UCD Archives
@ucdarchives.bsky.social
We curate private paper collections documenting the modern Irish State; UCD; and many elements of the Franciscan manuscript patrimony. www.ucd.ie/archives
Audrey (Digital Library), Elizabeth (MAARM, UCD School of History), Evelyn (Director Cultural Heritage), Jonny (NFC), Kate (UCDA) & Lorraine (Special Collections) introduced our work to colleagues from Innlandet County Archives, Norway & showed off highlights from our collections. Great afternoon!
November 11, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Audrey (Digital Library), Elizabeth (MAARM, UCD School of History), Evelyn (Director Cultural Heritage), Jonny (NFC), Kate (UCDA) & Lorraine (Special Collections) introduced our work to colleagues from Innlandet County Archives, Norway & showed off highlights from our collections. Great afternoon!
Getting ready to speak about our collections with our colleagues from UCD Special Collections and the National Folklore Collection to visitors from Norway.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Getting ready to speak about our collections with our colleagues from UCD Special Collections and the National Folklore Collection to visitors from Norway.
Padraig Pearse, Irish revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion, was born #OTD 1879.
This studio portrait of Patrick Pearse aged 5 was given to Éamon de Valera in 1967 by Máire and [Madeline] Macken.
This studio portrait of Patrick Pearse aged 5 was given to Éamon de Valera in 1967 by Máire and [Madeline] Macken.
November 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Padraig Pearse, Irish revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion, was born #OTD 1879.
This studio portrait of Patrick Pearse aged 5 was given to Éamon de Valera in 1967 by Máire and [Madeline] Macken.
This studio portrait of Patrick Pearse aged 5 was given to Éamon de Valera in 1967 by Máire and [Madeline] Macken.
Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed Saint John Henry Newman, a Doctor of the Church.
Newman was the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, a predecessor body of University College Dublin.
The CU minute book of 12 November 1851 records Newman's appointment as Rector.
Newman was the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, a predecessor body of University College Dublin.
The CU minute book of 12 November 1851 records Newman's appointment as Rector.
November 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed Saint John Henry Newman, a Doctor of the Church.
Newman was the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, a predecessor body of University College Dublin.
The CU minute book of 12 November 1851 records Newman's appointment as Rector.
Newman was the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, a predecessor body of University College Dublin.
The CU minute book of 12 November 1851 records Newman's appointment as Rector.
Marie encounters her lover's ghost (Seán, killed by the Auxiliaries):
M: ..if ever I had a hero, it was you—you are still my only hero.
S: That's because I'm dead, a leanbh. It wouldn't have lasted otherwise—not in peace-time, not through a civil war.
#halloween #RTERadioScripts
🎃👻
M: ..if ever I had a hero, it was you—you are still my only hero.
S: That's because I'm dead, a leanbh. It wouldn't have lasted otherwise—not in peace-time, not through a civil war.
#halloween #RTERadioScripts
🎃👻
October 31, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Marie encounters her lover's ghost (Seán, killed by the Auxiliaries):
M: ..if ever I had a hero, it was you—you are still my only hero.
S: That's because I'm dead, a leanbh. It wouldn't have lasted otherwise—not in peace-time, not through a civil war.
#halloween #RTERadioScripts
🎃👻
M: ..if ever I had a hero, it was you—you are still my only hero.
S: That's because I'm dead, a leanbh. It wouldn't have lasted otherwise—not in peace-time, not through a civil war.
#halloween #RTERadioScripts
🎃👻
Ezra Pound was b. #OTD 1885. This is his signature from correspondence (1918-1928) with Desmond FitzGerald.
Their letters discuss literary matters and the Censorship Bill, 1928. Pound attacks the Bill as ‘a worse piece of garbage than the US thing it is modelled on…an idiotic and tyrannic measure’.
Their letters discuss literary matters and the Censorship Bill, 1928. Pound attacks the Bill as ‘a worse piece of garbage than the US thing it is modelled on…an idiotic and tyrannic measure’.
October 30, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Ezra Pound was b. #OTD 1885. This is his signature from correspondence (1918-1928) with Desmond FitzGerald.
Their letters discuss literary matters and the Censorship Bill, 1928. Pound attacks the Bill as ‘a worse piece of garbage than the US thing it is modelled on…an idiotic and tyrannic measure’.
Their letters discuss literary matters and the Censorship Bill, 1928. Pound attacks the Bill as ‘a worse piece of garbage than the US thing it is modelled on…an idiotic and tyrannic measure’.
Irish playwright, author and politician, Terence MacSwiney, died #OTD 1920 after 74 days on hungerstrike. Huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral procession.
October 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Irish playwright, author and politician, Terence MacSwiney, died #OTD 1920 after 74 days on hungerstrike. Huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral procession.
Farmer not happy about the introduction of the Daylight Saving Act (Summer Time) 1916: "the farmers will lose with the new time as the fields won’t be dry enough to start at 7...”’
Transcription in ALT text.
Transcription in ALT text.
