Dr Rachel Murphy

Historical map depicting County Mayo in Ireland, highlighting regions, family names, and geographical feature. Titled 'Ortelius Improved'.

#MapMonday!
This is a copy map of Co. Mayo, traced from an original by Abraham Ortelius. The baronial boundaries and the main landowners within the county are indicated.
From the Ordnance Survey Letters collection, deposited by the Royal Irish Academy and the OS200 project: doi.org/10.7486/DRI....

Colleges to be asked to cut on-campus days to ease student accommodation crisis Government to ask third-level institutions to condense students’ time on campus to minimise the number of commuting days

www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...

"Cashell in the County of Tipperary" c. 1750-1780 (BL)

Students had it tough during the worst of covid. But their education continued and they were able to get their degrees, despite a global pandemic and dysfunctional government. Like 1000s of colleagues, I worked way over the odds, while dealing with domestic pressures. This action feels very cruel.

Map of Ireland showing the towns published and in progress for the Irish Historic Towns Atlas

Our latest town published was Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaidh by Angela Byrne in October 2025. Below are all 32 atlases published along with those that are in progress.

You can browse more here: www.ria.ie/research-pro...

Dr Robin Usher, RJ Hunter Digital Fellow at QUB, explaining how 17th century life stories can be traced through the 'People of the Ulster Plantation' database.

Prof Mary O'Dowd (RIA/QUB) chairs a panel with Dr William Roulston (UHF), Prof Tom O'Connor (Maynooth) and Dr Robin Usher (QUB) at the 'Plantation of Ulster' conference.

Great conference on The Ulster Plantation today at PRONI, showcasing the relaunched 'People of the Ulster Plantation' online database, produced through a research collaboration of @ria.ie, @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social and @maynoothuniversity.ie. Access is via ulster-settlers.maynoothuniversity.ie

The homepage for the Canadian letters and images project. It shows soldiers posing for a photograph and there is a search bar in the centre. In the about section below, which cannot be seen in this image, it provides this information: The Canadian Letters and Images Project, created in 2000, is an online digital archive of the Canadian war experience, both home front and battlefront, from any conflict in which Canadians have participated. The focus of the project is on the personal materials of participants, such as letters and photographs, which permit us to experience the war through their eyes and their words. These are very often the stories of ordinary Canadians, largely forgotten and overlooked. Our mission is to digitally preserve and continue to make freely accessible this important part of Canada’s heritage for this generation and future generations. The vision of the project is to continue to expand this repository of Canadian archival materials by collaborating with Canadians to preserve and share the individual and collective stories that have shaped our past Accessibility to the past is key to understanding who we are as a nation. We are committed to free access for everyone to the materials of the project.

PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏

The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...

Better late than never. Census names in VRTI for end January, 2026 - a whopping 139,102, incl. >50,000 names from 1766 Religious Census of Ireland. Cork leads the way with 16k+ names from 1766 and 1821-1851. Next big mark is 150,000k Click for sample: virtualtreasury.ie/item/VRTI-CE...

I know! I just reposted with that information. So disappointed as I need to look at a whole bunch of those early death records for a project I am working on. Never mind, will just have to do it the old way.

So as @cbgenealogy.ie points out we can't access all the records listed in the press release (see press release footnote): "The Civil Registration Service are currently working on updating the remaining records of Deaths dating back to 1864. These will be included in future updates."

Historic Records of Charles J Haughey and Éamon de Valera Unveiled Online

@cbgenealogy.ie this is really strange as the press release implies they should be: www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Yes, I work with these a lot, so am delighted the earlier records in particular are online now. I'm doing a study of a small community & thinking I was going to have to order some of the 1860s death records, but now that they are online it is going to be so much easier.

