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Interested in local history and heritage? Looking for an evening course you can take even in the current pandemic? The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies will be offered by Dublin City Library and Archive, on Tuesday evenings from September 2020 until April 2021. Because of restrictions around COVID-19, the course will be taught online until Christmas using Zoom. If the situation permits, the course will be taught to the class in person at DCLA from January-April 2021.The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies is for those of us who want to learn more about researching local history and who would like to prepare a dissertation. The Course Tutor will be Dr. Seamas Ó Maitiú. Seamas holds an MA in Local History and has a Ph.D. for his thesis on the development of the Dublin suburbs in the 19th century.The course consists of 70 hours part time and will equip participants with skills in researching local history and in the preparation of a dissertation. The closing date for course applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday September 4th, 2020.Dublin City Council offers two Bursaries for candidates taking the Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies, and closing date for bursary applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 21 August 2020. The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local History Bursary Information (PDF, please download and print). Full brochure here (PDF)Contact us at [email protected] if you require any further information.

The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History will be offered by Dublin City Council, on Monday evenings from September 2020 until April 2021. The course consists of 70 hours part time and will equip participants with skills in the preparation and conduct of oral history projects, including best practice in the collection and archiving of oral history interviews.Please note that the course will be delivered online until Christmas 2020 and if the situation with COVID-19 has improved, it will then be delivered on a face-to-face basis at Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 (see brochure).The closing date for course applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 4 September 2020. Dublin City Council offers two Bursaries for candidates taking the Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History, and closing date for bursary applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 28 August 2020 (see Bursary application form).Contact us at [email protected] if you require any further information.

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdown which has come with it, is an historic moment in the life of our city. As a result, Dublin City Library and Archive are eager to collect material that documents the experience of our city and those that reside within it.We know our city is made up of many people, having many different experiences at this time, and everyone’s experience is valid, so if you’re happy to share it, please do!In gathering material relating to a cross section of Dublin society at this time, we can ensure that our archive represents a true picture of how our city and its people fared during the pandemic.There are many ways that you can contribute to this collection of material- you can write us a letter or a postcard, or send us an email. You can send us any photographs or pictures that you feel represent your experience of the pandemic or lockdown. You can send us an account of a day in your life at the moment, and tell us how things have changed. Or, if you have any other unique, contemporaneous records or items that you believe are relevant to how our city responded to Covid-19, please do get in touch with us about donating them. We would ask you to fill out a short online donation form and to submit this with your donations. You can find it below.  This will allow us to record the provenance of the material, and to contact you with any queries.Once we have received this material we will review it, and records which are accessioned will be preserved and stored in our archive strong rooms. When material has been fully catalogued, it will be made available to the public for consultation in the Dublin City Library and Archive Reading Room, where doing so would be in-keeping with data protection regulations. A closure period of 100 years will be applied to any records containing personal data. Intellectual copyright will rest with the creator. The terms of the Copyright and Related Acts (2000) will apply allowing DCLA to provide photocopies of material for research purposes only. Researchers wishing to publish will be obliged to write to the donor for permission to do so.If you’re interested in taking a look at some of the other momentous events in history documented through our collections at Dublin City Library and Archives, why not take a look at our North Strand Bombing collections.  

