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On 16 November 1538, the Monastery and lands of All Hallows were surrendered by Prior Walter Handcocke to Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  The house and lands of All Hallows were granted by the king to the Mayor, Bailiffs, Commons and Citizens of Dublin on 4 February 1539. The lands included properties in counties Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Tipperary, Kilkenny and elsewhere.  The grant of All Hallows more than doubled the city’s land-bank and led to a reorganization of the Dublin City Treasurer’s office to cope with the increased revenue from leases of All Hallows land.  This, the earliest known City Treasurer’s Account Book begins in 1540 largely as a way of ensuring that all moneys from letting this land bank were accounted for.Image: Grotesque, City Treasurer's Account Book. Dublin City Library & Archive MR/35 (1540-1613)In the period covered by this book, the Dublin City Treasurer was usually an Alderman on the Dublin City Assembly who was appointed for an initial period of a year, often renewed. The City Treasurer presented the accounts to the Assembly each year at the fourth Friday after Michaelmas (St. Michael’s Day, 29 September). The book was conserved in the late 19th century, most probably under the direction of Sir John T. Gilbert (who also gave directions that ‘Dublin Corporation’ should be stamped on each page as a security measure, as was done in Les Archives Nationales de France).  It was re-bound in reverse calf (now much degraded) and two large bands were applied, one to the head and one to the end of the spine. The front of the original cover has been bound into the front of the book. This is in finely-tanned leather, possibly sheepskin and the holes from the original clasps can be clearly seen. At the top is written (in English):The Tresorye bookeof the Cittie of Du-bline Anno d[omini] MDXLIboght by Thomas Stevins Thresaurer 1541Image: Front cover, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Inside the pages of the book are made of paper and this is the earliest document in the City Archives where paper is used.   Paper was first made in China during the Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD).  The techniques for making paper reached Europe in the 11th century but spread very slowly, reaching England in 1488.  These early papers were made by hand, using cotton and linen rags, which means that they have survived well until the present day. As essentially it’s made of cloth, early paper can be washed if necessary – a procedure which has to be done by a trained paper conservator.  (Modern papers are made of wood pulp, usually eucalyptus, which is imported largely from Australia). The paper in the City Treasurer’s book appears to have been imported from France: Professor Padraig O Maicin has identified just one watermark in the book, on folio 42, which is a decorative urn, often used by paper mills in France to identify their work.  The pages have lines down them, a practice which is known as ‘chained paper’ and is like ribbing on a knitted jumper, designed to strengthen each sheet.  Image: Watermark, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Each page was conserved during the 19th century, with a new edging put onto it using acid-free paper.  It is likely that the Treasurer’s Book was suffering from damp as indicated by the staining on some of the pages.  The conservator appears to have cut off the worst of the soiled edges – fortunately a substantial margin had been left which means that no text was removed. The numbers throughout the Treasurer’s Book are written in Roman numerals and not in Arabic numerals. Capital letters on some of the pages near to the front of this book have been decorated with grotesques – a sure sign that the scribe entering the accounts was really bored!   But in reality researchers have found many stories in the book – they have constructed biographies of many Dublin merchants; described lavish parties held in the city; and recorded visits by the Queen’s Players, a theatre troupe based in London. Image: Grotesque, City Treasurer's Account Book (click to enlarge)Manuscript of the MonthEach month, Dublin City Archives will be showcasing a manuscript from their collections on our blog. Check back next month for the next instalment!See also: Admiral Nelson's casts an eye over the Dublin City Treasurer's Accounts in his latest News from Nelson blog: "Last week I was browsing away and I came across the Dublin City Treasurer’s Accounts 1540-1613.  I know – I can hear you say ‘Bor-ring!’ and at first I thought so too." Read more: News from Nelson - Grotesques!

