BY DONAL FALLON
VIRTUAL TREASURY OF IRELAND EXPANDS
Ernie O’Malley’s description of the explosion that shook the Public Records Office at the outset of the Civil War is well known, describing how ‘the yard was littered with chunks of masonry and smouldering records; pieces of white paper were gyrating in the upper air like seagulls’. Yet while so much was lost, the impressive Virtual Treasury of Ireland project reminds us of just what survived. It is an open-access initiative, bringing together archives from across the island of Ireland and beyond, and 194,000 new documents have just been added to the site. Launched in 2022 (marking the centenary of the above-mentioned explosion), the site has gone from strength to strength. See www.virtualtreasury.ie.
NEW CORK BURIAL RECORDS ONLINE
As Irish Heritage News report, the excellent Skibbereen Heritage Centre has added 26 North Cork cemeteries to their online graveyard database. This is a fantastic, user-friendly resource for anyone researching genealogy in Cork, with burial records for cemeteries including Mourneabbey, Kilcummer and Ballinakill now freely accessible online. An interactive map shows each graveyard included in the project, and some entries even list the occupations of the dead. See www.irishheritagenews.ie/110000-cork-burial-records-searchable-online-for-free/.
IRISH MILITARY WAR MUSEUM TO CLOSE
Sad news of the forthcoming loss of the Irish Military War Museum at Starinagh, Co. Meath, which announced that it will be closing permanently at the end of the year. With particular emphasis on the First and Second World Wars, the museum includes an extraordinary array of weaponry, uniforms and military vehicles. William Sullivan, the driving force behind the museum, told the Meath Chronicle that rising operating costs have made maintaining it an impossibility, and an online petition has called for the state to consider purchasing the museum.
NEW PLAQUE IN THE MONTO
The North Inner-City Folklore Project continues to leave its mark on the local landscape, thanks to the Trojan efforts of local historian Terry Fagan and his team. A new plaque has been unveiled on the rear entrance of Cleary’s public house (which appears as the Signal House in Ulysses). The plaque commemorates the involvement of the Monto district in the revolutionary period. In his statement to the Bureau of Military History, Dan Breen recalled how ‘The lady prostitutes used to pinch the guns and ammunition from the Auxiliaries or Tans at night, and then leave them for us at Phil Shanahan’s public house. I might add that there was no such thing as payment for these transactions, and any information they had they gave us.’
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS SPECIAL EDITION
Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels first appeared in 1726 (see pp 16–19), becoming the most influential work penned by an Irish author. To mark this landmark anniversary, Lilliput Press has announced a special anniversary edition, a subscriber-funded volume, including an introduction from Swift expert Brendan Twomey and a numbered print from the artist P.J. Lynch. The press notes that ‘the Lilliput Press was itself founded in honour of Jonathan Swift in 1984. Its commemorative edition celebrates this foundation stone of Anglo-Irish literature and marks the tricentenary of the first publication of Gulliver’s Travels in 1726, bringing it home to Dublin, its place of origin.’ Famously, Lilliput published the first Dublin edition of Ulysses, and this also promises to be a handsome volume.
‘BELFAST THROUGH BOOKS’ TOUR LAUNCHES
A new walking tour from broadcaster and writer Stephen Douds explores Belfast city centre through its literary history, identifying a clear gap in the market there. While Belfast is world-famous as a UNESCO City of Music and several tours explore all from Van Morrison to contemporary traditional music, Douds’s tour shines a light on the city’s literary past. Explored lives include those of the poet Stewart Parker, C.S. Lewis and contemporary writers. See www.belfastthroughbooks.com.