One of the Library’s contributions to this year’s Trinity Week programme of events was a multi-panel outdoor display in Fellows’ Square, which showcased some of the items from the collections in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library. The theme this year was ‘Memory’, and M&ARL’s exhibit was entitled ‘The Library: Minds and Reminds’. It presented images from our archives of photographs, paintings, maps and plans of College buildings and structures, some of which still exist, some that have changed, and others that are long gone. One of the panels, for example, displays a photograph of the Magnetic Observatory, which was built in 1837 in what was then the Provost’s Garden, and which now stands in UCD’s Belfield campus!
The display had to be taken down for the Trinity Ball, and so was only on view for four days. It lives on however in the form of an interactive digital map (above), which was developed by Mark Brennan of the Library’s Digital Systems and Services. This online resource features an aerial-view map of the west end of campus, on which eight areas are highlighted. Click on these areas to see images and text from the display panels, which reveal little-known facts about how Trinity used to be.
Ellen O’Flaherty