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. Elsie wrote a 26-page letter and in it she related, among other things, the digging of trenches in St Stephen’s Green and eye-witness accounts of the first casualties on the streets of Dublin.Visit the 'Elsie McDermid Letter' Image Gallery or view PDF version below.The letter, which includes Elsie’s hand-drawn maps of Dublin during the Rising, now forms part of a personal 1916 archive owned by Elsie’s nephew Colin McDermid.Colin visited Dublin in May 2015 and donated a digital copy of the letter to Dublin City Public Libraries. The copy formed an important part of the 'Citizens in Conflict: Dublin 1916' exhibition at Dublin City Public Library and Archive, Pearse Street (January to mid-June 2016). We are delighted to say also that the letter and related material is now available online (follow Image Gallery link above). Read more about the donation of the letter at the Mansion House on the 27th May 2015.The letter begins “We are living in stirring times. I am writing this to be posted if there is any post office left and will keep it till I know it will go.” Elsie McDermid kept the letter and other souvenirs of 1916, including shell casings and postcards, which her family preserved. The letter has never been published in historical accounts of the Rising but it and the other items in Elsie’s 1916 archive featured on the BBC's 'Antiques Roadshow' in the Spring of 2015.Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive would like to extend a sincere thanks and its appreciation to Colin for the donation.Elsie McDermid made her stage debut in Covent Garden in 1914 and had a London stage career well into the 1920s. She performed leading roles in many Gilbert and Sullivan classics including ‘The Pirates of Penzance’, ‘The Mikado’ and ‘The Gondoliers’. She also performed roles in Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ and Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’. Born in Middlesbrough in 1889, she died in Eston, North Yorkshire, in 1933.Visit the 'Elsie McDermid Letter' Image Gallery or view PDF version below. The Elsie McDermid 1916 Letter - Usage StatementOwnership of the Elsie McDermid Letter resides with Colin McDermid. Colin has very kindly granted Dublin City Council rights to reproduce the letter here.Personal Use:Printing or downloading of the letter (text, images) is permitted on a temporary, non-commercial basis for personal use only.Commercial Use and Reproduction:Those wishing to  use the content of the Elsie McDermid Letter (text, images) for commercial purposes or to publish* the content should contact Dublin City Public Libraries ([email protected]) for permission. When applying please state which content is being used and give the precise details of the type of use planned – exhibition, book, magazine, newspaper, performance or other. Conditions to apply.*Includes website or other electronic means.

Jacob's Biscuit Factory on Bishop Street was one of the sites occupied by the Irish Volunteers during Easter Week, 1916, and has acquired iconic status within Irish history.   The Jacob's Biscuit Factory Archive has recently being catalogued and opened to public access in the Dublin City Library and Archive.  In conjunction with the Business Information Centre the exhibition "W&R Jacob and Easter Rising" will be open to the public from 13 April, with a talk by Dr Séamas Ó Maithiú on 21 April.Right: Sketch of Bishop Street Factory, c.1900s, Jacobs Biscuit Factory Archive (DCLA) (View larger image)Whilst researching how factory workers both participated in and were affected by the Rising in different ways, our guest blogger and Dublin City Archives intern Saffron East was enthralled by the dramatic witness account written by 35 year old  William George Smith,  an Assistant Manager at the factory,  which can be  accessed in the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Ireland.:Jacob’s Biscuit Factory, St John Ambulance and 1916During Easter Week, many civilians were caught in the crossfire between the rebels and the British Army. St John Ambulance was an important organisation during the Rising, as it worked to organise emergency hospitals and medical care for civilian casualties across the city. William George Smith was a key member of the W&R Jacob Ambulance and Nursing Division of St John Ambulance and he kept an account of his personal experiences of Easter Week, which can be accessed in the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Ireland, and tells us the story of how the Rising impacted this extraordinary Dubliner.Left: Portrait photo of William G. Smyth, Jacobs Biscuit Factory Archive (DCLA) (click to view larger image)Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, began as an ordinary day for William Smith, as he took his sons on the tram to spend some time in Merrion Square during their Easter holidays. On the tram, Smith writes that they overheard other passengers speaking of 'trouble in Dublin and that the Sinn Fein volunteers were causing commotion.' Smith enquired with the tram driver, who did not know much as the trams had not been allowed into the city centre, but said that 'he heard the Volunteers were rising.' Smith and his boys 'thought that it was probably only an ordinary riot which the police would soon quell' so continued their journey. Further