UCD Archives

Sighle Humphreys married Donal O'Donoghue on 19 February 1935. This writer wishes Donal had 'waited until this unfortunate country was free' before marrying, as many married patriots 'eventually ignored the ills of the Motherland in the tranquillity of the domestic hearth.' #ValentinesDay

An old handwritten letter with stamps and a sepia toned photograph of rocks and trees and a man in suit sitting on one of the rocks. Text reads "Czech-Irish cultural contacts in the first half of the 20th century".

Kate Manning @ucdarchives.bsky.social reflects on early 20th c. Irish-Czech relations in a 1937 letter from Alice Hillstead Mušek to J. Grierson of Dublin, which includes a photo of playwright J.M. Synge taken in 1906 in Dargle Glen.
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Read: ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2026/02/12/c...

9 Feb 1274: St. Louis of Toulouse was born #otd The prince who became a Franciscan who became a bishop. Here he is from the 14th century UCD-OFM MsB44 now in @ucdarchives.bsky.social . Framed, in the second image, by St. Francis and St. Clare.

Our February’s document of the month is a letter from Fr John Blowick to Dr Theo Dillon, dated 11 February 1938 (UCDA P126/192) concerning Irish missionaries.

www.ucd.ie/archives/col...

9 Feb 1563: d. Manus O'Donnell #otd who comissioned this Life of St. Colmcille now held in
@ucdarchives.bsky.social
(UCD-OFM Ms 8) #Donegal.

The leather cover is both a rarity and a joy.

The Age of Christ, 525. The twenty-second year of Muircheartach. Saint Brighit, virgin, Abbess of Cill Dara, died. It was to her Cill Dara was first granted, and by her it was founded. Brighit was she who never turned her mind or attention from the Lord for the space of one hour, but was constantly meditating and thinking of him in her heart and mind, as is evident in her own Life, and in the Life of St. Brenainn, Bishop of Cluain Fearta. She spent her time diligently serving the Lord, performing wonders and miracles, healing every disease and every malady, as her Life relates, until she resigned her spirit to heaven, the first day of the month of February; and her body was interred at Dun, in the same tomb with Patrick, with honour and veneration.

The Age of Christ, 525...Saint Brighit, virgin, Abbess of Cill Dara, died...She spent her time diligently serving the Lord, performing wonders and miracles, healing every disease and every malady, as her Life relates, until she resigned her spirit to heaven, the first day of the month of February...

The Age of Christ, 525. The twenty-second year of Muircheartach. Saint Brighit, virgin, Abbess of Cill Dara, died. It was to her Cill Dara was first granted, and by her it was founded. Brighit was she who never turned her mind or attention from the Lord for the space of one hour, but was constantly meditating and thinking of him in her heart and mind, as is evident in her own Life, and in the Life of St. Brenainn, Bishop of Cluain Fearta. She spent her time diligently serving the Lord, performing wonders and miracles, healing every disease and every malady, as her Life relates, until she resigned her spirit to heaven, the first day of the month of February; and her body was interred at Dun, in the same tomb with Patrick, with honour and veneration.

St Brigid's Day is #OTD. Brigid's actual existence is debated. She is given different birth and death dates. UCD-OFM MS A13, provides one of her death dates: 525. The full Irish text and translation may be found online as part of the CELT project (celt.ucc.ie).

Black and white photo: Sheep flock, Co. Wicklow. Photographer: Maurice Curtin, 1936, NFC B014.10.00002

In the first UCD Library #CulturalHeritage Collections blog post of 2026 Ailbe Van Der Heide of @bealoideasucd.bsky.social describes the folklore and traditions surrounding sheep.

Read: ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2026/01/29/t...

@ucdarchives.bsky.social @ucdscoilglcb.bsky.social

An overhead perspective shows a female student studying an open book with an open laptop in the background. The Gale Publishing logo and a "30 minute" icon with clock face and arrow are also shown. Text is "Spotlight Sessions Online" with webinar dates.

Join the Gale Publishing team on Fri, 6 Feb for an online look at the historical archives of 'The Financial Times' and the 'Economist', resources brought to you by UCD Library.

This is just 1 of 3 webinars exploring Gale databases with the experts.
Register for the 1st (6 Feb) at bit.ly/gale6feb.