Great to see a new tranche of records has been published on
on www.irishgenealogy.ie, so you can now access the following:
Birth records – 1864 to 1925
Marriage records – 1845 to 1950
Death records – 1864 to 1975

#IrishGenealogy #IrishFamilyHistory #Genealogy #FamilyHistory

I'm just going to keep reposting it

This Swedish History Museum photo shows a frontal view of a helmet known as Vendel Helmet I. It is a rounded iron helmet with cast bronze fittings riveted into the iron and a face guard. The iron is rusty brown in colour and the bronze decoration is now greenish in colour, displayed against a black background. The helmet has a raised crest (ridge) running from front to back which combines with the two curved bronze eyebrows which are textured with fine lines and terminating in stylised animal heads, to form a mythical beast. Below the eyebrows, are two large almond-shaped eye holes in a rusty face guard. Between the eye holes is a small beared human face which stares at the viewer. From here, a long rusty noseguard runs downward.

Vendel Helmet 1. Iron helmet with bronze fittings from a boat grave in Vendel, Uppland, Sweden, c. 550–793 AD.

📷 Swedish History Museum samlingar.shm.se/object/F0DD4...

#Archaeology

An early medieval gaming piece in the form of a monk from Mail on Shetland. Now on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. 📸 My own. #MedievalMonday

Thanks to @thefnl.bsky.social this exceptionally rare Tudor map of Kingsbridge in Devon has been acquired for public research at the Devon Heritage Centre, after more than four centuries in private hands.

IGRS Top Research Tip #192: Street names in civil and church registers can sometimes be hard to locate on modern maps. For Cork city there’s a handy online list linking together old and new street names, 1750-2013: digital.corkpastandpresent.com/Documents/De...

The Irish political response to flooding is a big part of the problem.

The short electoral cycle means ministers want to be seen to 'act' and be decisive.

That's why they love diggers and concrete. Transforming our rivers into drains. Lots of opportunities for photoshoots - 'getting things done'

Cover image of the Clontarf atlas by Colm Lennon. Turquoise map outline

Cover image of the Rathmines atlas by Seamas O Maitiu. Yellow map outline

Do you like maps? Have you an interest in suburban history?

We are excited to share that for the first time, the atlases of Clontarf and Rathmines are now fully and freely available to download. Originally published by @ria.ie with @dubcitycouncil.bsky.social

Read more: www.ria.ie/2026/01/09/i...

‘Parnell’ Stipendiary Research Fellowship in Irish Studies Competition at University of Cambridge Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a ‘Parnell’ Stipendiary Research Fellowship in Irish Studies Competition on jobs.ac.uk!

A 3 year JRF at Magdalene and Notre Dame in Irish Studies – sounds like a pretty great opportunity for someone.

🎉My first peer reviewed article just published in Urban History as FirstView!
Following on from my thesis, it covers privy pails & ashpits, the fly problem, public health, mortality & sanitation investment

A smooth & stress free publishing experience @urbanhistory.bsky.social
#OpenAccess #histmed

We are delighted to share our programme of seminars for Lent Term 2026, beginning on Tuesday 3rd February 🍃

👇

Call for Volunteers: Join the Team - Marsh's Library We are looking for outgoing, confident people to join our team of volunteers.

We are looking for outgoing people to join our team of volunteers. We'd like to hear from you if you can spare one morning or one afternoon per week to welcome visitors to our historic library. Find out more here: marshlibrary.ie/call-for-vol...

Do I know anyone with experience in scholarly archives AND who lives near Villanova, PA? I want to hire a one-job research assistant for my current scholarly book.

Interested in maps, the history of Irish towns, urban growth and change? The Irish Historic Towns Atlas has just joined BlueSky, so give them a follow! #IrishHeritage #HistoricTowns #Maps

Bid to woo US talent 'misguided and insulting', say Irish researchers Launch of Global Talent Initiative leaves Irish researchers 'deeply disillusioned' despite empathy with colleagues as American scientific institutions 'decimated'

www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

If only there was a recent book that had some really untold stories about Seven Dials in the 1920s and 1930s to tell.

Oh, hang on...

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/