disruption to the trams meant that the family had to walk home in the afternoon, where they ran into a friend of Smith's: a Four Courts officer of the St John's Ambulance Brigade, who explained 'that the Sinn Feiners had risen in rebellion and had captured Dublin Castle, the GPO, Four Courts, Boland's hill and some other places.'The next day, Smith decided to cycle into the city to investigate. He travelled via Peter Street, where he saw Jacob's Biscuit Factory. He describes that 'everything there seemed peaceful in fact, unnaturally so for the street was deserted.' Smith cycled around the city, finding 'a large crowd assembled' near Redmond's Hill, and 'saw the windows of the General Office broken and filled with flour bags, behind which were men with rifles.' He described: 'The crowd seemed not generally to be showing much sympathy with the rebels, or were taking it rather as a joke.' Smith cycled to St Stephen's Green, finding the rebels 'digging trenches and barricading the place. Many of them were mere boys; in fact only about one in ten was a man; they had a great many young girls, ranging from about 13 to 20...'  On this Tuesday, William Smith witnessed his first casualty of the Rising, as he saw a civilian man shot by the rebels. He wrote that this 'was certainly a shock, because it was such a cold blooded affair to shoot down in this way an old unarmed civilian, and for a few minutes I felt decidedly upset.' Smith wrote that, later that day, 'one could hear the curious tap-tap of the machine guns, a sinister sound which one could never get wholly used to.'On Wednesday, Smith began working on organising extra help within Dublin's hospitals, and creating emergency hospitals in new locations around the city. He also helped in the creation of an emergency ambulance service, where men travelled with stretchers to bring in wounded civilians. This was dangerous work, and many of these St John’s Ambulance volunteers were wounded or killed in the crossfire. Smith recalled that he would 'never forget the dreadful wounds we had to look after that night... The constant rattle of rifle fire, the sound of bombs exploding.'Above: W& R Jacob  Ambulance and Nursing Division, including Smyth (undated).  Jacobs Biscuit Factory Archive (DCLA) (click to view larger image)Smith wrote that Thursday 'was the most miserable day I ever spent.' As well as organising ambulances, Smith arranged for moving wounded patients to different hospitals, as they were all overcrowded. On patrol for wounded civilians, Smith found that Mount Street was 'a very "hot spot" indeed... sufficient to say that for many days this district was a regular death trap to its inhabitants.' That afternoon, Smith opened a new hospital in a school, and had to beg the local hotels for bedding and furniture supplies. Friends provided food for this hospital, so the patients would not starve. This hospital became Smith's base for the rest of the rising. Smith wrote that he 'lost all count of time... It is difficult to recollect all the things one did during that dreadful time and the strange things one came across.' Smith witnessed many people 'digging graves to bury the dead, as they could not be disposed of otherwise.' He wrote that 'Stephen's Green had some dead buried in very shallow grave, for I saw in one case boots sticking out of the soil' and that 'one doctor whom I knew had to bury an officer in his back garden, whose name he did not know and who had nothing on him by which he could be identified'.Smith wrote of a near-disaster: 'the rebels got wind of our taking patients and the rumour spread amongst them that all patients were to be taken out of the hospital and the military were then to occupy it and attack the [Jacob’s Biscuit] factory from that point. This they resolved to stop and brought up a machine gun... and were about to fire when MacDonagh, one of their leaders, came up and protested and finally they took a vote on the question and by a few votes decided not to fire and afterwards found out the truth of the matter.'He also recounted the bravery of his peers, including one of his ambulance drivers who 'was shot through the thigh whilst driving a car full of wounded past the Four Courts, but he drove on until he reached the Castle Hospital, when he fell off his seat.'William George Smith's account includes many more anecdotal stories of his experience of the Easter Rising. He writes of the resilience and bravery of many Dubliners who pulled together to make the limited hospital supplies work as best they could, and travelled around the city collecting the wounded despite the dangerous conditions.The first ambulance class under the St. John Ambulance Association regulations was held in W&R Jacob in 1906, and throughout the twentieth century, the W&R Jacob Ambulance and Nursing Division of St John Ambulance attracted  employees of the factory to get involved with something practical and social in the workplace. Various records relating to their activities in the work place are held by Jacob's Biscuit Factory Archive  at Dublin City Library and Archive.  Additional records held by  St. John Ambulance Ireland National Headquarters.About our Guest BloggerThis article was prepared by Saffron East as part of the internship program with the M.Phil in Public History and Cultural Heritage at Trinity College Dublin.

