Digital Collections

This gallery consists of images of children going about their business in Dublin from the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day. It shows how Dublin’s childer and chislers filled their days from visits to the beach to dossing on street corners. It also shows the engagement of children in civic initiatives: the Junior Litter Wardens of Cabra and Ballymun, Community Pride events, Summer Projects, and the Community Games. Read more about images of childhood in Dublin and other resources from Dublin City Public Libraries.... | Copyright Notice.

This series of photographs is taken from the report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the housing conditions of the working classes of Dublin. The pictures give great insight into the miserable life in the overcrowded and poverty-stricken tenements and courts of Dublin in 1913. Read more about 'Derelict Dublin: Images of the City from 1913'. | Copyright Notice.

James Joyce's Dubliners (1914) presents a raw and uncompromising portrait of his native city in a book he described as 'my nicely polished looking glass'. These images from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collection show how Dublin as it was over fifty years later. They illustrate how the city had changed and yet, in some respects, stayed the same. The churches, streets, and pubs through which Joyce's characters roamed and schemed remained as central to Dublin life in the middle of the twentieth century as at the beginning. Read more about the Dublin and Dubliners image gallery and other resources from Dublin City Public Libraries... | Copyright Notice.

This gallery consists of images of Dublin street furniture, sculptures and statues. The photographs are from the Photographing Dublin Collection, a collection of circa 900 photographs all taken by Dublin City Public Libraries staff during 2006. Read more about Dublin in the Detail | Copyright Notice

This gallery consists of images of shops, stalls, and markets from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collection. A few of these are still open for business but most have closed their doors. It is hoped that these images will serve as memory triggers for any Dubliner who was ever ‘sent out for the messages’. Read more about Dublin shops and shopping... | Copyright Notice.

This image gallery is composed of images taken from "Dublin After The Six Days’ Insurrection" (Dublin: Mecredy, Percy & Co., Ltd, 1916). The photos were taken by T.W. Murphy (also known as “The O’Tatur”), the sub-editor of The Motor News. Read more about 'Eyewitness 1916: Images From 'Dublin After The Six Days' Insurrection' | Copyright Notice.

Like many major cities, Dublin has a strong association with food. From Molly Malone's 'cockles and mussels' to coddle - surely Dublin's signature dish - to the perennial Friday treat of 'one and one' (or fish and chips). This gallery celebrates some of the city's eatin' houses. Read 'Get Stuffed: Dublin's Eatin' Houses' | Copyright Notice.

The Gloucester Diamond got its name from the diamond-shaped intersection at Gloucester Place and Sean Macdermott Street. Colloquially, ‘The Diamond’ refers not just to Gloucester Place, but the entire area surrounding it.the photographs in this gallery show the places that made up the fabric of the community around the Gloucester Diamond from the late sixties to the eighties. The images are ordered as a walked route, beginning at the Twenty-Seven Steps and continuing in a circuit all around the Diamond, finally closing at the Diamond Park. Included are photographs of houses, shops, pubs, pawnshops, schools and local landmarks. As the recent past constitutes an equally important part of its history, the gallery also includes contemporary images.Read more about Heart of Dublin: Gloucester Diamond. | Copyright

The Digital Projects Section of Dublin City Public Libraries presented a series of events at public libraries during May 2011 as part of the Bealtaine Festival. Members of the public were invited to share their memories of the City through a selection of images from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collection. The images prompted much debate and craic among the participants and are presented here online so that all members of the public can take a ‘stroll down Memory Lane’. Sincere thanks to all who participated! Further information about Memory Lane. Copyright notice.

Dublin is a city of churches, chapels, and meeting houses. This image gallery depicts some of them. Some remain, some have changed use, and some have vanished but all live on in our collective memory. Read more about Religious Buildings in Dublin and other resources from Dublin City Public Libraries... | Copyright Notice.

Strumpet City is one of the great Dublin novels. Focusing on the 1913 Lock-Out, its panoramic scope extends from the docks and slums of inner-city Dublin to the bourgeois domiciles of Kingstown. These images from the Dublin City Council Photographic Collection show the city as it was over fifty years later. Although the harrowing conditions Plunkett wrote about had largely vanished, the ‘glorified kip of a city’ he described remained recognisable throughout the twentieth century.Read more about Strumpet City. | Copyright.

On 26 May 1974 Dublin played Wexford in the first round of the Leinster Championship as the undercard to the replay of the National League Final between Kerry and Roscommon. The quality of some of the football was such that the Kerry and Roscommon fans started laughing in the Hogan Stand. Five months later the Dublin Captain Sean Doherty lifted the Sam Maguire. The Dubs had arrived and forever changed Gaelic Football. Read more about the Dubs in the 1970s... | Copyright Notice.

Labre Park was the first site built specifically for Travellers by a Local Authority in Ireland. It was opened in September 1967 at a cost of £50,000 and consisted of 39 concrete 'tigíns' in a row off Kylemore Road. Each 'tigín' was composed of a living room with a stove, a lavatory, and a place to wash. Residents of Labre Park slept in their caravans which were parked beside or behind each 'tigín'. Rents at Labre Park ranged from ten to thirty shillings per week. Read more about the Labre Park image gallery and other resources from Dublin City Public Libraries... | Copyright Notice.