History Posts

By Danielle Ford The above photograph was taken from Ken Russell’s series ‘The Last of the Teddy Girls’, which historians can take as a chronicle of youth subcultures and an insight into the extent to which they were determined by gender. Russell’s collection is one of the first detailed studies of female subcultures in the… Continue reading Teddy Boys and Girls

Voices of the Village, Guthanna an Sráidbhaile Dumha Acha Seachtain Náisiúnta na hOidhreachta. Heritage Week 2024 takes place from 17th – 25th August 2024. This year’s theme is “Connections, Routes and Networks”, and the Heritage Council invites all to explore how we are connected to each other both through physical routes and cultural connections.  Robert… Continue reading 2.Heritage Week 2024

Old Stories – New Ways Seanscéalta – Bealaí Nua Seachtain Náisiúnta na hOidhreachta. Heritage Week 2024 takes place from 17th – 25th August 2024. This year’s theme is “Connections, Routes and Networks”, and the Heritage Council invites all to explore how we are connected to each other both through physical routes and cultural connections.  Sharing… Continue reading 1.Heritage Week 2024

By Daniel Gallen The National Gay Federation had been at the forefront of the struggle for Irish gay liberation in the 1970s and ‘80s, but gay and lesbian youths’ voices were largely absent from the activism of this era. Some within the NGF were concerned with the welfare of these young people, many of whom… Continue reading Building the Future:The Second International Gay Youth Congress, 1985 Youth

Figure 1: Sketch of Padraig Faulkner (O’Connell, 2012) The 1970s was a dramatic period worldwide and similarly one of economic, industrial, and political unrest in Ireland. This period of social change sharpened the debates about equality and the lives of Irish women. The 1970s also saw the continuation of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland which… Continue reading Education in 1970s Ireland

The opening of Ballymun Comprehensive School (O’Moore, 2015). Life in the 1960s was influenced by the civil rights movement across the world, and by the ‘cold war’ of the United States and the Soviet Union. Ireland also experienced changes and civil unrest during this period.  Northern Ireland witnessed the beginning of the ‘The Troubles’ with… Continue reading Education in 1960s Ireland

The 1950s was a period of recovery and reorganisation across the world after World War II and Ireland was no exception. It was a time of economic hardship, mass unemployment, and an increase in emigration amongst young Irish people. Figure 1: Sean Moylan, former Minister for Education, Fianna Fáil TD, and ex-IRA Commandant (MacGuill, 2015).… Continue reading Education in 1950s Ireland

Eamonn De Valera, c. 1918–1920. Photo Wikipedia The Minister of Education in Ireland for the 1940s period was originally the same one as the in the 1930s period, Thomas Derrig.Derrig was Minister of Education from 1932-1939, where he was replaced for short amount of time by Eamonn De Valera. Derrig returned as Minister of Education from… Continue reading 1940s Education in Ireland

Education in the 1930s in Ireland under the leadership of Thomas McDerrig, a Fianna Fail TD who was the Minister of Education from 1932-1939 Figure 1: Thomas Derrig, Minister for Education from 1932 to 1939 (Dubhghaill, 2022). Thomas Derrig was the Minister of Education from 1932 to 1939. Derrig was one of the founding members… Continue reading Education in 1930s Ireland

With the Irish Free State just coming into the Irish political sphere after the centuries long control by the United Kingdom, there needed to be a reconfiguration of the educational system within Ireland. This started with the creation of the Department of Education, which was formed on the 26th of August 1921, with Eoin MacNeill… Continue reading Education in 1920s Ireland

By Derek Whelan Mods in transition In the late 1950’s some young Londoners began to follow the fashion and musical influences of American Jazz artists. Originally known as the ‘Modernists’ they became to be known as ‘Mods’. During the sixties their musical interests evolved into American rhythm and blues, soul, and Jamaican blue beat. Soho… Continue reading Mods in transition

By Megan McAuley ‘I recall the hiring fair in Letterkenny, when the small farmers’ sons and daughters were forced to offer themselves for auction to the ranchers in the Lagan Valley. They stood on the footpaths, had their muscles examined by the big farmers, and eventually were hired to them for a few paltry pounds… Continue reading ‘A sadder sight it would be impossible to witness’: Criticism of the hiring fair and child labour in County Donegal in the early twentieth century.