Technology is an ever-changing form for the collection and communication of information. What happens, however, when the form of equipment is no longer the current practice of collecting information? What happens when the method is out dated and showing its age? At Dublin City Library and Archive, the staff work hard to preserve the documented history of Ireland even in its less prevalent forms. Numerous images were generously donated from Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism development authority.

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)).

The Rathmines Township was created on the 22nd July, 1847, by Act of Parliament. In 1862 the townlands of Rathgar and Sallymount (the latter comprising present-day Ranelagh) were added to the renamed Rathmines and Rathgar Township. The Township was further extended in 1866 to include townlands in Uppercross, while Milltown was added in 1880.Originally the Township was governed by Commissioners, who felt they needed a place where they could meet and conduct their business. Their first house was at 71 Rathmines Road, so it really became the first town hall.Archives of the Rathmines and Rathgar Township, 1847-1930 (PDF, 529kb) (A detailed descriptive list by Dr Mary Clark, Dublin City Archivist). Visit The Reading Room, Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street.The original Township was created as a sanitary area, but new functions were added with subsequent Acts, including responsibility for public lighting and water supply as well as drainage, which was provided jointly with the Pembroke Township.Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898 the Rathmines and Rathgar Urban District Council (UDC) was established as the elected governing body. After 1898 the UDC built a number of small housing schemes under legislation for housing of the working classes.Right: Rathmines, Postcard. Click to view larger version..The UDC met in the magnificent Town Hall on Rathmines Road, the first meeting being held in January 1899.  Work on the Town Hall began in 1895 on the site of the previous town hall. The commissioners asked one of the best-known and respected architects of Ireland, Sir Thomas Drew, to design this building. He put up a fine building of red sandstone and brick with a bay window on the first floor. But the most famous feature was the high clock tower, which could be seen from afar. The clock on the tower was made by a local firm called Chancellor and Son. They claimed they could beat any English and Scottish company so they got the job. The clock has four faces, one for each side of the tower. Before the clock could be run with electricity, the four sides would often show different times so the clock was called 'four-faced liar'.Left: Rathmines Town Hall, 1908. Click to view larger version.The town hall had a boardroom where the town commissioners would hold their meetings. There was also a gymnasium, a kitchen and a supper room (other people could hire this room out). There was an assembly hall for meetings which could fit 2,000 people. It had a stage and a room for an orchestra. Apart from being used for council meetings, the  Town Hall also became a centre for social life in the area with concerts, dances and other events. Percy French, who wrote many well-known songs about counties in Ireland and who had his own theatrical company, gave many performances in the town hall and one of the first moving films made by a man called Edison was shown here in 1902. The Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society also performed there (see below).The first public library in Rathmines was opened in June 1887 at 53 Rathmines Road. In 1899 it moved to 67 Rathmines Road, where it stayed for 14 years. Rathmines Fire Brigade later used this building. The library was then moved to its present location at 157 Lower Rathmines Road, where it opened on 24th October 1913. The present library was built with the aid of a £8,500 Carnegie grant. Andrew Carnegie was an American industrialist who gave money to build libraries and museums across the world. The architects of this fine building were Batchelor & Hicks.Left: Rathmines Library.The Baroque style façade of Rathmines Library is composed of Arklow brick walls with terracotta dressings, and was designed to fit in with the style of the Town Hall located across the road. It was also intended to be an ‘ornament to the township’. The library and technical school next door were part of the same building but each had a separate entrance. The library entrance is flanked by two-storey high Ionic columns. A large, stained glass window depicting an allegory of literature is located above the entrance. The window was designed by William Morris, a famous English artist and designer of the time. A ventilating cupola is located on the centre of the roof. Large Venetian windows provide light to the ground floor. The interior retains a fine staircase to the first floor which divides into two parallel flights.In the beginning there was no children’s library. Mary Kettle, a councillor in Rathmines, and other women councillors were very interested in making poor children’s lives better. They voted to provide school meals to make sure that children were not hungry. They also supported the opening of a children’s library in Rathmines, and this happened in 1923.Right: Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society Programme, 1913. Click to view larger version.The Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society was founded in 1913.  Still in existence today, its first performance was the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta, The Mikado.  Based in the prosperous and expanding townships of Rathmines and Rathgar, the members of the society tended to come from the members of the middle classes who were not attracted to the music or song of the Celtic revival. Under the Local Government (Dublin) Act of 1930, the district of Rathmines and Rathgar became part of the City of Dublin, under the administration of Dublin Corporation. The UDC held its last meeting in the Town Hall in 1930 and today the building is the Rathmines College of Further Education.See also in our catalogue:Rathmines township 1847-1930, by Seamus O Maitiu. The Rathmines township : a chronology and guide to sources of information, by Angeal O'Connell.

