Dublin City Libraries will be closed from Saturday 3 to Monday 5 May 2025 (inclusive). Our online services will continue as usual. We will reopen on Tuesday, 6 May.
The Orchestra of St Cecilia Collection includes concert programmes, posters, flyers, correspondence, programme notes, recordings, soloists and conductor’ biographies and administrative documents. Access to the collection provides unparalleled insight into the processes involved in professional orchestra and event management from the turn of the twenty-first century through recession times in Dublin. Find out more and view some items from the Orchestra of St Cecilia Collection...Dublin City Library and Archive.
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.
During Heritage Week we were fortunate to host award winning writer Cecil Allen's entertaining talk about the colourful history of The Queen's Theatre.
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!
1 July 2016 marks the centenary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme which lasted until November 1916. Over a million soldiers from both sides were killed during the carnage, which included over 3,500 Irish soldiers fighting for the Allies in World War 1.Image: Detail from DCLA/RDFA1.09.047A, photo of soldiers marching across war-torn area of the trenches & battlefield. Caption: "War 1914-15-16... in the Somme French Offensive Relieving the trenches at Dompierre" (see larger image).The Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive held at Dublin City Library and Archive, includes the personal papers of various Irish soldiers who experienced the Battle of the Somme and all of its horrors. An exhibition based on these resources will be launched in our Dublin Room exhibition space in October 2016. Here's a sample of some of the remarkable stories that can be researched at Dublin City Library and Archive:Frank Gunning survived the Gallipoli Campaign 1915, despite being hospitalised for dysentery. He then transferred to the 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers where he was second lieutenant. In June 1916, Frank was sent to France, and wrote home to say:“Well, here I am in the thick of it – and talk about Suvla Bay – why this is a thousand times worse. The noise would put you astray in the head. Pray for us all dear, really it is an awful spot”He was killed during the Battle of the Somme and his body was never recovered.J. P. Flanagan fought on the 1st day of the Battle of the Somme. He was badly wounded and his left arm subsequently had to be amputated. Unable to return to active service, Flanagan was discharged and awarded a Silver badge to be worn on his civilian clothes to highlight that he had been wounded in service.Edward Brierley served with the 8th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and survived the entire Somme campaign. He received three awards than three certificates for bravery in the field, as well as the Military Medal, bestowed by the British Army for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire.Photo: RDFA/09/27 Edward Brierley seated, in uniformThe RDFA/ Monica Roberts Collection includes letters to Monica Roberts from Irish soldiers, depicting their first hand experiences of life in the trenches on the Western Front. Because of censorship, the soldiers do not always refer directly to the Somme. However our collection stored on Digital Repository Ireland, which contains digital images and transcription of letters, has both “keyword” and “browse by date” search functionality. By comparing the database with a soldier's World War I service records available from the Ancestery.com Database in our Reading Room, it is possible to identify soldiers which are serving along the Somme battle lines.George Soper is one such individual. His letter from 28 October 1916 vividly describes the battle landscape from ‘the hottest spot in France’‘we captured the German position But my God we had some fighting to do we used nothing else only bombs and bayonets. It was proper hand to hand fighting but thank God we came out alright. I never saw this country in such a state. The ground is absolutely ploughed up you could not walk for more than 3 yards without falling into a shell hole and it is next door to impossible to get up there in the night time. We are up at present in one of the hottest spots in France. The guns are about 1 foot apart from each other. I never saw such a number of guns in all my life’ [RDFA.01.04.11] Images from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive relating to the Battle of the SommeView images on flickr.
Dublin City Council holds an original 1916 Proclamation which belonged to Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell and was kindly donated by her family. This Proclamation has been conserved and is now on display in The Story of the Capital exhibition at City Hall. To commemorate the family’s generosity, Dublin City Council held a seminar in the Council Chamber at City Hall on Monday 25 April 2016.
