The HardiBlog

Welcome to this podcast from the Archives of the Hardiman Library, NUI Galway. This episode features a conversation with Professor Frank Shovlin, who shares his experiences and thoughts from extensive research carried out on the archive of writer, John McGahern. Prof. Frank Shovlin Frank was educated at University College Galway where he took BA and MA degrees before moving to complete doctoral studies at St John's College, Oxford. In 2008 frank became a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool and in 2014 took up the role as head of department at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Frank has earned numerous competitive fellowship awards, notably Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowships and Moore Institute Visiting Fellowships which enabled detailed study of the Archive of John McGahern. Frank has published widely in leading journals and publications on Irish literature, print culture and related topics. Previous monographs include "The Irish L...

The week of 28 th November is Library Ireland Week, and this year’s theme is ‘Empowering Through Online Access’. We in the Library are committed to providing our users with easy access to resources of the highest quality. There is a very clearly proven reason for this: access to the highest quality journals means you have the best research in your field accessible to you. This means that your own research in turn will be of high academic quality, and will subsequently be used as research from users in other highly-ranked global research institutions. Being part of this cyclical research process is one of the key strategic themes for NUI Galway. The NUI Galway user community are very heavy users of online scholarly information to aid their research needs. From Oct 1 st 2015 to Sept 30 th 2016 there were a hefty 1.68 million journal articles accessed, and an additional 700,000 ebook chapters read . So for every day during that year, the NUI Galway user community ac...

As pa rt of Lib rary Ireland Week we are promoting a nu mber of our o nline newspapers with a foc us on Irish resources.   The Irish Newspaper Archive is a w onder ful example of this provid ing access to a range of national and provincial newspapers, with extensive historical and contemporary coverage. It is the primary online source for: the  Irish Independent  the Sunday Independent Irish provincial newspapers The newspapers are in complete digital, searchable form.  The Irish Newspaper Archive is now the main method of access to provincial newspapers in the Library.  Some of the main newspapers covered include:   Anglo-Celt 1846- Connaught Sentinel 1927- Connaught Tribune 1909- Galway City Tribune- Freeman’s Journal  1763-1924 Irish Examiner 1841-1999 Irish Independent 1905- Irish Press 1931-1995 Leitrim Leader 1905- Tuam Herald 1837- A full list of titles with coverage is  available .  Check out...

As pa rt of Lib rary Ireland Week we are promoting a nu mber of our o nline resourc es w ith a focus on newspapers and publications that cover con temp orary events. The Economist remains one of the most read publications for contemporary social, political and economic events. The Library has access to:  current online content via the Economist website from 1997- present the complete Economist historical archive 1843-2012 current print issues located on floor 1 at 330 in the journals section Current Content via the Economist website Search for the Economist on the Library Catalogue Click on the title to display the username and password Follow the link provided onto http:// www.economist.com Sign into the website using the username/password provided You will now have full-text content to all articles The Economist Historical Archive The Economist Historical Archive  provides a complete searchable copy of every is...

Today's theme looks at cars and the history of motoring in various collections. Being able to look back and admire the design and engineering of early cars in the twentieth century also prompts us to look at how the needs of motorists have also changed over the years. Records from the Galway Town Commissioner's ledgers of minutes and correspondence (Collection LA4) show how in 1918, as the War was still ongoing in Europe, a concern for the local Town Commission was the level of damage being caused to local roads owing to the increased volume of army vehicle traffic. Read the entry from the volume in full below:  Some other items and images of interest are from the photographic archive of Jean Ritchie and George Pickow. Ritchie was a celebrated American folk singer, who was part of the famous 'Singing Ritchies' family of Appalachia area of America. On Fullbright scholarship trip to Ireland in the early 1950s, Jean travelled around Ireland collecting folk songs...

The visitor book of Queens College Galway/University College Galway is a record of all guests and notable visitors to campus for the years 1877 - 1928. A simple volume like this was in use when the campus comprised only the Quadrangle building we know today but carries huge significance within the hundreds of signatures within its pages. The book covers a span of years that was revolutionary, in many senses, in Ireland and for the University with its place within the network of 'Queen's Colleges' of Ireland and the U.K. Through the years the book was in use, it witnessed the growth of the University, the rise and fall of Charles Stewart Parnell, the reign and later death of Queen Victoria, the 1916 Rising which had ripple effects across the west, the first world war which saw staff and students of the college enlist and also die on the battlefields of Europe, the 1918 Election, and other major events through the Revolutionary period in Ireland, through to the late 1920s. Th...

The distinctive signature of 'An Craoibhin' All Presidents need some down time. For Douglas Hyde, academic, Irish language activist and first President of Ireland, this place of privacy and contemplation was at his family home at Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon. The family moved to the area of Ratra in the 1860s and always maintained a special place in the heart of Douglas Hyde. (Hyde would also go by the nom de plume “An Craoibhin Aoibhinn”) Even in his advanced years, after becoming President of Ireland in 1938 and taking residence in Áras an Uactaráin in Dublin, Hyde still made private visits to Frenchpark, returning to re-live some quieter moments among the nature he so quite clearly loved. Cover of the Hyde Photograph Album (P38) Within the Hardiman Library is a bound volume containing a photographic album of the Hyde family during the 1890s. All of the photographs are taken at Frenchpark, County Roscommon, and the subjects are mainly Douglas Hyde and his family, other ...

This week is the national 'Explore Archives' week . Archives services and repositories all over the country will be delving into their collections and sharing some new stories and rare items from their collections. All this week the Archives of the Hardiman Library will share some highlights and seldom seen items from our collections. Our archives range in date from the late 15th century to present day and cover a wide range of topics from the development of Galway city, the culture, landscape, language and music of Connemara and the West, great Irish writers, theatres and actors, as well as more modern records stemming from the years of conflict in Northern Ireland. For this first post we go back to where we started. Queen's College Galway, as we then were known, was founded in 1845 and opened its doors to a first cohort of students soon after. Our first Librarian was James Hardiman, historian and book collector and our University Library still bears his name today. Th...