Every evening Mnsgr Hugh O'Flaherty stood on the steps of St Peter's Basilica in view of armed German soldiers, making himself available to Jews, dissidents, deserters & Allied soldiers. More than 4,000 escaped occupied Rome with his help. www.dib.ie/biography/of... #HolocaustMemorialDay #DIBLives

This UCD Cultural Heritage Blog post from last year discusses Julius Pokorny's plea to Eoin MacNeill, Conn R. Ó Cléirigh and Liam S. Gógan for assistance when he fell afoul of the racist Nuremberg Laws of 1935.

#HolocaustRemembranceDay

ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2025/10/21/o...

Various covers of 'The Listener' magazine archive overlapping each other, with the UCD Library crest and text. Text reads "Gale: The Listener Historical Archive: a new resource added to the UCD Library collection."

UCD Library has added over 60 resources to existing collections, incl 'The Listener' archive, a weekly literary & cultural magazine established by the BBC.

We hope this archive will support teaching, learning & research in the arts and humanities & social sciences. It's now available via OneSearch.

9 Jan 1639: Francis Harold #Franciscan nephew & biographer of Luke Wadding of #Waterford starts his studies in St. Isidore's #Irish college #Rome #otd (1st image here is some of his manuscript #poetry from @ucdarchives.bsky.social )

There is a file in De Valera's papers concerning this forest.

www.ucd.ie/archives/col...

As @historyandpolicy.bsky.social note, the document referred to in the article is published in @difp-ria.bsky.social Vol. 4. It has been available to consult in the MacEntee Papers in @ucdarchives.bsky.social since 1989.

24 December 1915. Christmas card from Mabel FitzGerald to her husband Desmond in Mountjoy prison.

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Christmas card from Eimhir Ni Uadall (Emily Weddall) to Eamon de Valera, December 1916. The card is beautifully drawn and painted, presumably by Ni Uadall. A member of Cumann na mBan, she is buried beside the republican plot at Glasnevin.

Sample Christmas card from the first venture of publisher An Clóchomhar Tta, from the Papers of Seosamh Ó Duibhginn.

The UCDA reading room service is now finished for the Christmas holiday period. It will resume on Monday 5 January 2026.

We wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Sample Christmas card from the first venture of Irish language publisher An Clóchomhar Tta, from the Papers of Seosamh Ó Duibhginn.

Christmas card from the first venture of Irish language publishing house An Clóchomhar Tta.

Beautiful!

I love this Christmas Card 💚 The tower with the tricolour flying from it is actually the Record Tower.

However, because it housed the state papers previously held in the Bermingham Tower for 300-odd years (until about 1813, when they moved), its name was regularly confused. #History #Heritage

Christmas card sent by Chief Justice Hugh and Mrs Clare Kennedy. Drawing by George Monks, depicting a scribe at work, with Dublin Castle, the Bermingham Tower (with tricolour) and the Chapel Royal in the background, [1924].

This document is an example of making the best of a challenging Christmas! Menu for Christmas Day 1918 from the ‘Royal Hotel Lincoln’ (Lincoln Jail) written on blue prison paper. Signed by Eamon de Valera and sixteen other prisoners. 2/2

This document is an example of making the best of a challenging Christmas! Menu for Christmas Day 1918 from the ‘Royal Hotel Lincoln’ (Lincoln Jail) written on blue prison paper. Signed by Eamon de Valera and sixteen other prisoners. 1/2

Our Document of the Month is a letter to Timothy Smiddy regarding a parcel of four pheasants sent as a Christmas present from King George V, 18 December 1930. The letter is signed by W. Hynes, Secretary to the High Commissioner.

www.ucd.ie/archives/col...

Irish Christmas card cover

Nodlaig shona duit...☃️In the latest UCD #CulturalHeritage blog post Archivist Kate Manning, @ucdarchives.bsky.social, takes us through a gallery of Christmas cards received by Éamon de Valera during his imprisonment in 1916 in Lewes, England.

ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2025/12/04/n...

Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann National Folklore Collection, UCD

Interim Director of the Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann National Folklore Collection Jonny Dillon.

1/3 Ar 21 Samhain, d’fhógair an tAire Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail agus Gaeltachta @deptrcdg.bsky.social, Dara Calleary, go bhfuil deontas ceadaithe suas le €4m thar thréimhse 2026-2029 aige do Gaois @gaois.bsky.social - an grúpa taighde de chuid @fsg-dcu.bsky.social

UCD Library is very pleased to see that @iua-official.bsky.social has signed this 'Statement on the Four Digital Rights of Memory Institutions'.

@ucddublin.bsky.social @ucdarchives.bsky.social @ucddigitallibrary.bsky.social @bealoideasucd.bsky.social