The archives of Kevin Street Library were accessioned by Dublin City Library and Archive in 2012. It is an important collection for exploring the history of Dublin Public Libraries, Cumann na Leabharlann, and also includes materials relating to the 1916 Rising and the Emergency Period in Ireland. The collection has recently been catalogued, with part-funding provided by Dublin City Council Decade of Commemoration Fund. The Kevin Street Library archives can now be accessed by members of the public in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library and Archive.Kevin Street Library ArchiveOpened in 1904, Kevin Street Library was built after Dublin Corporation was encouraged to buy a plot of land on the street. With John Whelan as its first chief librarian, it is an example of the trend to provide free access to books to the citizens of the city. This collection contains material on a schools scheme, which provided free books to schoolchildren and material from the Dublin Technical Schools, both showing how the libraries resources were used to provide better access to reading materials for the citizens of Dublin. The library also subscribed to magazines which covered many different areas of interest from motors, travel and economics as well as Irish interests with Irish Monthly and An T-Oglach available to read. What the collection also tells us is the difficulties that the library encountered in its early years. Railway strikes meant that coal could not be delivered to heat the library. The outbreak of the First World War meant a reduction in reading material due to paper shortages. The library had to adapt to different functions due to outside factors including displaying pamphlets sent from London which encouraged men to join the war in Europe. The Soldiers and Sailors Family Association also had weekly meetings in the library throughout the duration of the conflict. The Irish Civil War also forced the library to adapt a new role when it was asked to be an aid dispensary due to the Peter Street Dispensary being occupied by soldiers. While providing us with an insight to the running of a public library in the early twentieth century, this collection also offers an insight into how the difficult political landscape at the time affected the library and the people who used it.Easter RisingWhile most of the Easter Rising material in this collection is made up of letters sent by members of the public, explaining how the rising prevented them from returning books they loaned, they give an insight into how the rising affected people's routines and lives. A letter from a Mr T.L. Townshend for example, asks the library to reprieve a woman of paying a fine for a late book due to the book being destroyed along with her house during the conflict. Another letter from a former employee of the library was written to notify the library of the death of her husband, who was killed in the Custom House during the events. A letter sent by Eamon O’Duibhir is of significance as it was sent from Reading Prison, a prison that was used to hold many who took part in the rising. The letter mentions that Henry Dixon was also imprisoned there. Dixon along with John Whelan was central to the foundation of Cumann na Leabharlann, the Irish Library Association. Dixon had been a campaigner for Irish industry and culture from the 1880s onwards and was involved in many republican organisations set up to preserve Irish traditions.Cumann na LeabharlannCumann na Leabharlann, or the Irish Library Association in English, was established in 1904 The collection contains the constitution and rules of the association, of which the first objective was to promote the establishment of public libraries and reading rooms. Thomas W. Lyster, who was Vice President of the association and also Director of the National Library of Ireland, originally voiced his concerns in a letter from February 1900 that the time wasn’t right for such an association to be set up but that he strongly believed that such an association should be set up eventually and recommended that the constitutions of the American Library Association and the Library Association of the UK be looked at as templates for the proposed constitution for the Irish Library Association. Lyster is later named as being a Vice-President of Cumann na Leabharlann. A letter written by author John DeCourcy MacDonnell is also included in the collection where he voices his approval of such an association being set up. With the Public Libraries (Ireland) Act of 1902 allowing rural districts to set up public libraries, Cumann na Leabharlann played an important role in making this happen. Letters from around Ireland are included in the collection that highlight the difficulties but also the successes of setting up these public libraries across the country. An Leabharlann, which was the association’s journal was also central to the aims of the association with a cover of the first edition included in the collection. View a small sample of documents from the Kevin Street Library Collection on flickr. The FutureDublin City Public Libraries announced in 2013 the commencement of works to refurbish Kevin Street Library. As highlighted through the archives, Library services have seen enormous change over the years. Kevin Street Library is in need of refurbishment works to accommodate the requirements of a public library beyond those envisaged when the building first opened in 1904. View more information about Kevin Street Library refurbishment project.About Guest bloggerKevin Healion is an archivist with Eneclann.
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, St John Ambulance and 1916
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.