In 1918, news started to filter through of a ‘mystery malady’, a ‘mysterious war disease’. It appeared to originate in Spain as it was first widely reported there, hence the name it has been called ever since, the Spanish Flu. Although, first reported in Spain, the disease probably originated in a different location. Regardless of its origin, the flu wreaked havoc across the globe, claiming the lives of at least 40 million people from 1918 to 1920. The true figure will never be known. It is estimated that one fifth of the world’s population caught the flu.The flu started to make its way to Ireland by the early summer of 1918. On 10 June, an ‘unusual outbreak of illness’ was reported in Belfast, mostly amongst soldiers and female factory workers. By the end of June, 200 cases were reported in Dublin, 60 children in one convent alone, 40 workers in a factory.The flu was described by some in Dublin as a plague by early July. Death numbers were started to filter through, 2 in Dublin, 5 or 6 in Lurgan, 100 in Belfast. There were numerous deaths in Derry. Several people were falling on the streets in Cork. The flu came in two forms, one a mild type of illness, the second more severe. Dying patients sometimes had temperatures as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit, became unconscious and twitched frequently. They usually died between the sixth and eleventh days of the disease.From the middle of July, the first wave of the flu started to recede. When the second wave struck in October 1918, it was clear to most that the country was in the grips of a severe flu pandemic. Like the first wave, Leinster and Ulster were the areas most affected by the second wave. The second wave was far more destructive than the first. There were many reports of unimaginable horrors inflicted on whole families.There was a case of a man in Clontarf returning home after burying his two sons to find his wife dead too. In Enniscorthy in Wexford, 3 young children from the one family died on the same day. Schools in Dublin city and suburbs were severely affected and were closed down. Absenteeism was rife in businesses. October and November of 1918 saw a paralysis in trade.The second wave, the deadliest of the three waves, dissipated in most places in Ireland by the end of November. The third wave came in February 1919. In Gloucester Prison, Pierce McCan, 35 years-of-age, newly-elected TD for Tipperary East died from the flu on 6 March. There was very little consensus within the medical profession on what was the most effective treatment for the flu. A mixture of whiskey and hot water with sugar was the most widely available. Non-prescription medicines were in high demand as people self-medicated during the pandemic. Hugh quantities of tonics, cough medicines and poultices were sold by pharmacies. Bovril and other beef teas like Oxo were very popular too. Despite all the tonics promoted and sold, bed rest and nursing were still considered the best way of beating the flu.By the end of Spring 1919, the flu finally ran its brutal course in Ireland. It had caused huge devastation throughout the country. An official figure of 20,057 deaths were recorded as being caused by flu during the three waves, although this is likely to be a conservative figure. There were also a lot more deaths from pneumonia, an excess figure of 3,231 deaths from pneumonia in 1918 and 1919 which also can be attributed to the Influenza Pandemic giving a figure of at least 23,288 deaths directly related to the epidemic.Assuming the same for Ireland as the worldwide trend of a 2.5 per cent fatality rate, an approximate number of 800,000 Irish people caught the illness, about one fifth of the population. Taking excess pneumonia deaths into account, the figure was 900,000 people.Mortality in Ireland, like elsewhere, peaked in the mid-life period, between the ages of 25 and 34. There was a surprisingly strong correlation between the social classes of those who died, it was a socially neutral disease. It was more job-dependent than class-dependent. Those who worked with the public were more likely to catch and, therefore, die from the flu. The influenza pandemic, ultimately, left behind a trail of destruction in Ireland, affecting everyone in every county from all classes and creeds.Blog post by: Cormac Moore, Historian.

The Dublin and Irish Local Studies Collection is holding its 16th Local History Society Day on Saturday 21st March 2020. The event is being held in the Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street. This year's the event will run from 10.00am to 1.30pm. Four to five presentations will be hosted on the day. Any speakers who cannot be facilitated on the day will be invited to speak at the next Local History Society Day.The members of your group are invited to participate in Local History Society Day in the following ways:   By sending members to attend the event as delegates. Download forms here and email [email protected] or Tel: (01) 6744999   By putting forward a speaker from the group to present a paper on the day. Three to four speakers will talk on the day, each one presenting a short paper no longer than 35 minutes.   Proposals for a speaker and subject can be submitted on the forms above. Topics may include studies of local individuals, events or places, or any topic with a local history/heritage aspect. Proposals must be submitted by the 25th February 2020.If your group participated in Local History Society Day last year, we look forward to seeing you again, and if not, we hope you will take this opportunity to become involved. If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected] or Tel: (01) 6744999.As Secretaries and Chairpersons can change over time we would be very grateful if you could confirm that the details we have for your society are correct and up to date and would amend any details as required.Please follow the link to find details of the upcoming schedule for March 2020.   

