The annual Eighteenth-Century Ireland Conference, convened by Moyra Maslett and hosted by the interdisciplinary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, included over 30 papers from speakers from Ireland and abroad. This year’s conference was notable not only for the usual wealth and diversity of papers but also for the focus on two commemorative … Read more
f On 7–8 June 2007 a group of emerging scholars and established academics from a range of disciplinary backgrounds (history, English, French, Irish) gathered at the University of Limerick to discuss print culture in the eighteenth century. The linchpin of the event was a lecture by the well-known American cultural historian Robert Darnton. The conference … Read more
It all came about as Europe flirted with fascism in the pre-war years. Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, and another fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, had held power in Italy since 1922. In the 1930s both these leaders—together with Salazar in Portugal, Franco in Spain and Petain in France—wielded immense power and influence as continental … Read more
The recent article on Dorothy Macardle (HI 15.3, May/June 2007) mentions other accomplished Irish female historians of the Free State period, including Mary Hayden. She is one whose long and active life deserves to be better known. Like Macardle, she wrote one history book. A short history of the Irish people, published in November 1921 … Read more
The National Portrait Gallery in London is home to many thousands of portraits, photographs and sculptures of the great and the good, as well as those who travelled on the darker side of history. Earlier this year it hosted a small exhibition in the Porter Gallery called Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700–1850. The exhibition … Read more