Sir,—In their letter (HI 26.3, May/June 2018), Andy Bielenberg and John Borgonovo quoted from an article in the May 1922 issue of Poblacht na h-Éireann by Erskine Childers. He denounced strongly what had happened in the previous month at Dunmanway: ‘Sectarian crime is the foulest crime’. They omitted, however, another part of the article where … Read more
BY TONY CANAVAN Plans for the National Museum of Ireland Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, recently launched the National Museum of Ireland’s (NMI) €85m, fifteen-year ‘master vision statement’ with extensive plans for the four museums in its charge. The Natural History Museum (a.k.a. the ‘dead zoo’) will be extended, … Read more
The chevalier brothers-in-law—Thomas O’Gorman, antiquary, genealogist and wine merchant, and Charles-Geneviève d’Éon de Beaumont, transgender diplomat and spy. By Seán O’Halloran The publication of a recently discovered copy of the manuscript of the genealogy of the house of O’Reilly by Clachan Publishing has drawn attention to its compiler, the largely forgotten eighteenth-century antiquary Chevalier Thomas … Read more
Ireland and the history of blasphemy. By David Nash For much of the twentieth century, western governments believed either that blasphemy laws were long-dead fragments of a bygone age or that they simply sat quietly and unnoticed in dust-laden legal volumes away from the public gaze. Events at the end of the twentieth century indicated … Read more
A South Wind Blows production, directed by Nuala O’Connor (in selected Irish cinemas from November 2018) By Conor McNamara An unprecedented popular interest in the history of the Irish Revolution has generated a plethora of documentaries and television series in recent years, kicked off by the uniquely emotive centenary of the 1916 Rising. Keepers of … Read more