UCD Archives

Master’s student Sydney Patterson brought history to life and facilitated learning for secondary students studying the Downing Street Declaration via a workbook she created using Pembroke College Oxford’s Quill Project, an online platform for researchers, students, teachers and those analysing the records of negotiated texts.

Sources for the workbook content were taken from the Downing Street Declaration material in the Dermot Nally Collection, which is housed in UCD Archives. Sydney explains the process and the use of Quill Project tools to create this digital learning resource in the latest UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections blog post. Read the blog post at https://ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/2026/05/21/from-archive-to-classroom-creating-a-workbook-on-the-downing-street-declaration/

UCD College of Social Sciences and Law UCD Archives

Kate, our Principal Archivist, will speak about the Fianna Fáil Party archives this afternoon to mark the centenary of its foundation 1926. UCDA has curated the archive since 2000. Over 300 researchers have consulted it since then to write books, articles, theses, documentaries and more...

We have put together a display of items from the archives of the Fianna Fáil Party, to mark the centenary of the foundation of the Party on 16 May 1926. UCDA has curated the archive since 2000 and over 300 researchers (from Ireland, the UK, the USA and elsewhere) have accessed the collection to carry out research to prepare exhibitions, master’s and doctoral studies, and the publication of articles and monographs.

Very many thanks to Lorraine McLoughlin and her team in Special Collections for their assistance and to Kate Manning (Principal Archivist) and Sky Tsuda Pillsbury (project archivist) for preparing and mounting the display.

On the 14th of May from 6-8pm, UCD Library will host journalist Ronan McGreevy whose recent publication, ‘Seán Lemass: The Lost Memoir’, was based on interviews conducted by businessman and hotelier Dermot A. Ryan between 1967–1969.

In 2017 Ryan’s interview tapes were deposited in UCD Archives. A selection of archival items relating to Seán Lemass will be on display at this event. Guests will also have an opportunity to view a display of material from UCD Archives to mark the centenary of the foundation of the Fianna Fáil Party.

Event Speakers:

Professor Orla Feely (UCD President)

Ronan McGreevy (Journalist)

Kate Manning (Principal Archivist, UCD Archives)

Wine reception to follow.

This is a free ticketed event. All Welcome! Please get your tickets at Eventbrite (see the link in our bio).

University College Dublin UCD Alumni UCD Societies UCD College of Social Sciences and Law historyhub.ie

RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by German submarine U-20 1915. historyhub.ie has a nice piece on a letter from Edward Nolan to The O’Rahilly (April 1915, UCDA P102/129) referring to the composer Thomas O’Brien Butler's forthcoming voyage on the Lusitania.

Letter from Edward Nolan to The O’Rahilly, 29th of April, 1915 - History Hub While much about the letter arouses curiosity, the most eye-catching part occurs in the first sentence, with Nolan’s casual mention of the word “Lusitania”.

This month will see the centenary of the foundation of the Fianna Fáil Party.

The UCD Archives document of the month for May (P176/23-20 A Brief Outline of the Aims and Programme of Fianna Fáil, 1926) is one of the foundational texts of the Party.

The inaugural meeting of Fianna Fáil took place on 16 May, 1926 in La Scala Theatre, Dublin. The new party was launched by Éamon de Valera, who was until shortly before the president of Sinn Fein and, in the eyes of republicans, president of the Irish Republic as proclaimed in 1916. Sinn Fein, the party of all republicans fighting for Irish freedom up to 1922, had come to consist of those republicans who, along with de Valera, had rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty of that year.

Find the documents and more detail at https://www.ucd.ie/archives/collections/month

The Easter Rising collapsed 1916. This letter from Ivor Churchill Guest (Viscount Wimborne), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to General Maxwell, ‘published for the information of the troops’, congratulates Maxwell 'on the complete success of your efforts'.

From a file marked ‘British Documents Re: 1916 (Given to President de Valera)'. Includes intelligence reports and despatches between Irish Command; the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces and his staff; the War Office; M.I.5.G. and the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Calendar of Papal Letters, Vol. XXII, 1522-1523: Adrian VI, Vatican and Lateran Registers - Irish Manuscripts This volume calendars the entries in the papal registers of letters in the Vatican Apostolic Archives during the brief but important pontificate of Adrian VI. These letters are being explored and published for the first time, and bring to light a great deal of biographical and topographical informat...

De Valera introduced a new Constitution of Ireland in two broadcasts on Radio Athlone 1937.

"…In my judgement a Constitution ought to do more than define the character of the legislative, executive and judicial regime…It should inspire as well as control, elicit loyalty as well as compel it…"

P150/2431 is a file of documents concerning his explanatory addresses on the proposed new Constitution, broadcast in Irish (at 10.45p.m.) and English (at 11pm.) on Radio Athlone on 30 April 1937.

‘The Constitution now before the country has been drawn up from a severely practical point of view. It is not an essay in the application of the political or legal theories of any particular school. It is designed to provide a firm foundation for an ordered life and peaceful political development within the community, but the ideals which ought to inspire and direct that development are rightly emphasised…In my judgement a Constitution ought to do more than define the character of the legislative, executive and judicial regime…It should inspire as well as control, elicit loyalty as well as compel it…No one, I hope, expects that with the adoption of this Constitution the national goal has been reached. There are many injustices in the existing political situation which this Constitution cannot directly remove–the partition of our country, the occupation by Great Britain of positions on our ports, the exaction by Britain of money which we hold not to be due, legitimate dissatisfaction with these injustices will remain, different parties will continue to propose different policies for dealing with them. But the aim in drafting this Constitution has been so to design it that all these controversies will be outside the Constitution itself and will not stand in the way of any remedies that may be proposed. The Constitution as drafted will fit and will not prejudge whatever policies the people decide to adopt with regard to these matters. Within its framework domestic peace can be assured, and, in the words of its Preamble, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations’.