![Clare O’Rourke, County Monaghan to Bernard O’Rourke imprisoned in Richmond Barracks, [May 1916]:
‘Peter and Pat Carny came in last night at half ten on our clock. Pat is always a later visitor and does not believe at all in the new time—so when we are ready to go to bed Pat strolls in and says it’s only half nine. He thinks “that the farmers will lose with the new time as the fields won’t be dry enough to start at 7...”’.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:haa74v4feowinvczksrdivfj/bafkreiehfc2jrfgz463agdbs4pjm7sslvaoprqkmq6eqce5sb36yuqfpga@jpeg)
October 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Farmer not happy about the introduction of the Daylight Saving Act (Summer Time) 1916: "the farmers will lose with the new time as the fields won’t be dry enough to start at 7...”’
Transcription in ALT text.
Transcription in ALT text.
Eoin MacNeill, professor of early Irish history @ucddublin.bsky.social, revolutionary, politician, Irish language enthusiast, and Gaelic revivalist, d #OTD 1945.
UCDA holds an large collection of his papers, which are available to consult by appt in our reading room.
www.ucd.ie/archives/col...
UCDA holds an large collection of his papers, which are available to consult by appt in our reading room.
www.ucd.ie/archives/col...
October 15, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Eoin MacNeill, professor of early Irish history @ucddublin.bsky.social, revolutionary, politician, Irish language enthusiast, and Gaelic revivalist, d #OTD 1945.
UCDA holds an large collection of his papers, which are available to consult by appt in our reading room.
www.ucd.ie/archives/col...
UCDA holds an large collection of his papers, which are available to consult by appt in our reading room.
www.ucd.ie/archives/col...
![Will that be the end of all my strivings, of all my [theories], of all my ambitions and ideals? Shall no one dear to me ever hear how I fell. Shall no one tell my thoughts? Is immortality a fraud? Ah, no, the flesh, the blood, the thought, the soul rebels against the idea. We do not live for today alone. We are part of the universe and we live as long as it lasts.
On the left hand margin on page 2:
How I strove against fate and suffered and was battered and thwarted but never beaten. How a remorseless destiny pushed me on without realising my cherished hopes & pet desires.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:haa74v4feowinvczksrdivfj/bafkreieqyt4w5etfuz4hentwul6rvmlrmaae73z3p5yzljvgs543mxdi5i@jpeg)
![The hand of dawn is in the eastern sky and now the shells fall thick and fast. Pandemonium is let loose and in anticipation of the day we enter our dugouts where we anchor in a metre of mud. And now the buzz of the telephone is heard. Faces brutalised by fatigue and misery light up a little while the corporal cries out that we are relieved but as I repeat the commandant’s orders on the wire there is an agony of silence. “Preparez-pour-l’assaut-á-midi-cinq” – and the artillery thunders until we can no longer hear our own voices. Death claims another hostage and yet another. The end of the trench has been blown up. The cook who sat there need[s] no gravedigger’s tools to make him a home. Who shall be the next? Who has a cigarette for after as the [] diminishes hope fan the smouldering embers in the next.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:haa74v4feowinvczksrdivfj/bafkreid3jpvacu6jtpgcp67tbgr3ennac6d7xo4l33xwt4y6blfvne5ff4@jpeg)
![The hand of dawn is in the eastern sky and now the shells fall thick and fast. Pandemonium is let loose and in anticipation of the day we enter our dugouts where we anchor in a metre of mud. And now the buzz of the telephone is heard. Faces brutalised by fatigue and misery light up a little while the corporal cries out that we are relieved but as I repeat the commandant’s orders on the wire there is an agony of silence. “Preparez-pour-l’assaut-á-midi-cinq” – and the artillery thunders until we can no longer hear our own voices. Death claims another hostage and yet another. The end of the trench has been blown up. The cook who sat there need[s] no gravedigger’s tools to make him a home. Who shall be the next? Who has a cigarette for after as the [] diminishes hope fan the smouldering embers in the next.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:haa74v4feowinvczksrdivfj/bafkreihyy3l5fyxbq2hqsij4n3c7zjzk4m6pbsv5d23dxfim455d6jlhsu@jpeg)
Irishman and soldier with the French Foreign Legion, Michael MacWhite, writes from the Front #OTD 1916.
Transcription below and in ALT text for each image.
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Transcription below and in ALT text for each image.
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October 11, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Irishman and soldier with the French Foreign Legion, Michael MacWhite, writes from the Front #OTD 1916.
Transcription below and in ALT text for each image.
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Transcription below and in ALT text for each image.
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New signs to help our users find their way to our shared reading room with UCD Special Collections. We look forward to seeing readers old and new!
October 7, 2025 at 12:58 PM
New signs to help our users find their way to our shared reading room with UCD Special Collections. We look forward to seeing readers old and new!
Lots of interesting documents from our collections for Kate's talk to the UCD History Society today...
October 6, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Lots of interesting documents from our collections for Kate's talk to the UCD History Society today...
