BY TONY CANAVAN A forgotten collection of memorabilia was recently unearthed in Derry. Among the items in Frankie McMenamin’s collection is a Dublin Castle arrest warrant for Kevin O’Higgins, the architect of the Irish Free State; a cheque for £11 19s. signed by Terence MacSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike … Read more
OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST FEW MONTHS AN AMAZING NEW DISCOVERY HAS COME TO LIGHT By Rachel Phelan In November 2015, having made contact with Lar Joye at the National Museum, I went to view a flag at the Inniskillings Museum in Enniskillen Castle, which its curator, Neil Armstrong, had found at the bottom … Read more
May 21/1932 Amelia Earhart (34) became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, emulating Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight five years before, having set out from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, some thirteen hours and fifteen minutes earlier. When she landed in Ballyarnett, north of Derry City, Amelia Earhart wasn’t sure what country she was in. … Read more
A REPORT ON THE LATEST DIGITAL RESOURCE FROM ANCESTRY.IE By Joe Cully Great progress has been made in the last few years in the digitisation of historical material and making it available on-line for professional and amateur historians alike. Indeed, it could be said that the digitisation revolution has significantly blurred the line between the … Read more
In the ongoing controversy about Glasnevin Cemetery’s commemorative wall listing the names of all 488 who died in the 1916 Rising, parallels have been drawn with the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington DC and the comfort derived by relatives from the explicit acknowledgement of their fallen kin. But amongst the 58,307 names you will find … Read more