archives

Dublin Digital Day Event, Grafton Street, Friday, 8th March.

Create a digital memory, using your old photographs, on Digital Dublin Day, Friday 8th March. 

Do you have some old photographs of Dublin or Dubliners lying around at home? Perhaps a snapshot of friends meeting under Clery's Clock? Or photographs that show Dublin shops, pubs or other buildings in the background? Read more »

“Re-Framing Disability”, a major exhibition on loan from the Royal College of Physicians, London, is currently on display at Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 until 28 September 2012.

The exhibition consists of a series 17th-19th century portraits of disabled individuals. Some of the images are self-portraits such as one of artist Matthew Buchinger (see image right) . Others featured include the first Siamese twins ‘Chang and Eng Bunker’ (1811-74), an image of the ‘giant’ Chang Yu Sing (1847-93), a print of John Boby who had  vitiligo (skin disorder) titled ‘the wonderful spotted Indian’, and several portraits of parasitic twins.

Right: Self-portrait by disabled artist Matthew Buchinger (b. 1647). Image Copyright Royal College of Physicians, London Read more »

A very important and fascinating book was published this year, "Where Were You? Dublin Youth Culture & Street Style 1950-2000" by Garry O'Neil and Niall McCormack.

The book is a compilation of photographs documenting social and fashion scenes in Dublin. What sets this book apart is that there are no staged fashion shoots or celebrities, just amazing photographs of everyday people wearing what was in style and ordinary people with extraordinary style.

It's a very intimate account of street culture in Dublin. This feeling of intimacy is directly linked to the way in which the material was sourced. Posters were hung up in cafes, bars and shops around the city asking people to send in photos, rather then all the material being collected in newspaper archives. Read more »

Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive attracts in excess of 3 million visitors through its doors each year, as well as catering for over 0.75 million online visits. These visits, including the virtual, result in access and use of a whole range of resources and services. Here we would like to draw your attention to one such online resource provided courtesy of your library service, namely dublinheritage.ie.

dublinheritage.ie was initially set up to provide access to a large number of parish records, namely the databases of baptisms, marriages and burials for Dublin parishes. These records have since been incorporated into the Irish Genealogy website and form a significant portion of the total records available on that website.

  Read more »

In a small village in County Kerry called Annascaul, there is a pub called "The South Pole Inn". It is an unusual name for a pub found in a small village in Ireland, thousands of miles away from the Antarctic. But the pub has direct links to Tom Crean, the man who originally owned it.

An unsung hero, Tom Crean - Antarctic survivor by Michael Smith

Tom Crean was born on 20th July 1877, near Annascaul. He was one of ten children. Times would have been hard on the farm and Tom Crean officially enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1893. He had not yet celebrated his sixteenth birthday. Read more »

JSTOR is a comprehensive online resource that spans a variety of topics. Access to The Ireland Collection – JSTOR can be accessed at Dublin City Public Libraries free of charge. The Ireland Collection is an interdisciplinary collection of journals and other materials. The Collection contains titles and resources across the arts, humanities, and sciences in disciplines such as music, art, history, literature, archaeology, mathematics, and biology. Materials span from the 1780s to the present.

Find out more about this and other research materials available at Dublin City Public Libraries.  Read more »