John McGahern’s Dublin: the 23rd Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture will take place on Thursday 23rd January 2020 at 6pm.The lecture will be presented by Professor Frank Shovlin, University of Liverpool, at Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2,John McGahern is often thought of as Ireland's quintessential chronicler of rural life, a writer who, through his Leitrim and Roscommon roots, helped to represent the delicate facets of the countryside more accurately than any writer since Patrick Kavanagh.From Howth of The Leavetaking, to Drumcondra and Contarf of The Pornographer or the city centre pubs of High Ground, he lovingly recreated the city he knew, first as a student teacher and in later years as a mature writer. The lecture will examine moments from the published fiction as well as considering an extensive unpublished correspondence that allows us access to McGahern's social networks and his motivations and preoccupations as he develops into one of the greatest writers of fiction in the post-war era.Reception to follow. No Booking Required. Come early to ensure a place. Further information: 01 674 4999 or [email protected] or [email protected]  

In June 1963, the collapse of tenements at Bolton Street and Fenian Street led to the deaths of four people. On Sunday, 2nd June 1963, the collapse of 20 Bolton Street led to the death of Leo and Mary Maples, an elderly couple who were residents of the building.This was followed by the collapse of tenements at 2a, 3, and 4 Fenian Street on the 12th June 1963 which resulted in the deaths of Linda Byrne and Marion Vardy, both of whom were young girls who lived locally and happened to be passing the building at the time the collapse took place. These tragedies led to a Local Inquiry in Dublin City Hall. The Law Department of Dublin City Council transferred their records from the inquiry to Dublin City Archives for preservation and storage. A copy of the report into the Local Inquiry is available in the Minutes of the Muncipal Council of the City of Dublin in the Reading Room upstairs in the reading room in Pearse Street Library. Dublin City Archives are currently digitising photos pertaining to the collapses of tenements at Bolton Street and Fenian Street for publication. Of our two featured photos, the first one is of Bolton Street and the second is of Fenian Street.

The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History will be offered at Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, D2 on Monday evenings from September 2019 until April 2020.The course consists of 70 hours part time and will equip participants with skills in the preparation and conduct of oral history projects, including best practice in the collection and archiving of oral history interviews. The closing date for course applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 30 August 2019. Dublin City Council offers two Bursaries for candidates taking the Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History, and closing date for bursary applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 23 August 2019. Printed course brochure.The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Oral History Bursary Information (PDF, please download and print). 

The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies will be offered at Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, D2 on Tuesday evenings from September 2019 until end March 2020.The course consists of 100 hours part time and will equip participants with skills in researching local history and in the preparation of a dissertation. The closing date for course applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 30 August 2019. Dublin City Council offers two Bursaries for candidates taking the Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies, and closing date for bursary applications is 5.00 p.m. on Friday 23 August 2019.  For printed course brochure please email [email protected] Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies Brochure/Application Form. (PDF, please download and print)The Lord Mayor’s Certificate in Local Studies Bursary Information. (PDF, please download and print)

Britain faced similar issues ruling Ireland and India: both had to be held to maintain British international credibility and independence movements in both were driven in large part by religion. Irish nationalists drew parallels between their own struggle and that in India, particularly the brutality of colonialism. The above below, from the satirical newspaper, The Lepracaun, compares British rule in the two countries: executions and burning of homesteads in Ireland, while India saw the brutal practice of execution by cannon, particularly associated with the British suppression of the rebellion of 1857. The cartoon is pointing out the dark side of British rule: the ‘Upas Tree’ of the title refers to a highly poisonous tree common to Asia, while the figure of John Bull piously reading the common book of prayer while surrounded by bones, death and destruction is an unsubtle reference to the hypocrisy of evangelical imperialism. History Document of the MonthEvery month the Dublin City Council Historians in Residence will be highlighting a document from Dublin City Public Libraries and Archives Digital Repository.  An image of the selected document will be on display in branch libraries during the month.Historians in Residence are available to meet groups and schools, give talks, walks etc, run history book clubs and advise on historical research.