Welsh newspapers online - Free resource

The National Library of Wales has digitised millions of articles from the its collection of historic newspapers. 15 million Welsh newspaper articles in English and Welsh are now available to view online for free. You can access the catalogue here.

 

Screenshot of the website for information. 

Through the search boxes, you can also specify if you want to search for cartoons, graphs, illustrations, maps and photographs. Below are some examples of the editorial cartoons you can find on the website.

 

'Leaving for the Gilded Chamber', The Cambria Daily Leader, 19 May 1914. Source.

 

'The Wash Outs', Abergavenny Chronicle, 16 November 1918. Source.

Visit to Cork Public Museum with a class

I am teaching an undergraduate module on 'France and the Great War' at the moment. It is a classroom based module but I thought it could be helpful for the students to look outside of the classroom for an alternative for one of our seminars - so I contacted the Cork Public Museum. 

The responsive to my initial approach to the museum was very positive and as a result of their work, we had a successful visit. It is great to actually see and feel items from that period (or authentic replicas) instead of just reading about them. 

 

Photograph of Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald's Park. 

Thanks to the curator Mr Daniel Breen and education officer Ms Jessica Cull for welcoming us to the museum and presenting relevant items that they took out from storage for us.

 

Frederick Douglass in Ireland 180 years ago - An Irish Diary

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was born into slavery in America. He managed to escape and spent the rest of his life telling his story and campaigning for an end to slavery. He visited Ireland in 1845 to spread the word. I have just written an Irish Diary about his time in Ireland in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.

 

Mural of Frederick Douglass in Cork.

Douglass wrote his autobiography in 1845 and this caused quite the sensation - so much so that he thought it might be best to get away for a while. He toured Ireland on a speaking tour in the Autumn of 1845, visiting Kildare, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, Wexford and Waterford. He was positively received wherever he went. This surprised him as he was used to being treated differently in the United States on account of his skin colour. 

He also visited England, Scotland and Wales in 1845. There is a map here of all the towns where he spoke from Exeter in the south of England to Wrexham in northeast Wales and Aberdeen in Scotland. 

 

RTÉ Brainstorm piece on the Sacré-Coeur basilica in Paris

Many visitors to Paris will have seen the Sacré-Coeur Basilica on the butte of Montmartre. Some will have traveled there and walked up the steps to see the city stretch out below them. Some will even have entered the church but many do not know the history the building which has eared a place in almost every guidebook to Paris. I have just written a piece on the RTÉ Brainstorm website on the history of the basilica. Read it here. 

 

As I mention in the article, controversy has surrounded the building from the beginning. For some it has come to be seen as a "key monument of modern French Catholicism" and for others, it is a symbol of the influence of the Catholic Church in state affairs.  

According to Martin Evans and Emmanuel Godin, the "Sacré-Coeur served the symbolic purpose of asking for forgiveness for the sins of the atheist Commune. However, for Republicans it came to stand for the worst excesses of clerical domination". [France Since 1815, (London: Routledge, p. 65)].

On a recent visit to Paris, I was able to see the crypt, which is not normally open to all visitors. It was amazing to see the size of the crypt with its windows, high ceilings and many altars. Architecturally, the Sacré-Coeur is a stunning example of a craftsmanship. Engineering-wise, it is an example of what can be done in a challenging location. Below is a photograph of the crypt.

 Have you ever visited the Sacré-Coeur basilica?

An Irish Diary on Irish language enthusiast Liam Ó Briain (1888-1974)

Can you learn a language from a primer or grammar book? Well apparently that is what Liam Ó Briain (1888-1974) did when he learned Irish by himself as it was not taught in his school in Dublin when he was growing up. I have just written an Irish Diary in the Irish Times about Prof Ó Briain who was an Irish language enthusiast (and Francophile). Read it here.

 

 Photograph of Liam Ó Briain. Image source.

Ó Briain was involved with the founding of An Taibhdhearc - the national Irish language theatre, in the 1920s. He was also involved with An Club Leabhar, an initiative that sought to get people reading Irish books as a way to promote the language. I was not able to find much information on this club but there are references in various newspapers to meetings of Irish language book clubs happening in universities. I wonder how widespread it was around the country and what the take-up was like among ordinary citizens!

 

Liam Ó Briain's grave stone in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.

If you would like to find out more about Liam Ó Briain - this is his entry in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, there is a good lot of information on him (in Irish) on the Ainm.ie website and there is an interesting blog post here from Dublin City Libraries. 

Radio interview based on article on Irish restaurant in Paris - La Ferme Irlandsaise

I recently did a short radio interview with MJ Clery on the programme 'Country Life' on Midlands 103 about the RTÉ Brainstorm article I wrote on the Irish restaurant in Paris known as La Ferme Irlandaise. You can listen back to the interview here. 

 

It's great to see that there is an interest in this relatively unknown chapter in Irish food history and Franco-Irish relations. Thanks to MJ Clery for the invite to take about my research on the show. 

RTÉ Brainstorm piece on La Ferme Irlandaise Irish Restaurant in Paris

La Ferme Irlandaise was an Irish restaurant in the heart of Paris. It served Irish food and the staff who were there were Irish. I have just written a short article on RTÉ Brainstorm about the restaurant. Read it here.

 

Newspaper photograph of the opening of the restaurant showing the Minister for External Affairs Michael O'Kennedy (third from right). 

The restaurant was the brainchild of Paddy O'Keeffe who was Chairman of investment cooperative Farmers' Business Developments (FBD) and editor of the Irish Farmers' Journal. Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe Restaurant acted as an advisor for the restaurant. The classically-trained chef Peter Robinson ran the restaurant for the first couple of years from its opening in November 1979 until 1981.

It was then taken over by Myrtle Allen who sent staff from Ballymaloe to run the restaurant in Paris. She traveled over to the restaurant every few weeks to make sure that it was running smoothly. The decor and menu changed when she took over and it became even more 'Irish' than it had been. 

The new menu included a full Irish breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs, which was very popular with the customers. They also served dishes such as Shangarry beef and Guinness pie and Irish lamb with mint and butter sauce. The Allens ceased to be involved in La ferme irlandaise in 1985 and the restaurant closed in 1987. It remains one of the most novel and interesting showcases for Irish food and Irish cooking on the continent in recent times.

Thanks to Bryan Barry of FBD and John McCullen for their assistance in writing the article.