[Update, 24 Nov 2015: Due to data protection reasons, information from Jacob's Biscuit Factory employee records which are less than 100 years old, will  be made available to direct family members only.  All requests regarding individual employees should be sent to [email protected] in the first instance. The cataloguing project will be completed by the end of December 2015 and we will start processing the email requests in January 2016.]As part of its varied programme of activities for the Decade of Commemorations, Dublin City Library and Archive is currently in the process of cataloguing the records of Jacob’s Biscuit Factory which was acquired by Dublin City Archives in 2012.  Here is a sneak preview of some of the records which have thus far been identified which relate to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the occupation of the factory:SEE IMAGE: Advertisement showing Bishop Street Factory,  Undated ©Valeo Foods, DCLA/JAC/09/241DCLA/JAC/04/1275 Commemorative Jubilee BookletOn the 50th Anniversary of the Rising in 1966, Jacob’s Factory issued Commemorative Jubilee Booklet which recalled the role of the factory in the Rising:Jacob's factory gained for itself a unique and historical place in the recorded history of Ireland in being selected by the leaders of the 1916 insurrection as a strong point in the line of active rebellion throughout the city of Dublin. The massive, fortress like factory, with its soaring towers was virtually impregnable. What discussions and decisions among the rebellion leaders led to the seizing of the factory may now never be known, but the quick of fate which led to it has stamped forever the names of Jacob in the pattern of Irish history(Image ©Valeo Foods. Click to view larger version.)The booklet was part of an effort by the Company to enhance their public image and to make a contribution to the 1916 Celebration:"As one of the industries most closely linked with the rising I feel, we will be very obvious if we let the occasion go past without making some sort of effort" (1916 Jubilee- A Report DCLA/JAC/08/08)DCLA/JAC/04/1290:Witness Statement of Henry FitzgeraldHenry Fitzgerald and Thomas Orr were the watchman and caretaker respectively who were on duty on the morning of Easter Monday, 24th April 1916. A statement within the collection from Fitzgerald provides a valuable insight into what happened during the nine days in which the factory was occupied. Fitzgerald records on 24th April 1916 he "found volunteers and fitters breaking open the door. The officer in charge , whose name I afterwards found to be Lieut. Colbert, placed his hand on my shoulder and stated, as I was watchman, I was the very person he wanted, and I was to consider myself a prisoner".On Tuesday, April 25th, Fitzgerald noted that he "was asked to allow myself to be sworn in as a member of the Sinn Féin Volunteer. I stated that I was never a member of any organisation, political or otherwise, and that all I wanted was to be released and allowed to go home to my wife".On Wednesday, April 26th, a fire alarm bell started ringing at 11pm on Wednesday 26th April, and concerned with the amount of flour in the factory that may be destroyed, Fitzgerald made a request to cut the water off and effect repairs. He notes that he was escorted by Lieut. Sean Colbert to No. 5 sprinkler installation, where he turned the water off.On the final day of occupation Sunday April 30th, Fitzgerald notes "Lieut. Colbert came and shook hands with Mr. Orr and myself and told us peace was proclaimed. I then asked him where I was to go and he answered by telling me “I might go to hell".When the whole ordeal had ended Fitzgerald notes that he:"left the factory, having put over the most anxious week I ever spent of my life. I did not change my clothes once during the week. I scarcely touched any food; on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday there seemed to be plenty of everything, but I felt too sick at heart to take much of anything".DCLA/JAC/01/015 Company Minute Book (1913-1918)The company minute book recorded the impact of the Rising on business and how order was restored post Easter Week.As the general day to day running of the factory was interrupted by the occupation of the factory, the Directors:"decided to pay wages for Monday and Tuesday , May 1st & 2nd, to those employees who were unable to resume work on those days or nights. In part compensation for the loss of wages during the rebellion. This does not apply to any who did not conduct themselves satisfactorily". (11 May 1916)(Image ©Valeo Foods. Click to view larger version.)In a document later collated by Charles E. Jacob (c. 1937) on