Thanks to a collaboration between the National Library of Ireland and the 2017-18 UCD Public History MA, History Hub presents a new monthly series dedicated to showcasing manuscript and archival sources from the National Library of Ireland’s collections. In this series of articles, written by the students of UCD’s MA in Public History, we aim to uncover documents that lie outside what might typically be seen by the public. This series provides the context and history behind seven unique pieces from the library’s archives, ranging from a discussion on the traditional dress of Irish dancers to the letters of World War I soldiers written from the trenches. Thanks in large part to the NLI’s dedication to both preserving and making accessible archival material, the historical documents exhibited through this series will be available here on History Hub. Follow History Hub to read these pieces as they are released each month.

• September 2018: ‘What, No Costumes?’ An Article from the Dublin Evening Mail by Lindsay Doyle
• October 2018: A Letter from the Trenches to Alice Stopford Green by Hannah Ingle
• November 2018: Mother’s Advice on Condoms by Jen Falgout
• December 2018: Mr. Foster’s Irish Female Emigration Fund by Hayley Kilgallon
• January 2019: A Magdalen Asylum’s plea to Francis Sheehy-Skeffington by Abigail Smith
• February 2019: Extracts from the Letters of the 3rd Earl of Leitrim by Brian Thomas
• March 2019: Autograph book containing signatures of those involved in the republican movement, 1916-1918 by Dearbhla Fay

Find out more about the MA in Public History at ucd.ie/history and see the NLI’s full archival and manuscript catalogue online at sources.nli.ie.

To read these and other ‘From the Archives’ pieces, visit historyhub.ie/from-the-archives.

Abigail Smith, Series Editor
2017-18 MA in Public History
UCD School of History