24.09 – 07.10.18 All events are FREE www.dublinfestivalofhistory.ie Brought to you by Dublin City Council The Dublin Festival of History is brought to you by Dublin City Council and is managed by Dublin City Public Libraries. One of the key aims of Dublin City’s Library & Archive (DCLA) service is to preserve, share and promote the history and heritage of Dublin and Ireland and to encourage and facilitate historical research. The Dublin City Library & Archive, 138 –144 Pearse Street houses the City’s archives and extensive collections relating to Dublin and surrounding areas. See www.dublincitypubliclibraries.ie for more information, databases.dublincity.ie for historical resources, genealogical information and digital collections and digital.libraries.dublicity.ie to access over 43,000 free images including photographs, postcards, letters, maps and much more. Printworks: Please access Printworks venue at Dublin Castle via the Palace Street entrance, off Dame Street. Exhibitions: Suffragist City: Women and the Vote in Dublin; Photos of Viking artefacts from University Museum of Bergen; Crossing Borders: Roger Casement and his Peruvian experience. Festival bookshop: The Gutter Bookshop Pop-up history library: Bring along your library card and borrow history books and historical novels from the Festival’s History Library in Dublin Castle. Food: Relax between lectures with refreshments in local cafes offering the following special offers to Festival goers: • Silk Road Cafe, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle — 20% discount. • The Right Place Cafe, City Hall — Afternoon Tea for Two €20 including a glass of Prosecco (must be booked in advance 01 222 2916). Please note that this programme is subject to change; follow us on Twitter or Facebook or check www.dublinfestivalofhistory.ie for latest information and keep informed of upcoming events/programme changes by signing up for the Dublin Festival of History mailing list on our website. @HistFest #histfest2018 Email: [email protected] The Dublin Festival of History would like to thank OPW and Dublin Castle for the use of Printworks for the weekend of history talks; a great venue in the heart of historic Dublin city. 2018 Contents Lord Mayor’s Foreword 2 City Librarian Foreword 3 Talks 4 Festival Programme – At a Glance 28 Walks 43 The LAB 46 Exhibitions 47 Finale Weekend 48 Admission is FREE to all events at the Dublin Festival of History. No booking required for events in Printworks at Dublin Castle (except for the Michael Palin event). Doors open 20 minutes before the start of each event and there is unreserved seating. Booking is required for some of the events in other venues; this is stated in the programme or you can check at www.dublinfestivalofhistory.ie dublin festival of history 2018 Lord Mayor’s foreword The 2018 Dublin Festival of History delivers an unparalleled range of history events in this diverse and engaging programme. If, like me, you love the history of Dublin, there are several talks of interest including Dublin’s street names, housing and suburban development, city-centre shopping, tenement living, the docklands and childhood street games. Bringing the Decade of Commemorations theme into 2018, there are talks on the 1918 Armistice which ended the First World War, James Connolly, the sinking of the RMS Leinster and exhibitions, walks and lectures on women’s suffrage, women’s vote, 1918 General Election and Countess Markievicz election. Dublin City Council’s Historians in Residence will lead walks around various parts of the city and they challenge you to take part in the Decade of Commemorations Quiz to test your history knowledge. As always the variety of international history is exceptional with opportunities to learn about the Third Reich, the Romanovs, Franklin’s Arctic expedition, the Ukraine under Joseph Stalin, and the life of Thomas Cromwell. I invite you to listen, participate and enjoy. Tá súil agam go mbainfidh sibh go leir taitneamh as an gclár Nial Ring Lord Mayor of Dublin Forewords 2 féile na staire baile átha cliath City Librarian Foreword When we started this Festival in 2013, our aim was to make history more accessible by offering a wide range of interesting history topics, presented by excellent communicators, so that you can get an insight into a piece of history in an entertaining and informative way. We think we’ve succeeded in this aim over the past five years and in this, our 6th Festival, we bring you a record number of events. In keeping with our approach since the first year, we bring you history in many different eras, genres and geographies: from international history to local history, from quizzes and maps, to topics as diverse as shipwrecks, poverty, street play, Georgian era shopping, and even Johnny Cash. We’re bringing international historians to Dublin, and bringing Irish historians and their research to a wider audience, showcasing