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Bound hardback volume containing a typescript entitled My Memories, written by Julia Cecilia Harris née Ryan and dedicated to her children and grandchildren, together with a card identifying the names of the memoir’s donors and date of donation. The title page of the volume is dated 17 March 1926 while the last page is dated 19 March 1926. A footnote on p. 8 suggests that the writing of the original manuscript was under way by 1925. In addition, some pages were added as an afterthought in 1927 before the document was bound. Typing is uniform throughout the text, including a much later dedication of January 1945, which reads ‘To Arthur [Arthur James Littledale], from Mummie [Mary Josephine Littledale née Harris] With all my love’. The uniformity of the typescript suggests that the document was typed and bound post 1945. There is also a handwritten dedication on a page preceding the title page ‘For my darling Christopher [Tugendhat], from his devoted Mother, Máire [Tugendhat née Littledale], grand-daughter of the author of these memories. And for his descendants.’ This dedication is dated 29 March 1972 and it is likely that the original manuscript was typed and bound by Máire Tugendhat in that year. The memoir, which narrates Julia Harris’s life events in considerable detail, provides exceptional insights into the life of the prosperous Roman Catholic middle class in Ireland in the second half of the nineteenth century, Ireland’s status as part of the British Empire and the violent events which led to its emergence as an independent nation in the early twentieth century.

The collection consists of manuscript and typescript biographical accounts of Volunteers and civilians who died during the War of Independence and Civil War and who had links with the West Clare Brigade IRA. The accounts provide detailed information concerning the birth, early education and military career of each individual.

The collection illuminates a turbulent period in Irish history stretching from the later decades of the nineteenth century until the end of the Civil War in 1923. The inclusion of biographical details of Volunteers who were killed during the Civil War while fighting on the anti-Treaty side makes it historically significant, as information of this nature was rarely recorded.

This collection documents Gerard Gallivan’s career as a playwright, comprising manuscript and typescript drafts of his plays and other works; correspondence with theatre producers, actors, publishers and writers’ societies; posters and programmes relating to his plays; diaries; photographs; and press cuttings.

Photographs, 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.

Programmes, flyers, conference proceedings, printed material, and recorded interviews collected by Victoria O’Brien, reflecting her interest in both the historical aspects of and current developments in ballet and contemporary dance. Much of the material in this collection was created and generated by Victoria O’Brien for her doctoral dissertation, published as A History of Irish Ballet from 1927 to 1963 by Peter Lang (Oxford and New York) in 2011.

Posters, flyers, programmes, press cuttings, photographs and ephemera collected by Frances Buchanan née O’Hara mainly reflecting her times in Patricia Mulholland’s Irish Ballet.

This collection contains material relating to J. M. O’Neill’s career as a writer, including drafts and proofs of his plays and novels, press cuttings, publicity material and correspondence. A thesis discussing the significance of O’Neill’s work in the context of Irish writing is also included.

Programmes, press cuttings, photographs, letters, and certificates collected by Cliodna O’Riordan. The items reflect the early years of the Irish National Ballet School and O’Riordan’s subsequent interest in ballet and other forms of dance.

This collection consists of published and unpublished material assembled by Simon Dalby for the preparation of his MA Geography thesis, ‘Political Ecology: A Study of the Irish Anti-Nuclear Movement’ (University of Victoria, Canada, 1982). Published material includes articles; books, booklets and pamphlets; conference proceedings, speeches and public lectures; EEC communiqués; newsletters; periodicals; press cuttings; reports; and treaties and acts. Unpublished material comprises correspondence, minutes, reports, fact sheets, posters and other items created by Irish anti-nuclear groups including Alliance for Safety and Health (ASH), An Taisce, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, CONSERVE, Donegal Uranium Committee, The Ecology Party, Friends of the Earth, Noxious Industry Action Group, Nuclear Opposition Wexford, Nuclear Safety Association, Socialist Labour Party, Trade Union Anti-Nuclear Campaign and UCC Nuclear Opposition Group. There are also notes made by Simon Dalby during the preparation of his thesis, including extracts from published material; notes taken during interviews, conferences and seminars; and notes on minutes and correspondence.

The collection is based on a single theme, namely, the publishing background to James Joyce’s Dubliners. The book did, indeed, have a very strange history. Its journey began in 1904, when Joyce submitted a collection of short stories to the publisher, Grant Richards. It was not until February 1906 that Richards accepted them. Unfortunately, Richards had problems with his printer who refused to set up the print for the story Two Gallants, as he objected to certain passages therein. Richards and Joyce had many debates and arguments about the deletion and modification of this and other passages in the book. Finally in 1907, Richards backed away from publishing the work. In 1909, George Roberts of the Dublin firm Maunsel & Co. accepted Dubliners and signed a publication contract in August of that year. However, Roberts had second thoughts about its publication soon after and the entire first print run of the book was burned before it was launched. Dubliners was finally published in 1914 by the original publisher, Grant Richards, a full ten years after it was written. McGrath seems to have had a great interest in discovering what influenced two successive publishers to reject the manuscript. Other items in the collection include an original Seán O’Casey letter to McGrath in which he enclosed a large signed black and white photograph of himself (P8/4). There are also press cuttings which comprise of an obituary of Oliver St. John Gogarty (P8/20) and a review of a book about Joyce (P8/21).