Monday 16 July 2018

Irish family history and heritage events, 16-29 July

Monday 16 July: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. On-going Monday closures are to facilitate extensive redevelopment of the premises. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 16 July: Delayed opening at the National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. The Reading Room will not open until 11:30am.

Wednesday 18 July: 'Boy with a Squirrel’ – The lives and the genealogy behind the painting, with Bob Frewen. Host: Irish Genealogical Research Society Ireland Branch. Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 63 Merrion Square South, Dublin 2. 6:45pm. All welcome. Members free. Non-members €5. Details

Wednesday 18 July: The Vikings in Kerry: The Archaeology of Cloghermore Cave, with Francesca Callaghan. Hill of Tara Summer lecture series. Host and venue: Hill of Tara Visitor Centre (St Patrick's church), Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. 8pm. Free. Seating limited so arrive in good time.

Thursday 19 July: Mother Jones (1837-1930), Cork-born American labour activist, with Dr Rosemary Feurer. Part of the Rebel Women of the 20th Century lecture series. Host and venue: GPO Witness Visitor Centre, GPO, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1. Free. 5:45pm. All welcome but advance booking essential.

Friday 20 July: Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger, exhibition opens. The exhibition, which features a collection from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA, will run to 13 October. Venue: Uillin: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Co Cork. Open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4:45pm. Details.

Saturday 21 July: Field Marshall Haig, with Gerry White. Host: Western Front Association (Dublin Branch). Venue: NMI Collins Barracks, Benburb St, Arran Quay, Dublin 7. 2:30pm. Admission €3 on the door. All welcome.

Saturday 21 July: The O’Neill regiments, with Pádraig Lenihan, followed by Inconsequential happenstance—Aughrim’s strategic contexts, with Mike McNally. Host: Aughrim 1691 Remembered. Venue: Aughrim Visitors Centre, Aughrim village, Ballinasloe, Co Galway. All welcome. Admission €10.

Saturday 21 July: Nostalgia, Memory and Debris: the social and historical significance of Ireland's abandoned schoolhouses, with Enda O'Flaherty. Host and Venue: NMI Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo. Free. 2pm. Booking required 084 9031751 or educationtph@museum.ie.

Saturday 21 July: The local women who became American 'War Brides' in WW1, with Damian Shiels. Host and venue: Midleton Library, Main Street,
Midleton, Co. Cork. 12:15pm. Lecture accompanies launch of Damian's exhibition of War Bride portraits in the Library. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 25 July: Irish family history assistance in the Library. Host: Genealogical Society of Victoria. Venue: GSV Library, Level 6, 85 Queen Street, Melbourne, Australia. Free for members. $20 non-members. 10am to 4pm. Consultations: One-hour appointments with a research consultant also available. See details.

Wednesday 25 July: Early Irish crosses, with Peter Harbison. Host: Hill of Tara Lecture Series/OPW. Venue: Hill of Tara Visitor Centre, St Patrick's Church, Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. All welcome. 8pm. Free. Limited seating so arrive in good time.

Thursday 26 July: Using family and local history resources online, a two-hour workshop. Host and venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. The workshop starts with an orientation tour of PRONI, followed by an introduction to searching resources online. 11am to 1pm. Free but registration required. These events usually book up very quickly.

Thursday 26 July: The Great Famine, a historical walking tour of Skibereen, with Philip O'Regan. Host: Skibbereen Heritage Centre. Meet at the Courthouse in North Street, Skibbereen, Co Cork, at 1830 and finish at Skibbereen Heritage Centre at 2000. The talk is free of charge but places are limited so booking is essential. Tel: 028 40900. Details.

Thursday 26 July: Skibbereen's Soup Kitchen, a new exhibition. Venue: Exterior of the Steam Mill Building in Ilen Street, Skibbereen, County Cork. Formal launch by the Mayor of Cork, Patrick Gerard Murphy. All welcome to the launch. Sample 'Soyer's Soup'. No booking required. 8pm. Free.