Category: History

By Marnie Hay Were you ever a Cub Scout or a Girl Guide – or a member of any other youth group that required you to wear a uniform of some sort? Did you play games and learn new skills at weekly meetings, get to know kids from other schools, and enjoy (or dread) the… Continue reading The early years of uniformed youth groups in Ireland, 1888-1930

Event 1. Online Age group: Suitable for all ages, child to adult Author Nora Corcoran reads from her ‘Tadgh and Maranda’ series Join author Nora Corcoran as she performs a reading from one of her children’s books celebrating Traveller heritage and culture. “Mister, teach me to be a Tinsmith. so I can keep our Traveller… Continue reading Culture Night Óiche Chultúir 2022

For Heritage Week 2022 the Museum of Childhood Ireland is asking members of the public to make suggestions of objects that they would like to see in the Museum. Do you have an object that that tells a story about the history of children and childhood in Ireland?  Or can you think of an item… Continue reading ­­­­Heritage Week 2022: Suggestions for Objects for the Museum of Childhood Ireland

For Heritage Week 2022 the Museum of Childhood Ireland is asking members of the public to make suggestions of objects that they would like to see in the Museum. Do you have an object that that tells a story about the history of children and childhood in Ireland?  Or can you think of an item… Continue reading Wanted Suggestions for Objects for the Museum of Childhood Ireland

By Marnie Hay Were you ever a Cub Scout or a Girl Guide – or a member of any other youth group that required you to wear a uniform of some sort? Did you play games and learn new skills at weekly meetings, get to know kids from other schools, and enjoy (or dread) the… Continue reading The early years of uniformed youth groups in Ireland, 1888-1930

By Sarah-Anne Buckley One of the most well-worn phrases in recent years has been the 1916 Proclamation’s reference to “cherishing all of the children of the nation equally”. The line was intended to refer to all citizens not just children, but it highlights the symbolic significance of childhood and the role children and younger people… Continue reading A Youthful Revolution?

Lorraine McEvoy Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Hope”: Recuperative Holidays in Ireland and the UK for Children Impacted by the Second World War   After the destruction of the Second World War, individuals and communities throughout Europe organised recuperative holidays, in which groups of children were temporarily hosted abroad to restore their physical and psychological health. The… Continue reading Culture Night 17th September 2021

Ruti Lachs. https://www.rutilachs.ie/memories-of-a-cork-jewish-childhood.html Memories of a Cork Jewish Childhood, a short video produced by Ruti Lachs, includes stories and memories from Jewish people around the world who grew up in Cork city, interspersed with photographs and music from Jewish Cork past and present. The film was Runner-Up for a National Heritage Day Award in 2021.… Continue reading Memories of a Cork Jewish Childhood

By Anne O’Dowd In 1940 the Irish Folklore Commission circulated a questionnaire – Old time Irish country dress – to schoolteachers in primary schools in the 26 counties of Ireland. It was devised to collect facts and traditions relating to clothing in a rural context regarding those with very little disposable income and who made… Continue reading Baby’s First Clothes – Clothing New-born Infants in Rural Ireland in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

By Mary Hatfield (hatfielm@tcd.ie) One of the many sources that historians of childhood use to gain insight into childhood in the past is clothing. How children were dressed, and what was considered fashionable for children manifest something of the cultural ideas and values of a particular historical moment. For example, in contemporary culture we distinguish… Continue reading Children’s Clothing in Modern Ireland