The past is another country

By Kevin O’Sullivan

When I was at home last weekend, my father updated me on his ongoing project to scan the collection of postcards originally sent among my grandfather’s relatives at the turn of the twentieth century, and attentively collected, preserved and added to (there are some intriguing Irish Shipping Ltd postcards from the 1950s) by my grandmother. Having spent a few hours reading and looking through a small part of the collection, I thought that some of them were too good not to share. Jumping on the bandwagon of Dave O’Sullivan’s hard work, the ones I have posted here represent a small sample of a reasonably large collection of postcards that deal mainly with Irish subjects but also include images of Devonshire, Lourdes, New York, Alabama, and Paris, and several sent by a missionary relative from a boat headed for Manila in the Philippines. These postcards of Dublin and its environs were all sent between 1907 and 1911.

The Cult of Collins

Contributed by Justin Dolan Stover

You have seen him around.  His portraits line the walls of the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks; his imposing civilian bust barks at you from Archbishop Ryan Park; his disciplined torso overlooks your pint at The Bank on College Green.  He is remembered and celebrated (and commercialised) to an extent unequivocal of modern Irish historical figures.  His death mask resides within the Museum Barracks which bares his name; fresh flowers line his grave at Glasnevin year-round, accompanied occasionally by elderly women praying the rosary; idols bearing his likeness are peddled at nearly every heraldic shop in town; and the annual pilgrimage to the place of his death that will take place this Saturday to Béal na mBláth in Cork, draws thousands. He has transcended the traditional form of historical conveyance to grace both screen and stage.  The musical portrayal of his life c.1916-1922, initiated in 2005 by the Cork Opera House, has launched in Cork, Waterford and Dublin.  The film, in which Liam Neeson portrays him as the tragic hero opposite Alan Rickman’s sinister interpretation of Eamon de Valera, is currently on the four for €22 shelf at HMV.

On the anniversary of this death it seems like a good time to ask why are we as historians, and to a larger extent as a nation, so interested in Michael Collins?