events in the history of W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd. he notes that the rebels"did no damage to machinery fittings but made holes in the walls for strategic purposes and a quantity of rifles and ammunition etc. had to be recovered by the military after the surrender. The populace did some looting on the Saturday afternoon but some of our workers took charge and helped restore order". DCLA/JAC/08/13:JAC/ Employee RecordsFactory employees both participated and were effected by the 1916 Rising and there is evidence of this within individual employee files held in the collection. Tragically Margaret Nolan, employee no. 7 was "shot in the head at door of Berkeley Street Chapel, and died in Mater hospital almost immediately on 25th April 1916 during SF Rebellion." A note on Winifred E. Jarmain’s file states that the family was "removed to England after the shock of the SF rebellion" [1916] and Robert Cooper, employee no. 705 "did not return after Easter 1916". Margaret O’Connor, employee no. 158 was "brought under Mr. Dawson's notice for wearing the SF button before the rebellion, suspended for one week pending enquiry."(15 May 1916)(Image ©Valeo Foods. Click to view larger version.) The cataloguing project is due for completion by the end of 2015. The full collection list will then be available online and researchers will be able to access the original records in our Reading Room.Further recommended reading is Séamus Ó Maitiú ‘s excellent book W&R Jacob - Celebrating 150 Years of Irish Biscuit Making (Dublin, 2001).About our Guest BloggerThis article was prepared by Lisa McCarthy, Eneclann, Project Contract Archivist. 

Dublin City Council has acquired a unique Dublin Fire Brigade Ambulance log-book which covers the period of the Easter Rising, 24-29 April 1916. The log-book relates to Tara Street Fire Station and records hour-by-hour the response of the Dublin ambulance service to those injured in the Rising.

The Picture of Dublin for 1811, being a description of the city, and a correct guide to all the public establishments, curiosities, amusements, exhibitions, and remarkable objects, in and near the city of Dublin. With a map of Dublin in the year 1610; a large map for 1811, and several views. On the same principle as The Picture of London.Dublin, printed for the proprietor, by J. and J. Carrick, Batchelor’s Walk; and sold at 41, Golden Lane; La Grange, Nassau Street; Gilbert and Hodges, and Dugdale, Dame Street; and all the booksellers. (Price six shillings British).This is the first edition of The Picture of Dublin, published in 1811. It does not name an editor or compiler, but the imprint states that it was printed for the proprietor, and sold at 41 Golden Lane. At this time 41 Golden Lane was the address of J. and W. Gregory, printers and booksellers. The dedication to the third edition, published in 1816, is signed by William Gregory, so he is likely to have been the compiler of the first edition.It was based on a similar guide to London, and it was aimed at visitors to the city. It went into several editions in the first half of the 19th century, with many different editors, see Dublin City’s online catalogue for other editions.Like a modern guide book this guide starts with a short history of Dublin, followed by a contemporary description of the city and its inhabitants. It describes the public buildings and other sites worth visiting and it is illustrated with engraved plates showing the Bank of Ireland, College Green, the newly built Custom House, Nelson’s Pillar, and the Grand Canal at Portobello Harbour. Nitty-gritty details for the visitor are also included: lists of hotels, stage coaches, public baths, banks, newspapers, etc. An index makes the guide user friendly for the tourist.One of the earliest maps of the city is that of John Speed, published in 1610, which is reproduced at the front of this volume. The map formed part of The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain, published in London in 1610. This gives an idea of the historical shape of the city. The modern map of 1811, folding into the back of the guide, shows the plan of the streets with the main sites marked.This guide allows the historical tourist to wander the streets of Dublin, admiring the many buildings, parks and statues, and experiencing the exhilaration of visiting a distant place: distant in time rather then space. Alternatively download The Picture of Dublin (PDF, 4.48MB) using Adobe Acrobat. Cannot access PDF?View images from The Picture of Dublin for 1811 on flickr

We're delighted to announce that we've digitised the Dublin City Electoral Lists 1908, 1909 and 1910.