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Supporting researchers at the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library

Researchers at work in M&ARL
Research in progress

As the end of another busy year approaches, this blog highlights some of the ways in which the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library (M&ARL) supports researchers. It is based on departmental statistics collected during the past five years (2011-2015). These show that the department provides a variety of local and remote services to national and international researchers from diverse backgrounds. M&ARL’s services support teaching, learning and research in Trinity College Dublin, and across the globe. Continue reading “Supporting researchers at the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library”

Good things always come in trees

Because of its historical significance as the spot where a famous conversation took place, there has been much interest in the media recently regarding the felling of a tree on the corner of Leeson Street and Appian Way in Dublin 2.  For many who passed it every day its loss will probably have more of an impact on their consciousness than its presence.  And so it is with the trees that grow on the grounds of Trinity College; they are possibly not sufficiently appreciated until they are to be cut down, moved, or simply pointed out.  A case in point is a Sorbus (‘Joseph Rock’) in Library Square, which was felled in January 2016 as it was nearing the end of its life.  A superb view of its striking autumn leaves had previously been afforded to the lucky few who had access to a second-floor window of the west end of the Old Library.

Sorbus ('Joseph Rock'), Library Square, November 2014
Sorbus (‘Joseph Rock’), Library Square, November 2014
The same view after tree felling, January 2016
The same view after tree felling, January 2016

 

 

 

Much thoughtful planning and expertise is required for the maintenance of the 600 or so trees on campus, which are looked after by the College’s Grounds and Garden staff in consultation with the Grounds and Gardens Advisory Committee.  It is this team who ensure that the grounds always look their best for the students, staff and visitors who walk through campus every day.

Account for garden expenses, including the purchase of cherry, abele and poplar trees, 10 February 1705 (TCD MUN P 4/10/15)
Account for garden expenses, including the purchase of cherry, abele and poplar trees, 10 February 1705 (TCD MUN P 4/10/15)

Records in the College Archives demonstrate that College authorities have long shown a healthy interest in the grounds and gardens of the Trinity.  There are documents from as far back as the seventeenth century that refer to gardens, gardeners, trees and plants.  For example, a document from the Bursar’s office dated February 1705 relating to the College garden account refers to £4-2-0 due to Philip Walker for cherry, ‘abele’ and poplar trees.  Other financial documents testify to the variety of trees and plants that have been planted over the years, including hollies, hornbeams, beech trees, elms, firs, sycamores, limes, oaks, poplars, honeysuckle, lilac and sweet briar, and make reference to the diverse locations – including Liverpool, Edinburgh and Jamaica –  from which trees, plants and seeds were imported over the years.

mun-p-4-22-17_1_blog
Gardener’s bill for fertiliser (‘mold’) for elm trees ‘sett at the front of ye College’, 21 November 1717 (TCD MUN P 4/22/17)

There has clearly been a structured approach to the landscaping of the grounds from an early period.  A document from 1708 refers to a payment of £7-2-10 for 500 beech trees for the Physics Garden hedge, and another from 1717 refers to money owed to Nathaniel Hall for ‘[t]horns for ye long walk’.  Such records help to give some idea of the appearance of the campus over the years; there are reference to elms planted ‘at the front of College’, to a ‘large elm’ in ‘front court’, and to black Italian poplars and beeches for hedges in the Botanic Garden.

From the names of some of the gardeners and suppliers, it would appear that they were born for their profession: in 1717 Joseph Twigge supplied elms and firs for the grounds; John Greenwood received £2-6-6 for beech trees and shrubs in 1811, and, according to a late seventeenth-century job application (complete with testimonials), a certain John Greene was seeking work as a College gardener.

While the majority of the records in the College Archives relating to TCD grounds and gardens are of a financial nature, there are also some photographs, maps and plans directly or indirectly relating to gardens and greenery.

Photographs ostensibly of buildings and other features on campus inevitably include trees and grass as background or foreground to the subject, and therefore are an important source for the study of the botanical history of the college over the last 150 years.

The ‘TCD MUN P 4’ series contains financial documents known as ‘Bursar’s vouchers’, which relate to money owed to staff, tradesmen and merchants for labour and goods.  They date from the early 17th to the mid 19th century, and many relate to gardening activities.

Contact sheet of photographs of the area between the Arts Building and the back of the 1937 Reading Room. Includes an Oregon maple on the south side of the 1937 Reading Room, which was felled in 1991 due to Dutch elm disease. Pre-1991. (TCD MUN MC 310)
Contact sheet of photographs of the area between the Arts Building and the back of the 1937 Reading Room. Includes an Oregon maple on the south side of the 1937 Reading Room, which was felled in 1991 due to Dutch elm disease. Pre-1991. (TCD MUN MC 310)

The ‘TCD MUN MC’ series within the College Archives contains maps, plans, photographs, postcards and drawings of the College and its environs.  The subjects of the photographs and drawings include buildings and other architectural features, sculptures and open spaces within the College.  They also include trees; you just have to look out for them …

Ellen O’Flaherty

 

 

Further reading:

Jeffrey, David (ed.), Trees of Trinity College Dublin [with notes by D.A. Webb] (Dublin, 1993)

The Team Behind Trinity’s Trees’: Trinity News and Events. (22 September 2014).

