Autumn/Winter lunchtime lecture series.
Wednesday, 31 October, 1-2 p.m.
Luke Drury, President of Royal Irish Academy: ‘Hamilton: mathematician and romantic’
Wednesday, 7 November, 1-2 p.m.
Nigel Monaghan, Keeper, National Museum of Ireland, Natural History Division: ‘Minerals, museums and Ireland’s industrial revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’
Wednesday, 14 November, 1-2 p.m.
Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian, Edward Worth Library: ‘Scientific collections of the Edward Worth Library’
Wednesday, 21 November, 1-2 p.m.
Duncan Thorburn Burns, MRIA: ‘Richard Kirwan (1733-1812): chemist, barrister and philosopher: an exemplar of good practice in his time and for today’
Wednesday, 28 November, 1-2 p.m.
Mairéad Treanor, Librarian, Met Éireann: ‘Weather!: meteorology and meteorological collections at the Royal Irish Academy and Met Éireann’.
To listen to audio recordings of this lecture series please click here.
Leabhar na hUidhre
A CONFERENCE: 22–23 NOVEMBER 2012
Leabhar na hUidhre (LU) is the oldest manuscript we have that is written entirely in the Irish language. It contains the earliest versions to have been transmitted to us of some of the most celebrated sagas: Táin Bó Cuailnge, Togail Bruidne Da Derga, Fled Bricrenn, Mesca Ulad, Tochmarc Emere and several others, in addition to much material of a historical or religious nature. Included in the latter is Amra Choluim Chille, believed by many to be the oldest text in Irish.
Given LU’s unique position, it is not surprising that many aspects of its content and composition have been the subject of research and discussion. One of the most important studies to be carried out was that of R.I. Best ‘Notes on the script of Lebor na hUidre’, which appeared in Ériu 6 (1912), 161–74. In this paper Best identified three separate hands that were involved in writing the manuscript and his important findings were incorporated in the diplomatic edition of the text that he and O.J. Bergin published in 1929.
In recent years the availability of a digitised version of this edition on the CELT website together with high-quality digital images of the manuscript on that of the Irish Script on Screen (ISOS) initiative has facilitated further study of LU.
This conference was held to mark the centenary of Best’s ground-breaking study of LU and was intended to look afresh not only at the history, content and composition of the manuscript itself, but also to examine the cultural, intellectual and political milieu into which it came into existence.
Speakers included: Liam Breatnach (DIAS) • Elizabeth Boyle (Cambridge) • Abigail Burnyeat (Edinburgh) • John Carey (UCC) • Elizabeth Duncan (Edinburgh) • Máire Herbert (UCC) • Donnchadh Ó Corráin (UCC) • Nollaig Ó Muraíle (NUIG) • Ruairí Ó hUiginn (NUIM) • Gregory Toner (QUB).
Leabhar na hUidhre and some other Irish manuscripts were on display during the conference.
The conference was organised jointly by NUI Maynooth and the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.
A History of Ireland in 100 Objects
Fintan O’Toole's article about the RIA’s Book of Common Prayer (1551), the first book printed in Ireland (Irish Times, 10 March 2012) Read here
From Cromwell to Cholera: A history of Ireland from the pamphlet collection of Charles Haliday.
From October 2011 to End of june 2012
With over 35,000 items spanning almost 300 years, the Haliday Pamphlet Collection covers Irish and British social, economic, cultural and religious history, making this one of the largest and richest Irish interest collections of its kind. The exhibition not only highlights the life of an extraordinary Dublin merchant, social reformer, historian and bibliophile, but displays the vast wealth and scope of material available to researchers of Irish and British history at the RIA.
An illustrated booklet accompanies the exhibition and is available at a mere €5 from the Library or to buy online.
lunchtime lecture series
To find out more about the collection and the role of pamphlets in Irish history come along to our free lunchtime lecture series.
Wednesdays, 1-2pm, Meeting Room, Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2.
15 February : The second draft of history: the Haliday pamphlets and Daniel O’Connell.
Kevin Whelan, Keough-Naughton Notre Dame Centre, Dublin.
22 February : One man and his library : Charles Haliday’s pamphlet collection
Sophie Evans, Library, RIA
29 February : Revolution, Rebellion and Union: Ireland in the 1790s
Dáire Keogh, Saint Patrick’s College, DCU
7 March : 'As wild as anything in romance': Robert Emmet and radical responses to the Union, 1800-1803
Patrick Geoghegan, Trinity College Dublin
14 March : Witnessing the rising of 1641 through the Haliday pamphlets
Nicholas Canny, MRIA
21 March : Troubling times – pamphlets of the ‘Troubles’ at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast
John Killen, Librarian, Linen Hall, Belfast
Medieval Irish manuscript treasures of the Royal Irish Academy: EXHIBITION (ends 30 Sept 2011)
Among the major medieval manuscripts on display were :
Leabhar na hUidhre: “Book of the Dun Cow”
Book of Ballymote
Book of the O’Lees : “Book of Hy-Brazil”
LUNCHTIME LECTURE
“Quills, inks and vellums: practical aspects of manuscript production”
by Tim O’Neill
Thursday 25 August 2011 at 1.00 pm
This is a Heritage Week event.
No booking required.
All welcome.
Mapping Urban Ireland 3 August 2010 - 20 May 2011
This exhibition explored the cartography of Irish cities and towns since the seventeenth century. It was organised jointly by the Academy Library and the Irish Historic Towns Atlas Project. More details and programme
Our exhibition panels are available as touring exhibitions, please contact the library for more information at library@ria.ie.
Culture Night 2010
Culture Night was once again a great success. We welcomed approximately 800 people at the Academy House during the evening. Library staff gave tours through the house and people were free to view our current exhibition ‘Mapping Urban Ireland’. Also on display for the night: the Cathach; old photographs of the Academy House and the Academy Museum c. 1890; photographs from the Praeger Collection, including the construction of the Titanic in Belfast; manuscripts from the Dublin Unitarian Church Collection and the beautifully illuminated Book of Hours, a 16th century manuscript.
Treasures of The Royal Irish Academy, 8 February - 21 May and 8-25 June, 2010
This exhibition draws on some of the most important books and objects in the Academy’s collections More...
William Wilde Seminar
Click here for programme
‘Darwin, Praeger and the Clare Island Surveys’
Academy House, Meeting Room
2 July - 23 December 2009, 4 - 22 January 2010
Darwin, an honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, inspired Robert Lloyd Praeger, MRIA, 1865-1953, probably the most productive and influential Irish naturalist, to organise and conduct the groundbreaking Clare Island Survey (1909-11), which in turn inspired the New Survey of Clare Island, a current RIA project which re-examines the results of the original survey. The Clare Island survey was considered unique and extraordinary as it was the first intensive survey of a small part of Europe, as opposed to earlier surveying expeditions by Darwin to places like the Galapagos Islands.
The exhibition was accompanied by a series of free lunchtime lectures and associated events. Download programme
Listen to President McAleese’s speech on the significance of the Clare Island surveys and the Royal Irish Academy’s work on Clare Island.
Download soundfile.mp3 to your computer
‘My gentle harp: Moore’s ‘Irish melodies’, 1808-2008
- ‘My gentle harp: Moore’s ‘Irish melodies’, 1808-2008. Thomas Moore Festival
PRESS RELEASE: Moore's Irish Melodies - At Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, New York - Download