So, I'm returning to a weekly schedule of publishing a rolling fortnight list of genealogy, history and heritage events. As previously, these will be updated as I become aware of them. Here are some events taking place in the next two weeks:
Tuesday 27 April: Crisis in a Colonial Capital: The Black Death in Dublin, with Dr Simon Egan. Part of the Death and Disease in Dublin series from Dublin City Library and Archive. 1pm. Free but need to register here.
Tuesday 27 April: Place versus Memory: The Archaeology of the War of Independence and Civil War in Cork, with Dr Damian Shiels. Host: Experience Glasnevin - Ireland's National Cemetery Lecture Series, 2021. Free. Online, 7pm–8:30pm. Need to register.
Tuesday 27 April: Habitually, rankly immoral: state censorship in Ireland after 1930, with Dr A Bhreatnach. Host: National Archives of Ireland. Online. 7pm. All welcome. Free but need to register.
Tuesday 27 April: Naming and Forgetting: A Lecture on Fieldnames and Minor Placenames in County Clare, with Jake Justice and Micheál Mac Gearailt. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Online. 8pm. All welcome. Details.
Thursday 29 April: Armagh Robinson Library – 250 years, with Dr Robert Whan. Host: Armagh Robinson Library, Northern Ireland's oldest public library. Talk held on Zoom. 7:30pm. Free and all welcome, but need to book online or email: director@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk.
Thursday 29 April: Killeshin: A Portal in Time, Sean Murray. Hosts: Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society/Laois Heritage Society. 8pm. Free. Available on Zoom and Facebook.
Thursday 29 April: Blitz 80: Faces of the Blitz, with Alan Freeburn. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland War Memorial (NIWM). Online presentation. 2pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register. Details.
Thursday 29 April: 1911 Irish census and technology: bringing past, present & future together, with the Sensible Code Company. The talk will explore how digitised data is being transformed into a flexible format to unlock the value of historic records and open up exciting new possibilities for analysis. Host: National Archives of Ireland. 2:30pm to 4pm. Free online lecture. Booking essential.
Friday 30 April to 2 May: SleuthAbility, a virtual Irish genealogy, DNA and History conference, hosted by BBNY Group. Two days of recorded presentations, some aimed at Irish-Americans, each followed by live Q&A. See programme, schedules, speakers and ticket options here.
Friday 30 April: The Irish Influence - history, archives and more, with Caitriona Crowe. Host: Boston College. Presented at 9:30pm–10:30pm in Ireland, and 4.30pm EST in North America. Free. Need to register.
Saturday 1 May: Irish genealogy records, a beginner class with Jill Williams FIGRS. Host: Scottish Genealogy Society. £8 members/£10 non-members. 2pm-4pm. On Zoom. Need to book by 28 April latest.
Saturday 1 May: Michael Collins: The Man and the Revolution, with Anne Dolan and Will Murphy. Host: Cloughjordan Honours Thomas MacDonagh 2021, Cloughjordan Heritage Group. 8pm. Free. Online. Download programme or see MacdonaghHeritage.ie for booking.
Sunday 2 May: Taking the Biscuit, a specially commissioned drama set during Easter Week 1916 in Jacob’s Factory Garrison under the command of Commandant Thomas MacDonagh. Written and directed by Martin Maguire, the drama is based mainly on documents held in the Military Archives. Host: Cloughjordan Honours Thomas MacDonagh 2021, Cloughjordan Heritage Group. 8pm. Free. Online. Download programme or see MacdonaghHeritage.ie for booking.
Monday 3 May: Bank Holiday in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Monday 3 May: The Modreeny Ambush Centenary, with Ger Heffernan providing a detailed account of the involvement of the Irish Republican Army ‘Flying Column’, local Volunteers and the Royal Irish Constabulary in one of the final military acts of the Irish War of Independence. Host: Cloughjordan Honours Thomas MacDonagh 2021, Cloughjordan Heritage Group. 8pm. Free. Online. Download programme or book at MacdonaghHeritage.ie.
Wednesday 5 May: 'Admirals for a Day’: Reading and discussion, with Cormac O’Malley. Host: National Library of Ireland. Online. Need to book. Free. 7:30pm.
Thursday 6 May: WWI: Exploring the Irish Experience, a virtual exhibition tour. Host: National Library of Ireland. All welcome. Free, but need to book tickets. 11am.
Thursday 6 May: Blitz 80: Hands Across the Border: Assistance from southern fire brigades in the Belfast Blitz, by Las Fallon. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland War Memorial (NIWM). Online presentation. 2pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register.
Thursday 6 May: WWI: Life in an Irish Towerhouse, with Donal Burke. Host: Irish Workhouse Centre First Friday Series of talks. 8pm online. €5. Book here.
Monday 10 May: Many libraries, archives and similar research centres reopen in the Republic of Ireland.