Galbraith’s Account of the Foucault Pendulum Experiment in Dublin

In 1851, Léon Foucault amazed the world by demonstrating the rotation of the earth using a simple pendulum. As the earth spins, the swing-plane of a pendulum turns around. Within a month or so, the experiment was repeated in Dublin by two Irish scientists, Joseph Galbraith and Samuel Haughton, both fellows of Trinity College and both members of the Royal Irish Academy.

Engraving in L’Illustration of Foucault’s pendulum in the Panthéon, Paris
Engraving in L’Illustration of Foucault’s pendulum in the Panthéon, Paris

Galbraith kept a diary, which is now in the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library (TCD MS 3826). The entries for the months April to July, 1851 give us a day-by-day account of the activities of Galbraith and Haughton. The first relevant entry is for 17 April, recording that the two scientists were in Ringsend with Wilfred Haughton, Samuel’s cousin. Wilfred was Chief Engineer of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway, and the engine factory beside Grand Canal Basin, with its lofty roof, was an ideal location for the experiments. The pendulum length was 35.4 feet or 10.8 metres.

Following preliminary testing, six experiments were carried out, each lasting between 15 and 30 hours. The azimuthal angle of the pendulum, that is, the angle between the swing-plane and a north-south line, was recorded every 20 minutes, requiring one of the team members to be present throughout each experiment. The precession of the pendulum occurs slowly, taking well over a day to complete a full circle.

TCD MS 3826 diary entry for 17 April 1851
TCD MS 3826 diary entry for 17 April 1851

There are about 25 diary entries relevant to the experiments. They detail who was present during various periods. In the final experiment, a full rotation was achieved in a time of 28 hours and 26 minutes. The theoretical period is 28 hours and 21 minutes, not far from the observed period. According to an article in the Philosophical Magazine, “Messrs Galbraith and Haughton have pursued their research with all imaginable precautions”. Their impressive results confirm this assessment.

A full account of the experiments appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Volume 116C, pages 1-15. Appendix A of this report contains a list of all the relevant entries from Galbraith’s diary. A copy of the report is available online.

Peter Lynch, School of Mathematics and Statistics, UCD

References

  • Lynch, Peter, 2016: Replication of Foucault’s pendulum experiment in Dublin. Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 116C, 1-15. doi:10.3318/PRIAC.2016.116.03. (PDF: http://mathsci.ucd.ie/~plynch/Publications/PRIAC.pdf)
  • Manuscripts and Archives Research Library, Trinity College Dublin, TCD MS 3826, Diary of Joseph Galbraith for April and May 1851.

 

 

‘And so the pillar lived to fall another day…’

The role of Trinity College Dublin during the Easter Rising has been well documented, and during the course of the commemorations, numerous personal experiences of this period have been brought to public attention.  An eye-witness account by alumnus James Alexander Glen was presented to the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library just over 50 years after the events of 1916, and it is a record of his involvement in the protection of the College (TCD MS 4456). We know from other manuscript sources that JA Glen, the son of a farmer, was born in Newtowncunningham, County Donegal, and entered College in October 1911, aged 17 years. He received his early education at Foyle College, Derry. In 1914 he was awarded a scholarship in classics, graduating with a BA in Winter 1915 and MA in Summer 1919. He joined the TCD Officer Training Corps (OTC) in his second year as an undergraduate. He was a recipient of a silver cup, one of a number of replicas of the two original cups that were presented to the College by local business who had benefited from OTC actions during the Rebellion.

TCD MS 4456 fol. 1
TCD MS 4456 fol. 1

At the outbreak of trouble, a uniformed Glen and a fellow artillery officer, with whom he had enjoying an outing to the Phoenix Park, made a cautious journey to TCD after their tram was halted in O’Connell Street. They met with a group of Australian and South African soldiers en route, who subsequently volunteered to act as lookouts on a portion of the College roof. Under the direction of AA Luce and EH Alton (both OTC captains and College professors), operations began to protect the College from within the walls. The gates were closed, ammunition distributed and sentries were posted at various locations.

As events unfolded during Easter Week, Glen was ordered to follow a colonel to an attic window in one of the College buildings that overlooked Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street. The ‘red-tabled and red-hatted senior officer’ was considering a possible plan to demolish Nelson’s Pillar, and enquired of Glen about the type of artillery that would be required for such an operation. The pillar was seen to act as a shelter for the rebels as they moved between Clery’s department store and the General Post Office. As Glen himself recognised, even with his limited knowledge of firearms, this method would not have been a success even with the most powerful of guns. While parts of central Dublin were destroyed during Easter week, the pillar remained standing until 8 March 1966 when, fifty years after the events of 1916, it was severely damaged by explosives planted by the Irish Republican Army. The remnants were later removed.

TCD MS 4456 fol. 2
TCD MS 4456 fol. 2

The manuscript is in very good condition, consists of five sheets written in the author’s hand, and can be consulted in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library.

Aisling Lockhart