March 2021
 March 2021 News and updates on the programme of commemorations relating to the events in Irish history that took place between 1912 and 1923. If you would like to inform us of any suitable material for future newsletters – anything related to the Decade of Centenaries – please feel free to email [email protected]. 1. Events with application/registration deadlines TODAY Monday 8th @ 12pm Two talks on Women in History to celebrate International Women’s Day ‘From Suffrage to Self Rule’ The campaign for women to win the right to vote was long and hard fought. In Ireland the fight for personal freedom was connected to our fight for national freedom. Historian and Liberties local Liz Gillis will discuss how women in Ireland fought for and won the right to vote amid war and revolution. ‘Bidding Her Goodbye and Wishing Her Luck’ The events of the Irish Revolution shaped the nation we live in. Dublin City Council Historian in Residence Cathy Scuffil presents the stories of women of The Liberties and nearby areas during this time, their contribution to national and international history and how they influence our lives, even today. REGISTER HERE Artist-in-ResidenceProgramme Minister Martin announces new Artist-in-ResidenceProgramme as part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme Minister Catherine Martin T.D. has announced a new Artist-in-Residence scheme to create new works to encourage public engagement with the Decade of Centenaries and institutions.Artists will be invited to reflect on the rich collections held by our institutions and other bodies and create innovative pieces in order to reach new audiences. The programme is in partnership with the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), the National Library of Ireland (NLI), the National Archives (NAI), the Beyond 2022 Project and the Military Archives as part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2021-2023. The closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Friday 19/03/2021 This collaboration with the five hosts will culminate in imaginative work and new audiences for the vast array of collections held by our National Cultural Institutions and other bodies. The duration of each residency will be specific to the host Institution and a fee of up to €20k is available per residency (with both the NMI and NAI proposing a two year residency with a fee of €40k over two years proposed). Announcing the new funding scheme, Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Minister Catherine Martin T.D. said: “As we embark on the final, most challenging phase of the Decade of Centenaries, new programmes such as this can serve to bring some of our rich primary source material into the public domain in engaging and imaginative ways. Artistic and creative endeavours will have an important role in encouraging reflection, exploration and debate during the remainder of the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023, allowing people of all traditions to question and consider issues which may be challenging and difficult”. The focus for 2021 is on five Institutions that hold and/or present material with a direct connection to the period and to bring those historical collections, documents etc. to new audiences. The Programme hopes to explore original ways to engagewith this part of our history and support authentic historical enquiry about this period as well as promote the use of archival resources. It also aims to support artists and highlight the importance of artistic enquiry in the Decade of Centenaries Programme. Each of the five partner Institutions in the Programme will engage an artist selected from a specific discipline or a range of artistic disciplines (depending on the bespoke requirements/emphasis of that body) to reflect on particular collections identified bythe Institution and a theme or themes falling under the scope of the Decade of Centenaries. Minister Martin continued: “I would encourage artists of all disciplines to apply for this Programme. We hope this Artist-in-Residence Programme will lead to the development of unique and original work which will attract new and existing audiences to our precious national collections; it also provides contemporary creative arts practitioners with an opportunity to develop their creative practice in the interdisciplinary environment of these Institutions.” The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is providing funding of €125,000 in 2021 to the Artist-in-Residence Programme as part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme. Each participating Institution will select their own artist-in-residence based on shared criteria and based on the themes of the Decade of Centenaries. Some Institutions have specified the type of artist they wish to work with and others are open to all artists. FULL DETAILS HERE As part of the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ commemorations, the Department of Education is inviting schools and students at all levels of primary and post-primary schools across Ireland, in the 2020/2021 school year, to enter the annual schools’ history competition. The selected themes have a particular link to events of a century ago across the island of Ireland. Topics This year, at both primary and post-primary levels, projects are invited under the following general headings. Please note that all categories can incorporate a local/regional studies theme: Revolution in Ireland – a study of a political/revolutionary event from the 1912–1922 period, a particular aspect of the event, or an individual/group/organisation associated with it. As with the other categories, this can incorporate a local/regional studies theme. Ireland and the First World War – a study of the Irish experience of the war from the perspective of an individual or group. This could involve a focus on a particular battle, an individual participant’s story or a consideration of the entire 1914–1918 period. Women during the revolutionary period in Ireland – a study of a particular individual/group/organisation/movement striving to improve the quality of women’s lives or involved in revolutionary activity in Ireland in the 1912–1922 period War of Independence – a study of a political/revolutionary event from the 1919–1921 period, a particular aspect of the event, or an individual/group/organisation associated with it. Civil War – a study of a particular individual/ organisation/ group/ movement/ event during the civil war in Ireland and