November 2022
 November 2022 NOTICE Some email browsers ‘clip’ the newsletter, making it shorter. If you click ‘View entire message‘ it will open the full newsletter 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. Lectures and Events (some require registration) (TONIGHT 28th Oct)Cultúr – A Decade of Centenaries Event Experience the music, song & dance that carried us through the tumultuous years from 1916 to the end of the Civil War. Times were difficult in Ireland a century ago. The years 1922-1923 saw great unrest, particularly in Kerry as the people tried to come to terms with a newly emerging independent Ireland. Our tradition is what sustained us then. From the end of the 1800s and right through the Easter Rising and the War of Independence to the end of the Civil War, people continued to sing the songs, play the tunes, and dance the dances, often as a means of coping with the political mayhem that surrounded them.Cultúr This is an evening with a difference. Part of our Trad Connections series, it’s brought to you by the National Folk Theatre Choir. Presented concert style and woven together with old film footage from the era as well as a narrative that has been written by Kerry author Gabriel Fitzmaurice. DETAILS & REGISTRATION HERE (TOMORROW 29th Oct)How British was Jim Larkin? How international was Larkinism? Online Lecture Dr Emmet O’Connor Saturday 29 October at 2.30pm. Irish Labour History Society Honorary President Dr Emmet O’Connor is giving the inaugural John Halstead Memorial Lecture on the topic of Jim Larkin this Saturday at 2.30pm to the Society for the Study of Labour History. Titled ‘How British was Jim Larkin? How international was Larkinism?’, Dr O’Connor will explore the life of Jim Larkin and his impact on British labour through the 1913 Lockout and World War 1. DETAILS & REGISTRATION HERE Civil War in Ireland – New Perspectives Civil War in Ireland: New Perspectives A lecture series organised by the ‘Atlas of the Irish Revolution’ editorial team in UCC in partnership with the National Library of Ireland. The series of eight public lectures by leading historians of the Irish revolutionary period is designed to coincide with, and complement the Irish Civil War documentary series, produced by Tyrone Productions in association with UCC, which will air on RTE in November 2022. The first lecture on 13 October and last lecture on 29 November will be delivered in person and streamed live from the NLI and UCC respectively. The other six, hosted by the NLI and chaired by a member of the Atlas of the Irish Revolution editorial team, will be delivered via Zoom on Tuesday evenings at 7pm between 18 October and 22 November. Remaining schedule: Tuesday 1 November: Lecture 4 – 7:00pm Via ZoomSpeaker: Dr Adrian GrantLecture Title: The Irish Civil War and Northern Ireland Tuesday 8 November: Lecture 5 – 7:00pm Via ZoomSpeaker: Dr John BorgonovoLecture Title: The Irish Civil War: a local and regional perspective Tuesday 15 November: Lecture 6 – 7:00pm Via ZoomSpeaker: Professor Fearghal McGarryLecture Title: The Civil War Legacy: Ireland in the 1920s and 30s Tuesday 22 November: Lecture 7 – 7:00pm Via Zoom Speaker: Dr Síobhra AikenLecture Title: Memory and Trauma Tuesday 29 November: Lecture 8 – 7:00pm In person with a live audience in UCC, and live streamed. Chair: Dr Donal O Drisceoil Speaker: Professor Lindsey Earner-ByrneLecture Title: Gender and the Civil War DETAILS & REGISTRATION HERE Building As Witness Open Call Project Awards (DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: 2 December 2022) Crawford Art Gallery is committed to exploring our shared histories and to exploratory practice. Up to six project awards are now available as part of the major research project, Building as Witness (6 December 2021 – 17 April 2024). Creative practitioners are invited to apply for one of these €12,000 project awards to develop creative responses that engage with Crawford Art Gallery’s buildings and environs from one hundred years ago. Creative responses and interpretations can be collaborative, digital, ephemeral, performative, text, events, film, sound or installation based. We are looking for creative ideas that can be produced within the project award budget of €12,000 and can be shared in real or digital life with the public. MORE DETAILS HERE Poetry as Commemoration Diaspora online session UCD Library in partnership with Poetry Ireland seeks members of the Irish diaspora in Europe to take part in free online poetry workshops using archival material from the War of Independence and Civil War as creative inspiration. Join poet Nessa O’Mahony in a special two hour online poetry workshop, via zoom, to explore your own understanding of, and engagement with, the history of the War of Independence and Civil War. Nessa will be talking about how her own family history inspired her poetry and will be leading participants through some of the stories that have shaped our understanding of this tumultuous period in Irish history. Participants will leave the workshops with an insight into particular events and will have engaged creatively with the historical moment. No prior knowledge or experience necessary. This workshop will take place from 7-9pm CET on 7 November via Zoom. Poetry as Commemoration is an initiative of the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at UCD Library and supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media under the Decade of Centenaries