new writings and scholarship on a variety of history topics. The Festival also provides a platform for the City Council to highlight its work, and I am delighted that as well as library and archives staff, we have colleagues from archaeology; the Arts Office; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; the Mansion House; heritage services; Richmond Barracks; City Hall; 14 Henrietta Street, and the historians in residence all taking part. I am also delighted to welcome new external partners to our Festival this year, broadening the range, scope and diversity of the programme and opening up to new audiences. With a record number of 140 events taking place in venues around the City and suburbs - all free of charge! - this is our biggest Festival yet, and we look forward to seeing history-lovers old and new join us in our celebration of Dublin as a City of History & Heritage. Brendan Teeling Dublin City Librarian (Acting) 3 dublin festival of history 2018 Talks Dublin City Library and Archive, THE DUBLIN DOCKER 138-144 Pearse Street with Aileen O’Carroll 24th September at 1.10pm The distinctive working lives and dockland ways of the Dublin docker are an important part of Irish urban culture. In an illustrated talk Aileen O’Carroll will explore all aspects of dock work, from the tasks undertaken and commodities handled, to the heritage, language and lore of the docker. No booking required. All welcome on a first come, first served basis. @aaocarroll National Photographic Archive, CULTURE CLUB AT THE NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC Meeting House Square, Temple Bar ARCHIVE: ‘From Ballots to Bullets 1918-1919’ 24th September at 2pm In partnership with Dublin’s Culture Connects and the National Library of Ireland, join us for a free Culture Club tour of the exhibition ‘From Ballots to Bullets 1918-1919’. Booking required: [email protected] or (01) 4853732 @dublinconnects Talks Cabra Library, Navan Road ‘BOILING VOLCANO?’: the south responds to the 24th September at 6.30pm Troubles, 1968-1979 with Brian Hanley This talk examines how the conflict in Northern Ireland impacted on life south of the border and the ways in which people responded to events there during the 1970s. Booking required: [email protected] or (01) 869 1414 Marino Library, Marino Mart LÁ NA MBAN: the women of Ireland’s response to 24th September at 6.30pm the threat of conscription in 1918 with Liz Gillis When the British government threatened to introduce conscription to Ireland in 1918, the country rallied together to resist the threat. The women of Ireland played their part which culminated in the event known as Lá na mBan, on the 9th June 1918, when three quarters of women in Ireland made a political stand against the British government. Booking required: [email protected] or (01) 833 6297 @lizgillis191623 4 féile na staire baile átha cliath Terenure Library, Templeogue Road TORPEDOED! THE SINKING OF THE RMS LEINSTER 24th September at 6.30pm with Philip Lecane On the 10th October 1918, the German submarine UB-123 sank the Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead mail boat RMS Leinster off the Kish Bank with over 560 deaths. UB-123 was lost in a minefield with all of its crew while attempting to return to Germany. Most of them were aged 18 and 19. This talk will look at both sinkings. Booking required: [email protected] or (01) 490 7035 Rathmines Library, STALWART SUFFRAGETTES Lower Rathmines Road with Maeve Casserly, Historian in Residence 24th September at 6.30pm (Dublin City Council, South East Area) sen ho by C The campaign for women’s rights to vote in Ireland was part of a long fought struggle for social and political equality. Maeve will trace its origins in early 18th and 19th century social reform movements and tell the stories of the T w ll! itter po men and women, from many different beliefs and backgrounds, who joined together to campaign for suffrage for women. Booking required: [email protected] or (01) 497 3539 @DubHistorians Donabate Library, Portrane Road FRANCES, FINGAL AND FEMALE 24th September at 6.30pm ENFRANCHISEMENT with Cathal Dowd Smith Frances Power Cobbe of Newbridge House, Donabate, was one of the leading female political figures of the 19th century and one of the first female professional journalists. Cathal Dowd Smith will reveal her work for animal rights, women’s rights in divorce and abuse cases, the enfranchisement of women, higher education and social reform. Booking required: [email protected] @fingallibraries 5 dublin festival of history 2018 Phibsboro Library, North Circular Road TEACHING THE NATION’S PAST: Irish History in 24th September at 6.30pm Secondary Schools, 1922-1969 with Colm Mac Gearailt What we teach shows what we value. This talk will consider how Irish history was taught in secondary schools in the post-Independent period up until the late 1960s and the period of ‘modernisation’.