Éamon de Valera gave his inaugural speech as President of the League of Nations #OTD in 1932.
He's pictured here in Waterloo Station, London, on his way to Geneva.
He's pictured here in Waterloo Station, London, on his way to Geneva.
September 26, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Éamon de Valera gave his inaugural speech as President of the League of Nations #OTD in 1932.
He's pictured here in Waterloo Station, London, on his way to Geneva.
He's pictured here in Waterloo Station, London, on his way to Geneva.
A successful and enjoyable day with colleagues from the Quill Project in a lovely sunny Pembroke College, Oxford.
September 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
A successful and enjoyable day with colleagues from the Quill Project in a lovely sunny Pembroke College, Oxford.
Photograph of the second of two portraits of Kathleen O’Connell by Gaetano de Gennaro.
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September 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Photograph of the second of two portraits of Kathleen O’Connell by Gaetano de Gennaro.
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Photograph of one of two portraits of Kathleen O’Connell by Gaetano de Gennaro.
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September 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Photograph of one of two portraits of Kathleen O’Connell by Gaetano de Gennaro.
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De Valera's reply to Burke-Sheridan: I think it an excellent piece of work. ... The picture does not quite show the Kathleen that I know as co-worker and friend for the twenty-five years that it was intended to commemorate but it is a very good one nonetheless.
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September 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
De Valera's reply to Burke-Sheridan: I think it an excellent piece of work. ... The picture does not quite show the Kathleen that I know as co-worker and friend for the twenty-five years that it was intended to commemorate but it is a very good one nonetheless.
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‘This being a great day for Ireland in more ways than one, I thought the best way to commemorate our dear Kathleen’s part in it was to have her immortalised and so I took advantage of my friendship with Sig[nor de] Gennaro to have this picture painted. ...'
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September 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
‘This being a great day for Ireland in more ways than one, I thought the best way to commemorate our dear Kathleen’s part in it was to have her immortalised and so I took advantage of my friendship with Sig[nor de] Gennaro to have this picture painted. ...'
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Painter Gaetano de Gennaro (1890–1959) lived in Ireland from 1940–c1946. He painted many portraits of well-known Irish people, including soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan (1889–1958). Burke Sheridan to Eamon de Valera (25/6/1944) writes about commissioning Kathleen O’Connell’s portrait.
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September 15, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Painter Gaetano de Gennaro (1890–1959) lived in Ireland from 1940–c1946. He painted many portraits of well-known Irish people, including soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan (1889–1958). Burke Sheridan to Eamon de Valera (25/6/1944) writes about commissioning Kathleen O’Connell’s portrait.
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"...The shelling and machine gun fire was terrible, and the advance had to be made from shell-hole to shell-hole. ... your husband, whilst sheltering ... in a shell-hole, was struck over the heart by a bullet. The only words he said were, “Oh, my God, I am struck”. He died within 10 minutes. ..."
![Tom Kettle, Prof. National Economics, UCD, was killed at Ginchy on the Somme #OTD 1916. Amongst his papers in UCD Archives is a letter from J.A. [Cotter] Royal Munster Fusilier to Mary Kettle, giving an account of Kettle’s death (UCDA LA34/418). #Somme100 #WWI
25 October 1916
Dear Mrs Kettle
I have forwarded your letter to Father Felix Burke, who is the chaplain of the 9/R.D.F. He is on leave at present, and your letter and mine to him should arrive in time to enable him to call on you in Dublin on his return journey. He knew your husband better than I, but naturally we all knew him, and as Irishmen we were all very sorry at his death. He did very well at the Somme. On Wednesday he commanded a platoon, and on Saturday, the 9th Sept. he commanded a Company “B”. Our attack on Ginchy started at 4 p.m. that evening, and your husband led his men over. The shelling and machine gun fire was terrible, and the advance had to be made from shell-hole to shell-hole. About 15 minutes later, your husband, whilst sheltering with a Corporal [Normyle], of his own company, in a shell-hole, was struck over the heart by a bullet. The only words he said were, “Oh, my God, I am struck”. He died within 10 minutes. An officer, Mr. Boyd, who took possession of his papers, was killed a few minutes later. Your husband was buried on the spot where he fell.
Fr. Burk can furnish you with many details of your husband which I know nothing of. I have given you the exact account of his death because I know you would like to know it. Corporal Normyle 9/R.D.F., “B” Company is my authority.
With deepest sympathy
I remain
Sincerely yours
J.A. [Cotter] C.F.
1/ Royal Munster Fusrs](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:haa74v4feowinvczksrdivfj/bafkreihvdbaytulhj7f32aujuvrjedfjpgrnlukpybfpslidyf5m4vccli@jpeg)
September 10, 2025 at 11:37 AM
"...The shelling and machine gun fire was terrible, and the advance had to be made from shell-hole to shell-hole. ... your husband, whilst sheltering ... in a shell-hole, was struck over the heart by a bullet. The only words he said were, “Oh, my God, I am struck”. He died within 10 minutes. ..."