programme. DETAILS & REGISTRATION HERE CALL FOR PAPERS(DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: 15 December 2022)  International Research Conference 2022: 100 Years of Self-Determination Title: International Research Conference 2022: 100 Years of Self-Determination Location: Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin 7 Dates: 9, 10, 11, 12 Nov 2022 This international research conference marks a century since the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, and will explore the artistic responses to the theme of self-determination through a global lens.The programme features presentations from invited keynote speakers, including Adom Getachew, political theorist Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College at the University of Chicago; Róisín Kennedy, Lecturer/Assistant Professor, School of Art History and Cultural Policy at UCD and Professor Fearghal McGarry, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queens University, Belfast. Drawing on Arthur Griffith’s call in 1919 to ‘mobilise the poets’ to help make Ireland’s case for independence on the international stage, this conference will reassess the role of art and artists in exploring the international movement towards self-determination, situating their work within a global context of redrawn imperial power, emerging nation states and independence movements post World War I. The conference will take place online and in person and registration is essential for both. REGISTER HERE Poetry as Commemoration REGISTER HERE Prison Notebooks Based on the Civil War Gaol journals of DOROTHY MACARDLE 15 & 16 November, Smock Alley Theatre Dorothy Macardle was an outstanding Irish woman of the 20th century whose legacy and achievements have only recently come to public attention. She was a novelist, playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, historian and pioneering human rights campaigner. Daughter of Sir Thomas Macardle, founder of the Macardle Moore brewing enterprise in Dundalk, she rejected her family’s imperial values and became – in her own words – “an unrepentant propagandist” on behalf of the Irish Republican cause. In November 1922 she was arrested by Free State forces; her artistic and scholarly manuscripts publicly burned on a Dublin street, and imprisoned without trial in Mountjoy and later Kilmainham Gaol and the North Dublin Union. A series of handwritten diaries she kept while incarcerated have now been adapted into a remarkable solo theatre performance by Sharon McArdle and Declan Gorman. They reveal Dorothy not just as a committed political thinker but a visionary artist, whose connection to the uncanny, and meditations on time, trauma and loss place her among the literary innovators of the early 20th century. Warm, humorous portraits of fellow women prisoners, tales of ghostly apparitions and devastating accounts of deprivation and violation blend with dreamscapes and paranormal episodes in this original performance which is now being staged after almost five years of archive research and workshop exploration. BOOK HERE Giving Peace a Chance: The work of the Peace with Ireland Council Tuesday, 22 November, 5.30 – 7.30 pm Main Restaurant, DCU All Hallows Campus The influence of peace movements in drawing hostilities to an end in Ireland is a neglected dynamic of the War of Independence. Histories of conflict can too easily obscure the arbiters of armistice. Broad understanding of anti-war and pacifist dynamics tends to focus on the women’s movement and the efforts of the Labour Party. But peace came in many forms. Following its foundation in the House of Commons in October 1920, the work of the Peace with Ireland Council provided a platform for vocalising opposition to government strategies of misinformation about conflict in Ireland and demanding an end to the escalating war of reprisals. Their work followed a blueprint for such campaigns. This included the application of pressure in Westminster; the publication and distribution of anti-war pamphlets authored by eminent public intellectuals; and the organisation of hundreds of public events and protests demanding an end to hostilities. The Peace with Ireland Council became a crucial networking instrument that helped to alter perceptions of how England understood conflict in Ireland.Dr. Angus Mitchell’s illustrated lecture will provide insights into the personal and political struggles faced by those involved in the Peace with Ireland Council notably Erskine Childers, Alice Stopford Green, and the many others who struggled to reconcile their loyalty to Britain, Ireland and the broader cause of humanity. Introduction by Professor Daire Keogh, President of DCUResponders: Phil Wheatley, former Director-General of the Prison Service of England and Wales and Dr. Martin Mansergh, former Minister and key adviser on the peace process to successive Taoisigh REGISTRATION HERE 1922 Constitution Centenary Conference Monday, 5 December, 9am – 6pmThe Shelbourne, Autograph Collection 27 Saint Stephen’s Green Dublin A diverse range of speakers will discuss and reflect on this unique document which formed part of a key turning point in Irish history and the birth of the Irish State. REGISTRATION HERE Legacy Stories from the Civil War Dates 24 – 27 November @ 8pm Performed in the pivotal site of Dundalk Gaol this production melds song, poetry and oral histories to re-examine the tragic legacy of the civil war and the opportunities