Centre, drawing on newly uncovered items in the collection. It will include the eye-witness statement of Henry Fitzgerald, a watchman in the factory who was taken prisoner during Easter Week. Dr. Séamus Ó Maitiú will deliver a lecture on the same topic on April 19th 2016 as part of the popular lunch-time Dublin City Hall Lecture Series organised by Dublin City Archives.We are also keen to animate this important collection and bring it to a wide audience over the next year. A major exhibition about all aspects of W &R Jacobs will be launched in November 2016 at Dublin City Library and Archive and plans are underway to digitise and publish online the 3,000 photographs within the collection.Above: Jacobs' Biscuits being brought to the Port of Dublin for export, 1926. (Image is taken from The Port of Dublin, Official Handbook (Dublin, Wilson Hartnell, 1926)).

As a history student it is invaluable to gain experience working with and handling original materials and documents.

(Podcast) "The women were worse than the men: crime in Dublin in 1916", the 19th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture, was given by Pádraig Yeates at the Dublin City Library and Archive on Thursday, 21 January 2016.

The following is a transcript of the nineteenth Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture "The Women were worse than the Men" given by Pádraig Yeates at Dublin City Library & Archive on 21 January 2016.

You can now borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks from Dublin City Public Libraries. Reserve or borrow up to 5 eAudiobooks and 5 eBooks at a time. Visit library.bolindadigital.com/dublin and sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.

John MacDonagh, was a junior officer with the Volunteers during the 1916 Rising. He fought alongside his brother, Thomas MacDonagh, at the Jacob’s Biscuit Factory. The John MacDonagh collection contains a small amount of material related to MacDonagh’s republican credentials, most notably an eight page, hand-written letter dated 30 August 1916, to the London Aid Committee, describing conditions for Irish prisoners-of war in the Frongoch internment camp and signed simply “Henry”. While his role in the Rising might have been overshadowed by that of his brother, John MacDonagh’s role in shaping the artistic and cultural life of post-independence Ireland makes his story as worthy to tell as any other, and his name as important to remember.

The full set of Wide Street Commission architectural drawings have been conserved and digitised and are now available to view online. The Wide Streets Commission had the authority to determine and regulate the facades of buildings erected along the line of new streets developed by it. The Commission decided on the heights of buildings, the number of houses in a terrace, the materials to be employed and the type and spacing of windows. Builders had to conform to specifications and the Commission could, and did, order re-building where its instructions had been flouted.As a by-product of its interest in and impact on the architecture of Dublin in the period 1757-1849, the Wide Streets Commission amassed a total of 60 elevations of buildings and terraces. The WSC Architectural Drawing Catalogue was prepared by Dr Mary Clark, City Archivist and published by Dublin City Council in 1988. It provides detailed description of the full set of architectural drawings in the archives of the Wide Street Commission. The catalogue is now being published online, along with an image gallery of the architectural drawings.View Wide Street Commission Architectural Drawings Image Gallery.Search and browse the Wide Street Commission Architectural Drawings online.Wide Street Commission Architectural Drawings (PDF, 243KB) Cannot access PDF?About the Wide Street CommissionThe Commissioners for making Wide and Convenient Ways, Streets and Passages in the City of Dublin was established by an Act of Parliament in 1757. The Commission had extensive powers with the authority to acquire property by compulsory purchase, demolish it, lay down new streets and set lots along the new streets to builders for development. The Commission created Parliament Street, Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street, widened Dame Street, built Carlisle Bridge (now O'Connell bridge), and extended lower Sackville Street (O'Connell) down to the river Liffey. The Commission was abolished under the Dublin Improvement Act of 1849 with the final completion of its work in 1851. The Wide Street Commission Collection includes minute books, architectural drawings, jury books, and over 800 manuscript maps.The archives of the Wide Street Commission are held by Dublin City Library and Archive.For further information contact:Dublin City Archives138-144 Pearse StreetDublin 201 647 [email protected] NoticeIn order to reduce handling damage and to ensure the long term preservation of these fragile drawings, all researchers are requested to view the digitised images in the first instance. High-Res versions can be provided on request. Viewing of original drawings 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.Copyright StatementAll content (text, image, sound and film) on the Wide Street Commission Architectural Drawings Image Gallery on the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive website is copyright of © Dublin City Council. All rights are reserved unless where otherwise stipulated.Individual UseThe content of the image gallery may be printed and downloaded on a temporary, non-commercial basis for personal use. Copyright must be acknowledged and content may not be altered.Commercial ReproductionThose wishing to use the content of this image gallery for commercial purposes should contact [email protected] per Image: Scanned image on disk EUR 10.00Permission to reproduce images should be sought in writing from the City Archivist, Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. For commercial reproductions, a fee will be applicable.When applying please state which photographs are being used and give the precise details of the type of reproduction involved – exhibition, book, magazine, newspaper, or other.All reproduced images must carry the acknowledgement: 'Courtesy of Dublin City Library and Archive’.

The 18th annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture,  'Dublin as a global city: through time and space', is now available for purchase in book form. The lecture was given by Kevin Whelan (in photo), Director, Keough-Naughton Institute, Notre Dame Centre in Dublin at the Dublin City Library & Archive on Thursday 22 January 2015.The book was launched on Thursday, 21st January, on the occasion of the 19th such lecture at the Dublin City Library & Archive in Pearse Street. Price is €8 and details are available on how to purchase.

David Bowie was The Future. His first solo album 'Space Oddity' was released at the peak of The Space Race between the US and the USSR in 1969. It portrays the plight of an astronaut alienated from his planet and family. This could have been influenced by the Kubrick film '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

On Wednesday, 27th May 2015, Dublin City Council's Public Library Service took possession of a copy of a rare eye-witness account of the outbreak of the 1916 Easter Rising. The account was in the form of a letter written by Elsie McDermid (seen on the right), a popular opera singer of the era, to her mother in England on the occasion of Elsie's visit to Dublin. She was in Dublin to perform in Gilbert and Sullivan shows at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. However, the performances were cancelled as a result of the dramatic outbreak of the Easter Rising on Monday 24th April 1916.