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Category: TCD Library in the Media

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Changed Utterly Update

TCD MS 5870 2v Henry Street from Nelson's Pillar May 1916 by TJ Westropp
TCD MS 5870 2v Henry Street from Nelson’s Pillar May 1916 by TJ Westropp

It is only three months since the Library launched its 1916 blog Changed Utterly – Ireland and the Easter Rising. In that time we have been delighted and surprised by the extent of the support for the project and the increase in the use of the Library’s 1916 collections.

In addition to the 600+ Twitter followers of @TCDLIB1916, the blog has also recently attracted the attention of the media with articles in TheJournal.ie, the Irish Independent and the Irish Post.

One of the unexpected outcomes of the project is that it has raised the profile of the Library as a repository that actively collects such archival material. This has resulted in the donation of new material to M&ARL including the original account of 1916 by Lillian Stokes, (donated by her grand-nephew); and the deposit of an autograph album from the Frongoch internment camp. Posts on these new accessions will appear on the blog shortly. Research Collections staff have also met with many different people and agencies working on their own 1916 projects, which include prospective theatre performances, visitor centres and other digital projects.

Most of our weekly posts are written by Library staff, with some contributions from Trinity academics and other experts, including a forthcoming post written by the relative of a 1916 internee.

TCD MS 5870 5r Chimneys of the Hotel Metropole May 1916 by TJ Westropp
TCD MS 5870 5r Chimneys of the Hotel Metropole May 1916 by TJ Westropp

This week’s post focusses on an album of 44 photographs of Dublin taken in the days immediately following the rising. Subscribers to the blog have already learned of the experience of Thomas Bodkin as a St John Ambulance stretcher bearer working out of Dublin Castle and the story of Eileen Corrigan, one of four female students to brave sniper bullets on her way into Trinity to sit exams.

Estelle Gittins

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The Book from the Tomb

Last night saw the launch of The St Cuthbert Gospel: Studies on the Insular Manuscript of the Gospel of John edited by Dr Claire Breay, Lead Curator, Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts, the British Library, and Dr Bernard Meehan, Head of Research Collections and Keeper of Manuscripts, the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Dr Claire Breay and Dr Bernard Meehan

The book was launched by Helen Shenton, Trinity College Librarian and College Archivist. Helen was one of the last students of Roger Powell who famously rebound the Book of Kells. Her training included constructing a perfect model of the St Cuthbert Gospel, which she brought along for the occasion.

The evening also included presentations from both of the editors including a film of a CT scan of the gospel unveiling the structure beneath the decoration on the original binding.

Helen Shenton, Trinity College Librarian and College Archivist

The St Cuthbert Gospel (formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel) is the earliest intact European book and is a landmark in the cultural history of western Europe. Now dated to the early 8th century, it contains a manuscript copy of John’s Gospel in Latin. It retains its original binding, strikingly decorated with a vine and chalice motif. It is intimately associated with Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, being found in the saint’s coffin when it was opened at Durham Cathedral in 1104. Having been on loan to the British Library since 1979, it was bought for the national collection following a major fundraising campaign in 2011–12. It is now BL Additional MS 89000.

Dr Claire Breay showing the CT scan of the St Cuthbert Gospel

This new collection of essays is the most substantial study of the manuscript since the 1960s. It includes commentary on Cuthbert in his historical context; the codicology, script, text and medieval history of the manuscript; the structure and decoration of the binding; the Irish pocket Gospels, with which it shares several characteristics; the other relics found in Cuthbert’s coffin; and the post-medieval movements of the manuscript.

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Friends indeed! Unprecedented philanthropic response secures unique artefact for Ireland

TCD MS 11500One of the few remaining manuscripts from the medieval Cistercian abbey of St Mary ‘near Dublin’ has returned to Ireland after four centuries.

Lost to the world of scholarship since the 18th century, the fourteenth-century St Mary’s Abbey manuscript has not been in Ireland since the 16th century. It is the first Irish medieval manuscript to have been offered for sale in over a century.

Professor Seán Duffy, Jane Maxwell and Dr Bernard Meehan
Professor Seán Duffy, Jane Maxwell and Dr Bernard Meehan

The level of enthusiasm among scholars, across the university and among the wider historically-minded community in Ireland, for the return of this manuscript to Dublin, was given practical expression once the sale had been announced last Summer: the Library turned to its alumni and friends, seeking the necessary support for this acquisition, and the response was unprecedented. Apart from the generosity of  departments and groups within College, support was also received from the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, the Cistercian Order in Ireland, Glenstal Abbey and the Sisters of Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary in Roscrea. 