spurned at the birth of the nation. REGISTRATION HERE Cumann Le Seandacht Átha CliathThe Old Dublin Society A Visit to Dalkey Island’ – Peadar Curran, followed by the AGM MORE DETAILS 2. Exhibitions/Projects Estella Solomons: Still Moments National Gallery of Ireland 3 September 2022 – 8 January 2023 Admission free A committed nationalist and member of Cumann na mBan, Estella Solomons painted many portraits of leading revolutionary and cultural figures of the time. From a turbulent period in Irish history, the paintings give an insight into the artist’s personal and professional life. Estella Solomons: Still Moments features works from the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, and portraits from public and private collections across Ireland.MORE DETAILS Imaging Conflict; photographs from revolutionary era Ireland 1913-1923 Imaging Conflict displays 150 images and five original photograph books from the National Museum of Ireland’s collection relating to the Irish revolutionary era of 1913 – 1923, as well as images of Irish men and women in conflicts overseas. The majority of the images have not been on display publicly before. MORE DETAILS New Anglo-Irish Treaty learning resource (from the National Archives and the Dept of Education) A new and exciting learning resource on the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 has just been produced by the National Archives in partnership with the Department of Education. Post-primary schools nationwide received the bilingual “Anglo-Irish Treaty Document Resource Pack” which is intended as a teaching tool and supplementary source for use by post-primary educators and students in parallel with their course work. The resource’s contents are mapped to the Junior Cycle’s history specifications and the Leaving Certificate Later Modern Ireland syllabus (ordinary and higher level) and also include activities for the Transition Year history programme. Image: Key document #7: Notes by Arthur Griffith of two sub conferences held between the British and Irish delegations at 10 Downing Street, 5–6 December 1921. Amongst the holdings of the National Archives is perhaps the most famous document in modern Irish history, the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. On the centenary anniversary of the signing of this seminal record in December 2021, the National Archives hosted in Dublin Castle “The Treaty, 1921: Records from the Archives”, an exhibition marking its role as the official repository of the records of the State, one hundred years since its formation. As part of the legacy of this milestone exhibition, its contents were repurposed to produce the high-quality learning resource, drawing from its Treaty-related holdings, namely the Dáil Éireann record series (DE/2–DE/4) and the papers of Treaty delegate and Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Barton. The DE/2 series consists of the administrative records of the Dáil Éireann Secretariat (1919–1922) relating to the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations while the DE/4 series contains the proceedings of the First and Second Dála (1919–1922) and papers relating to the peace negotiations of 1921. Contents of the learning resource The content of the Treaty learning resource is mapped to the learning outcomes for the history curriculums at Junior, Transition Year and Senior Cycles and is designed to provide students with the opportunity to work with primary source material in the form of reproduction records relating to the negotiations and signing of the Treaty from October to December 1921. It consists of the following elements: Biographies of the Irish and British delegates who negotiated the TreatyEight key documents relating to the negotiations and signing of the Treaty Timeline of events in 1921 Explanation of the Treaty articles Research activity for Junior Cycle/Transition Year students Glossary of terms Online resources and further reading These elements are self-contained units which can be explored separately or in combination with each other and teachers can decide which units and in what order to engage with them in the classroom. The eight key documents are accompanied by corresponding questions and tasks which are categorised and colour-coded according to Junior Cycle, Transition Year and Leaving Certificate levels and can be explored in tandem with for example, the delegate biographies, timeline or Treaty explainer. An online version of the Treaty learning resource can be downloaded from the website of the National Archives at www.nationalarchives.ie/2021commemorationprogramme/anglo-irish-treaty-document-resource-pack where the eight key documents are linked to high resolution images of the documents themselves on their Flickr account. Meanwhile, although the Treaty exhibition closed in Dublin Castle on 27 March last, a virtual tour of same is available on the NA website at www.nationalarchives.ie/2021commemorationprogramme/treaty-virtual-tour 3. Podcasts Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution is a podcast series created by Dr Julie Morrissy as part of the Poet-in-Residence programme at the National Library of Ireland, supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023. In the podcast series, Morrissy is joined by a variety of guests to talk about her experience as she thinks and writes about some of the most important women in Irish history. LISTEN HERE Irish Travellers and the State, 1922-2022: