Nick Maxwell Powerscourt House, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow www.taraspalace.ie By Denis Casey Formerly situated at Malahide Castle and now located in three of the upper rooms of Powerscourt House, Enniskerry, Tara’s Palace and Museum of Childhood is a small attraction dedicated to both children and adults that houses a 25-room miniature doll’s palace and a collection of toys … Read more
The Starry Plough flag has been in the possession of the National Museum (NMI) since 1956 and has recently been conserved in commemoration of the centenaries of the foundation of the Labour Party (1912), the Dublin Lockout (1913) and the Easter Rising (1916). Funding was provided by individual contributions from members of the Labour Party. … Read more
Blinder Films TG4, 17 and 24 September and 1 October BBC1, 17 September RTÉ1, 18 September By John Gibney What is mental illness? To ask that question implies the existence of mental health, an intriguing definition of which was provided by Jim Lucey early in the first episode of Ar intinn eile: ‘the successful integration … Read more
One of the main social functions of picture postcards was to facilitate communication, a sort of Edwardian Facebook or Twitter. We tend to think of postcards now as mainly sent by holidaymakers, but in the early twentieth century they were also used to send birthday, congratulatory, Christmas and other greetings. The importance of postcards as … Read more
Between 1895 and 1920 the purchasing, sending and collecting of picture postcards became a craze, in Ireland as elsewhere. About 200–300 billion of them are thought to have circulated worldwide during this period, and postcard production became a big international business that appealed to entrepreneurs everywhere, employing huge numbers of people. The first plain postcard … Read more