IMG_9718 croppedIMG_9719 croppedA press launch announcing the acquisition, on 19 March, was followed by an event to thank the donors who were invited to a special viewing of the new arrival. They were then addressed by the Keeper of Manuscripts Bernard Meehan, the Professor of Medieval History at Trinity Seán Duffy and scholar Br Colmán Ó Clábaigh, OSB.

Jane Maxwell

Links to media coverage

RTE

UTV Ireland

The Independent

The Irish Examiner

The Herald

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Four Seasons in One Day

TCD MS 1282 30r Four Seasons in one DayRTÉ Cork visited Trinity College Library recently to film the Annals of Ulster (TCD MS 1282), one of the most well-known medieval Irish chronicles in M&ARL’s collections, as part of a new series ‘Four Seasons in One Day: Ireland’s Weather with John Creedon’.

Creedon’s journey will see him investigating stories from history, science, folklore, archaeology and modern life in order to examine how the weather has influenced our landscape and our nation. The programme looks at what causes our weather to be the way it is; how has it shaped us; and how we deal with it in our daily lives.

Examining the Annals of Ulster, Creedon interviewed Dr Francis Ludlow of Yale Climate & Energy Institute, Yale University (formerly of the School of Natural Sciences, TCD), who gave a fascinating insight into how, over 1200 years, Irish annalistic records have preserved records of extreme weather. Ludlow looked at the entry for the year 738 A.D. on folio 30r of the manuscript, which features the famous battle of Ath Senaig (Ballyshannon, Co. Kildare) between the Uí Neill King of Tara and the Laigin (or Leinstermen). This date corresponds to a very severe drought, registered in Irish oak tree-rings by very low growth. He also discussed how extreme weather events like this might contribute to increased violence in medieval Ireland. There are many reasons why any given year might have witnessed increased violence (e.g. existing or ongoing political tensions), but what the weather may contribute is an increase in these tensions by causing poor harvests and scarcity. Rival leaders might also see an opportunity to attack their weakened enemies during such years.

The first episode of this three-part series will be broadcast on Sunday 10 August 2014 on RTÉ ONE.

Caoimhe Ní Ghormáin

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Summertime and the Library was … busy!

At the beginning of the new term we reflect on a hectic summer which kicked off with the visit of Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama on 17 June; a special exhibition on Obama family history was on display for the occasion. Also in June, Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts spoke about the Book of Kells as part of the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture events and also delivered a lecture at the Hay Literary Festival held in Kells on 28 June.

M&ARL staff have worked on a number of temporary exhibitions timed to coincide with events within Trinity College Dublin over the summer. The Book of Kings: Middle Eastern Manuscripts in the Library exhibition accompanied the Middle East Library Committee (UK) meeting on 25 June. The Transmitting the Anglo-Saxon Past exhibition was displayed to coincide with The International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Conference from the 29 July to 2 August. The exhibition What Price the Children? The work of Dorothy Price among the Dublin Poor, staged to mark the centenary of the Dublin Lockout, is currently on view in the Long Room. These are also available as online exhibitions.

The Library has an on-going arrangement in relation to the annual Samuel Beckett Summer School run by the Department of Drama Film and Music. As well as curating an exhibition specifically to tie in with the School, M&ARL hosted one of the School’s teaching sessions to permit attendees to have access to original Beckett literary material.

Samuel Beckett Summer School 2013
Samuel Beckett Summer School 2013

Another regular event was the return of the annual Irish Harp Summer School. The Library is home to two early examples of the traditional Irish harp: the so-called ‘Brian Boru Harp’, which is on permanent display in the Long Room, and the less well-known Castle Otway Harp.

Irish Harp Summer School 2013
Irish Harp Summer School 2013 viewing the Castle Otway Harp

Further classes held during the summer included a talk for Trinity College Library colleagues on the surprising variety of objects within the M&ARL collection.

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Jane Maxwell (M&ARL) with Daniel O’Connell’s top hat
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A bullet which penetrated the roof of the Old Library during the 1916 Easter Rising

We are always delighted to hear about publications using M&ARL collections. One such author, historian Gill Morris from Tasmania, visited the Library on 6 August to present us with a copy of her book on the Revd Dr William Henry Browne, A Trinity College graduate, who left Cork for Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania in 1828.

Gill Morris and Aisling Lockhart (M&ARL)
Gill Morris and Aisling Lockhart (M&ARL)

It is also not unusual to see M&ARL manuscripts featured on TV and earlier this summer the BBC filmed the 1641 depositions for inclusion in The Stuarts which should air at the end of this year.

All of this outreach activity continued smoothly despite the fact that the summertime tends to be the busiest time for M&ARL. Add to that a major refurbishment of the Reading Room during July and August and it all made for a hectic summer.

Estelle Gittins