By Ida Milne Sometimes, in the tedium of trawling through dry-as-dust official reports, we historians have a discovery that initially seems little more than an amusing distraction, but later casts a bright light on our topic. In 2016, while reading  the 1911 annual reports of  Dublin’s long-serving Medical Officer of Health Sir Charles Cameron in… Continue reading Charles Cameron’s bags of flies

By Kayla D’Amato When considering the holiday souvenir dolls collected for many years by Ellen Worrall (now in the ownership of MoCI) See: questions begin to appear such as are they authentic? Do they represent stereotypes? Or are they accurate depictions of the imagery of the country in which they came from? To answer such… Continue reading Holiday Souvenir Dolls and Their Place in Tourism

By Ciara Molloy On 7 November 1963, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr performed two shows in the Adelphi Cinema on Middle Abbey Street to more than 5,000 Irish fans.[i] Mobs of ‘screaming teenage girls’ had greeted previous Beatles’ appearances in Leicester,[ii] and in anticipation of similar incidents in Dublin, Operation Beatles was… Continue reading Beatlemania, Mods and Hysterical Teenagers – Irish Style

2024 Announcement! The Museum of Childhood Ireland (MoCI) are delighted to announce that we have received funding from Mayo County Council, and ethical approval through NUIG, for an oral history researcher to begin research work on a second project and festival from the MoCI, ‘Achill’s Children and Robert Henri, an Oral History’ in September 2023.… Continue reading The Children of Achill & Robert Henri Project & History Festival

The children of Dooagh National School, Achill. As part of our recent ‘The Children of Achill and Robert Henri’ festival with Achill Tourism, and supported by Mayo County Council, the children of Dooagh NS ( many of whom are descendants of the children who originally sat for artist Robert Henri ) took part in a… Continue reading Paired Portraits Exhibition

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

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?

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

By Mary Hatfield (Hatfielm@tcd.ie) Photographs provide a rich and detailed source for exploring children’s lives and their place and role in Irish society. Even a brief glance through historic photograph collections indicates the many ways Irish childhood was constructed and experienced across different periods, classes, and localities. Since the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth… Continue reading Photography and Irish Children: A Window into Childhood Fashion

By Lorraine McEvoy If you ever find yourself wandering around the southwestern corner of St Stephen’s Green, you are likely to stumble upon a statue called the Three Fates. Unveiled in 1956, it was a gift of gratitude from West Germany to the Irish people for humanitarian aid they provided after the Second World War.… Continue reading A Brief Reflection on Researching Children and Postwar Humanitarianism

For Heritage week 2021 we presented a series of videos on the history of children from medieval times to the eighteenth century. They are available on the MCI’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx8bymLYkYRJ0tqCNxCx5cg Presenters The presentations explore what these places, buildings and objects can tell us about childhood in Ireland in the medieval and early modern period. … Continue reading Heritage Week 2021. Heritage Council’s County Award Winner Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown

By Mary O’Dowd Writing the history of children and childhood in Ireland before the eighteenth century is a challenging task.  Historical records which refer to children are scarce and those that do survive tell us more about adults’ perception of childhood than the lived experience of children.  Irish children’s voices are hard to find before… Continue reading Researching the History of Children and Childhood in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Ireland

By Mary O’Dowd Childbirth and Infant Care Touching child-bearing, women within two hours after they are delivered many times leave their beds to go fop and drink with women coming to visit them; and in our experience a soldier’s wife delivered in the camp did the same day, and within a few hours after her… Continue reading History of Children and Childhood, 1500-1700

By Mary O’Dowd There were important changes in attitudes to children in the eighteenth century. Throughout western Europe and colonial America, there was a new interest in the education and formation of children. Philosophers and writers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft and many others wrote about the rearing and education of children. There… Continue reading History of Children and Childhood, 1700-1800

Here we present an online history of children and childhood in Ireland, 1500-2000. Research on the history of children and childhood in Ireland is a relatively new. Most books and articles on the topic have appeared in the last twenty years. There are still many gaps in our knowledge. We know more, for example, about… Continue reading History of Children and Childhood in Ireland

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

[photo courtesy of Museum of Childhood Ireland] Date And Time Thursday, Dec 10, 2020, 7:00 PM GMT Location Online Event Event description What can we learn about growing up in Ireland from the Dublin One City One Book for 2020, Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey? Join us for an online panel discussion of how this… Continue reading Growing Up in Late 20th Century Ireland

The Basque Children of ’37 12 month Islandwide touring exhibition This year the Museum of Childhood Ireland in partnership with BCA 37 UK, presents the 3rd in our series on Children in War: The Basque Children of ‘37. This year the MoCI in partnership with BCA 37 UK, present the 2nd of our Children in… Continue reading Children in War, 2020-21

Dr Korczac, Champion of the Child. Launch and 12 month islandwide touring exhibition. Champion of the Child: Janusz Korczac. Date:Thursday 26th April  Time:7.30pm Venue:The Studio, Lexicon Library Dún Laoghaire. This is the 2nd in our series on Children and War, from the Museum of Childhood Ireland, and our first 12 month travelling exhibition. The exhibition… Continue reading Children in War 2018-2019

Tomi Reichental, I was a Boy in Belsen Please join us for an evening with Tomi Reichental. Where: At Museum of Childhood Ireland office, 94 Lower Georges St. Dún Laoghaire. Time: 7pm until late Date: Wednesday Nov 8th 2017 We are honoured that Tomi is to give the inaugural talk for the Museum of Childhood… Continue reading Children in War, 2017