Research Trip, August 2011

In August 2011, during what could have been called a typical Irish summer, I hit the road to do some research. I visited the Armagh County Museum, which is in Armagh City in Northern Ireland (pictured below) and examined material related to George Russell (1867-1935). Russell, who was also known as AE, was a very interesting character who had many interests including the co-operative movement, poetry, journalism and painting. The staff were very helpful and I managed to get some invaluable quotations and references from the material they hold on AE.

I also visited the Model in Sligo Town. There was a great exhibition on at the time on paintings from the Celtic Revival period. Link to exhibition: http://themodel.ie/exhibitions/the-celtic-twilight

Photo of Sligo Town with Ben Bulben in the distance, covered in mist.

Irish Seminar 2011

I attended the 'Irish Seminar' in 2011. The 'Irish Seminar' is a three week long Summer school in Irish Studies run in Dublin, Ireland every year. It is presented by the Keough Naughton Notre Dame Centre. About 40 graduate students from the USA and Europe particpated in the seminar. It was a very informative, if not busy three weeks and I really enjoyed the mix of academic and social aspects to the Seminar. It was interesting to hear about the different approaches to PhD education in Europe and the US. For example, I wasn't aware that in the States it could take several years longer to complete your PhD, due to the fact that students normally have a year or two of coursework even before they start their PhD. The Seminar normally takes place in O'Connell House on Merrion Square, which was the Dublin home of Daniel O'Connell (the man known as 'The Liberator', because of his fight for Catholic Emancipation in Ireland in the first half of the 19th century).

The theme of the 2011 seminar was 'Irish Modernisms'. The Seminar consisted of
(i) lectures by academics involved in Irish Studies from universities in Ireland and the US and
(ii) cultural activities, including plays, book and poetry readings and field trips to sites of interest in Ireland.

We visited places associated with Irish writers and playwrights, such as Thoor Ballylee associated with WB Yeats, Hook Head lighthouse and Lady Gregory's home Coole Park - some photos attached.
This is Thoor Ballylee in Gort, County Galway, Ireland. WB Yeats lived here with his family for a time in the 1920s and it was the inspiration for several of his poems.

This is all that remains of Coole House today. Yeats' friend Lady Augusta Gregory lived here.

Hook Head Lighthouse is situated on the Hook Head peninsula in County Wexford, Ireland.