activism, advocacy and allyship How have Irish Travellers fared since the foundation of the state a century ago, and in particular since the 1963 Report of the Commission on Itinerancy?What are the challenges facing the current generation of Traveller activists?How can non-Travellers be effective allies?To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Martin Collins, Rose Marie Maughan, and Patrick Nevin. LISTEN HERE The Irish Civil War—a military analysis Image above : The Four Courts, 30 June 1922, moments after the ‘great explosion’ in the Public Records Office, two days after the commencement of bombardment by the pro-Treaty National Army that signal led the start of the Irish Civil War. (Irish Architectural Archive) The Irish Civil War—a military analysis At the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June 1922 the anti-Treaty IRA numbered some 15,000, holding key positions in Dublin and throughout the country, in particular behind a defensive line running from Limerick to Waterford (the so-called ‘Munster Republic’). Their pro-Treaty opponents in the newly-formed National Army numbered less than half that. Why then did the pro-Treaty side win? To address this and related questions join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Bill Kissane, John Dorney, Mary McAuliffe and Gareth Prendergast. LISTEN HERE What if Michael Collins had survived the Civil War? On 22 August 1922, Michael Collins was killed at Béal na Bláth, Co. Cork. But what if he had survived?Would he have become a military dictator?(Was he one already?)Would he have been more or less ruthless than his successors in prosecuting the Civil War?Would he have torn up the Treaty and launched an invasion of the North?What if he and not Eoin O’Duffy had later become leader of the Blueshirts?And if he, rather than Dev, had become Ireland’s dominant statesman, would his economic or social policies have been any different?Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Paddy Cullivan, Brian Hanley, David McCullagh, Fearghal McGarry and Margaret O’Callaghan. LISTEN HERE Unmanageable Revolutionaries —women in the ‘decade of centenaries’ It is nearly 40 years since Margaret Ward’s pioneering Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism, 1880-1980 (1983) first appeared.How has women’s history, and history written by women, fared in the meantime, particularly in this ‘decade of centenaries’?Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Síobhra Aiken, Leeann Lane, Sarah-Anne Buckley and Margaret Ward. PANELLISTS Síobhra Aiken lectures in History at Queen’s University, Belfast, and is the author of Spiritual Wounds: Trauma, Testimony & the Irish Civil War (2022). Leeann Lane lectures in History at Dublin City University and is the author of Dorothy McArdle (2019). Since 2012 she has been on the Expert Advisory Group on the Decade of Centenaries. Sarah-Anne Buckley lectures in History at NUI, Galway, and is the author of The Cruelty Man: Child Welfare, the NSPCC and the State in Ireland, 1889-1956 (2013). She is currently President of the Women’s History Association of Ireland. Margaret Ward is Senior Lecturer in History at Queen’s University, Belfast, and author of Fearless Woman, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, feminism and the Irish Revolution (2019). LISTEN HERE Michael Collins—man and myth Michael Collins—man and myth Born in West Cork in 1890, Michael Collins joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) as a teenager while working as a clerk in London. He fought in the GPO in 1916, and rose to prominence by the War of Independence, combining the positions of Dáil minister for finance and IRA director of intelligence. How can his meteoric rise be explained? Why did he sign the Treaty? Did he intend to tear it up and invade the North? Was he by the outbreak of the Civil War effectively a military dictator? Why are the circumstances of his death at Béal na Bláth, exactly a century ago, still disputed? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with John Borgonovo, Gemma Clark, Dominic Price and John Regan. This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 programme. LISTEN HERE The Civil War in Kilkenny Author and Historian Eoin Swithin Walsh in this podcast examines the start of the Civil War in Kilkenny.This podcast examines the first two months of the Civil War in County Kilkenny. Things were happening on a daily, if not hourly basis. Nearly every corner of the county was affected in some way or other. On 2 July 1922, Anti-Treaty leader Dinny Lacey attacked and captured Urlingford Barracks after a fierce battle. A shootout followed at nearby Mary Willies pub. The Pro-Treaty forces also captured Mullinavat and Thomastown barracks from the anti-Treaty side. Graiguenamanagh and Inistioge witnessed the arrival of a huge column of anti-Treaty soldiers arriving down from the fighting in Dublin and Wicklow. Free States forces eventually took control of Callan, following which the bridge in the town was blown up. In the middle of all of this, the Free State commander in Kilkenny, John Thomas Prout, found time to get married (pictured above).Then all eyes turned to the big set piece battles in Waterford and afterwards Carrick on Suir, where Prout faced off against his nemesis, Lacey. Ferrybank and Piltown were at the frontline of the ‘Munster Republic’ and so Kilkenny led the Free State charge in the early days of the Civil War.LISTEN HERE |