Programmes, flyers and posters relating to the productions of Chrysalis Dance. Also lists and correspondence illustrating the company’s financial and administrative history.
Chrysalis DanceThis collection comprises a scrapbook compiled by Charles Henry Gubbins and a number of loose items found inserted inside the book. The collection provides insights into the personal life of a humorous and sociable man and, more broadly, the rich cultural and sporting life of Munster in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
Gubbins, Charles Henry (1859-1932), merchant and sportsmanThe papers in the collection relate mainly to the Sandville branch of the family and mostly to the activities of James Grene Barry (1841-1929). They include early twentieth-century notes on family history, possibly compiled by James Grene Barry who was known for his antiquarian interests. The notes trace the history of the Sandville and other branches of the family to Elizabethan times and include much interesting material, such as handwritten copies of leases, mortgages and other documents, and pedigrees of the Barry and other families.
James Grene Barry’s political activities are recorded in a series of documents relating to his objection to Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill of 1893. Of particular interest is a letter from James Alexander Rentoul, MP for East Down, outlining his plans to canvass Grand Jury members across the country against the Bill (P20/2/7).
Administrative records in this collection relate in the main to the Sandville branch Barrys. They are mostly concerned with the family’s financial affairs and also provide an interesting insight into Land League activities in county Limerick at the turn of the twentieth century. One of the few items relating to the Standish Barry branch of Leamlara is a ledger of farm accounts kept by Henry Standish Barry (P20/3/1/1/6).
Another set of documents reflects the professional activities as estate agents of James Grene Barry and his son James Thomas Barry, and the effects on local landowning families of the various Land Acts passed in the early twentieth century. Of particular interest are items relating to the purchase of land from Henry Lyons of Croom Castle (P20/3/2/1/1-9), and the sale of part of the Islandmore estate by Major Roche Kelly (P20/3/2/2/1-2).
Finally, the collection contains deeds and a draft will relating to the Shine family of Coolyhenan, county Limerick, many of whom served as Justices of the Peace for county Limerick in the late nineteenth century. The reason for their presence among the Barry papers has not been ascertained.
Barry family of Sandville, Ballyneety, County Limerick and of Leamlara, County CorkPhotographs, certificates, contracts and correspondence illustrating Barbara Clarke's development from a child dance enthusiast to an accomplished amateur dancer and her contribution to the development of dance as a popular art form in Ireland in the mid-twentieth century.
Clarke, Barbara (1939-2007), dancerThis collection comprises early twentieth-century scrapbooks and photograph albums compiled by Robert Rennie Ballingal and his daughter Dorothy Ballingal, anonymous threat letters received by Robert Rennie Ballingal during the land war in his role as agent to the 4th Earl of Dunraven, presentation books received by him on his retirement, and information relating to the Royal Irish Automobile Club, of which he was a member.
Ballingal, Robert Rennie (1867-1928), land agentThe material consists of leases, mortgages, conveyances, marriage settlements and wills relating to the families of Odell (1782-1891), Morony (1831-1937), Lloyd (1829-1965) and Allott (1947-1999). Of particular interest is the copy will relating to Helen Sophia Chenevix (1890-1963), General Secretary of the Irish Women Workers’ Union (1955-1957), member of the Irish Trade Union Congress executive committee (1946-1956), and one of the first female graduates of Trinity College, Dublin (see P27/1/4/1/3/1). There are also extensive records relating to the dairy farm managed at Odellville from 1945 to 1994, including stock breeding and sales records, milk records and farm accounts (P27/2/1/2-6). There is some architectural material relating to improvements carried out at Odellville between 1880 and 1900 (P27/1/2/7/1-3). There are also 19th-century scrapbooks and other items of Quaker interest relating to the Watson and Webb families (P27/3/1/1-4).
Allott family of Odellville, County LimerickThis collection comprises a scrapbook compiled by Agnes Mary Gaffney and a number of loose items found inserted inside it. It provides insights into the life and lifestyle of the members of a prominent and politically influential Roman Catholic family and their role not only in the formation of the Irish republic but on the wider arena of Irish-American republicanism and the campaign for women’s rights.
Gaffney, Agnes MaryThis collection contains records of the organisation, management and finances of the Limerick Protestant Young Men's Association, its members, staff, premises and club activities, particularly during the height of the Association's popularity in the 1920s and 1950s. There are no records relating to the Association’s foundation or early years (1853-1874), and few relating to its activities after 1959, when its popularity began to vane. The records are purely of administrative nature and reveal little of the Association’s temporal and spiritual aspirations. Arising from the fact that the Association’s secretaries were not obliged to hand over records in their possession upon resignation, some years and some aspects of the Association’s activities remain poorly recorded.
Limerick Protestant Young Men's Association (LPYMA)CD-R containing Excel, JPEG, PDF and Word files of biographical and photographic information relating to the officers of the 10th Royal Hussars (The Prince of Wales’s Own) and their activities in India in 1910-1913 and during the First World War.
Swythamley Historical SocietyCopy prospectus attributed to the Reverend Edward Nangle, founder of Achill Mission, seeking funding for the purchase of Achill Island from its owner, Sir Richard O'Donnell. The prospectus lists the names of the Mission's president, committee members and honorary secretary and provides an outline of the Mission's origins, its establishment in Achill in 1833, the initial difficulties experienced by its members and its many subsequent successes in converting the island's Catholic population to Protestantism. The document provides a unique insight into the philosophy of the Evangelical movement in early nineteenth-century Ireland and its use of the Irish language in the conversion process and the disharmony that existed between the Church of Ireland and the Church of Rome.
Nangle, Edward (1799-1883), Church of Ireland minister and founder of the Achill Mission Colony