its impact The deadline for receipt of completed projects is 30 April 2021 with the winners being announced, and prizes awarded, before the end of September 2021. FULL DETAILS HERE Virtual ConferenceThe War of Independence comes to North Connemara: March 1921 This free online conference which will be shown on Galway Beo Facebook page on Sunday 14th March 2021 from 1pm – 5pm. WATCH HERE Digital Repository of Ireland Series on Using Digital Archives for Academic Research Using Digital Archives for Geographical and Archaeological Research The second event in the series, ‘Using Digital Archives for Geographical and Archaeological Research’, will take place on Tuesday 23 March at 3-4:30 pm. Although the series is aimed primarily at early career researchers, the events are open to the public and all are welcome. Speakers will include: Barbara McCormack, Librarian at the Royal Irish Academy; Rónán Swan, Head of Archaeology and Heritage at Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII); Jennifer Moore, Editorial Assistant at Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA). To view the first webinar in the series see *HERE* REGISTER HERE IRISH CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 1920 -1922 In this webinar, John Larkin, Bláthna Ruane and Thomas Mohr will examine the legal steps during that period by which Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State were established and the constitution arrangements which then emerged and what Irish people thought of their new consitutional arrangements. REGISTER HERE 2. Exhibitions The night of the 6/7 March 1921 was, in the words of historian Thomas Toomey, ‘one of the most tragic in the tortured history of Limerick city and county during the period 1919-1921’. Between 11.30pm and 1.30am, three men – the Mayor of Limerick George Clancy, his immediate predecessor, Michael O’Callaghan, and an IRA Volunteer named Joseph O’Donoghue – were brutally shot dead at their homes. Although blamed by British officialdom on radical elements of the local IRA, these shootings were the work of Crown Forces and were widely recognised as such at the time. Dubbed the ‘Curfew Murders’, they sent shockwaves through the city and country and made headlines around the world, and they remain the central event in Limerick’s social memory of the War of Independence today. This exhibition tells their story. EXHIBITION HERE 3. Podcasts New History Ireland Hedge School PODCAST Limerick Curfew Murders 6th/7th March 1921 On the night of the 6/7 March 1921, the Mayor of Limerick, George Clancy, his predecessor, Michael O’Callaghan, and IRA Volunteer Joseph O’Donoghue, were shot dead by an Auxiliary death squad lead by Maj. George Montagu Nathan.(In an ironic twist Nathan was later killed in 1937 fighting for the International Brigade in Spain.) How did these killings fit into the wider story of Limerick during the revolutionary decade? Tune in *here* to History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in conversation with Brian Hanley, Helen Litton, John O’Callaghan, and Tom Toomey.Image above: Mayor of Limerick, George Clancy (left), and his predecessor, Michael O’Callaghan (right)—both murdered in the early hours of 7 March 1921 by an Auxiliary death squad. This podcast is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative. PODCAST AVAILABLE HERE Kilkenny County Council Library ServicesDecade of Centenaries Resources An expanding series of podcasts by historian and author Eoin Swithin Walsh, who explores various aspects of Kilkenny during the revolutionary period. Eoin’s own book, ‘Kilkenny in Times of Revolution, 1900-1923’ is available *HERE* PODCASTS AVAILABLE HERE The Dublin Festival of History is an annual free Festival, brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries. The 2021 Festival will be held in September 2021. In the meantime you can listen to a range of interviews with leading historians, recorded in previous Festivals. PODCASTS AVAILABLE HERE 4. Teaching Resources Dictionary of Irish BiographyThe Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB), a hugely important national and international resource for scholars of Irish society, history and culture, is moving its digital corpus of nearly 11,000 biographical entries to a new purpose-built, free-to-access repository in mid-March 2021. The DIB is an excellent resource for teaching and research, and its impending open access will be greatly welcomed. DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE The Documents on Irish Foreign Policy team have collated resources on the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, invaluable for teachers or lecturers covering the period. AVAILABLE HERE Irish Archives Resource have several resource packs of use to secondary teachers and university lecturers. One relates to the 1918 General Election in Ireland and the other two are a long and short version of the archival evidence for the changing status of women in Ireland. AVAILABLE HERE 5. Publications When women are erased from history, what are we left with? Between 1912 and 1922, Ireland experienced sweeping social and political change, including the Easter Rising, World War I, the Irish Civil War, the fight for Irish women’s suffrage, the founding of the Abbey Theatre, and the passage of the Home Rule Bill. Women and the Decade of Commemorations, edited by Oona Frawley, highlights not only the responsibilities of Irish women, past and present, but it also privileges women’s scholarship in an attempt to redress what has been a long-standing imbalance. Contributors discuss the importance of addressing missing history and curating memory to correct the historical record when it comes to remembering revolution. Together, the essays in Women and the Decade of Commemorations consider the impact of women’s unseen, unsung work, which has been critically important in shaping Ireland, a country that continues to struggle with honoring the full role of women today. BUY HERE Women and the Irish Revolution examines diverse aspects of women’s experiences in the revolution after the Easter Rising. The complex role of women as activists, the detrimental impact of violence and social and political divisions on women, the role of women in the foundation of the new State, and dynamics of remembrance and forgetting are explored in detail by leading scholars in sociology, history, politics, and literary studies. Prof Connolly’s introduction to the volume is available to read *here* BUY HERE |