The Dublin and Irish Local Studies Collection offers a research facility to Second Level History and Geography students preparing for the Leaving Certificate. At a central location on Pearse Street, the Research Reading Room is open to students who wish to use the resources of the library. These include an unparalleled collection of material on Irish history, with particular emphasis on the Dublin area.

1. Leaving Certificate History
Research Study

2. What is the purpose of the
Research Study?
To develop in students:
• A spirit of enquiry about the past
• A range of skills for the conduct of the inquiry
• Allows students to engage in a measure of
self-directed learning
From www.scoilnet.ie

3. What are the components of
the Research Study?
• An outline plan
• An evaluation of sources
• An extended essay
From www.scoilnet.ie

4. Examples of sources
in
Dublin City Library
and Archive

5. What sources are required for
the Research Study?
• At Ordinary Level: a minimum of two sources should be
used
• At Higher Level: three (or more) sources should be used
• Sources should be primary or specialist secondary
• At least one source by a historian, where available
• Standard school textbooks will not be suitable sources
• Extreme caution to be exercised with primary sources
From www.scoilnet.ie

6. Daniel O’Connell
Later Modern Ireland Syllabus – Ireland and the Union, 1815 - 1870
Daniel O’Connell (1775 – 1847) is probably best known for his campaign for Catholic Emancipation and the
Repeal of the Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain. He established the Catholic Board in 1811,
which fought for the oppurtunity for Irish Catholics to become Members of Parliament, and in 1823 set up the
Catholic Association, a group formed to support the interests of Irish Catholics. He eventually achieved
success for emancipation in 1829 which gained him the alias, “The Liberator.”
Daniel O’Connell set up the Repeal Association which argued against the 1801 merge of Parliaments between
Great Britain and Ireland. His aim was for an independent Kingdom of Ireland to govern itself. He held a
series of meetings in Ulster, which were attended by 100,000 people to promote the repeal agenda. As a
result of the meetings, he received a short jail sentence for sedition which halted any furthur progress on the
campaign.
Many different sources are available in the library on Daniel O’Connell. If interested in further research, some
of the available hardbacks include The Emancipist: Daniel O’Connell 1830-1847 by Oliver MacDonagh and
The Correspondence of Daniel O’Connell edited by Maurice R. O’Connell. Numerous documents are also
available in the special collections, such as Funeral Obsequies of Mr. O’Connell from the Illustrated London
News: 14 August 1847, Political Cartoons of Daniel O’Connell by John Doyle (HB), and the full and revised
report of the three days discussion in Corporation of Dublin on the repeal of the Union, which has an address
to the people of Ireland from Daniel O’Connell.

7. An article describing proceedings after the Catholic Association petition on
the Administration of Justice from the Freeman’s Journal, 17th June 1873

8. A political cartoon by John Doyle on O’Connell’s election
as Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1841

9. From County of Clare Election, printed by John Connor, 14 Tuckey
Street, Cork, 1828

10. From the Illustrated London News, 14 August 1847

11. This report on the death of Daniel O’Connell in
Genoa on 15th May 1847 appeared in the
Nation newspaper on 29th May 1847.

12. Further sources on the life of Daniel
O’Connell in this library

13. Lady Ishbel Aberdeen
Later Modern Ireland – Movements for political and social reform, 1870 - 1914
Lady Ishbel Aberdeen was the wife of the Viceroy of Ireland who served shortly in 1886 and from 1906 to
1915. Throughout her stay in Ireland she devoted her time as a philathropist and an advocate of
women’s interests. Her greatest concern was the fight against tuberculosis, a disease which affected the
Irish immensely. She founded the Women’s National Health Association in 1907 which aimed to improve
maternity and child welfare and to assist in the fight against tuberculosis.
Lady Aberdeen used the Women’s National Health Association to set up a country-wide campaign which
included lectures throughout the country on the prevention and education of tuberculosis. The purpose of
the lectures was not only to inform the public but also to bring hope; as a result the public perception of
the disease underwent a change. The growing connection between poor housing and tuberculosis
resulted in the Housing Act of 1908, which demonstrates the influence the Tuberculosis Exhibition had
upon the people.
Many different sources are available in the library on Lady Ishbel Aberdeen. If interested in further
research, available books include A Bonnie Fechter: the Life of Ishbel Marjoribanks Marchioness of
Aberdeen by Marjorie Pentland and We Twa:Reminiscenes of Lord and Lady Aberdeen, also Ishbel:
Lady Aberdeen in Ireland by Maureen Keane and ‘Captain of all these Men of Death’ The History of
Tuberculosis in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Ireland by Greta Jones. The online newspaper
archives also contain various articles pertaining to Lady Aberdeen and the Tuberculosis Exhibition.

14. From “We Twa”, Reminiscences of Lord
and Lady Aberdeen, Vol. 1 and 2.
This is an autobiography giving a
personal account of their lives.

15. From Ireland’s crusade against
tuberculosis.
This is a book of lectures delivered at
the Tuberculosis Exhibition, 1907,
under the auspices of the Women’s
National Health Association of Ireland

16. From http://www.eppi.ac.uk/
This is a free website giving access to British Parliamentary Papers on
Ireland. This report shows the impact of the Tuberculosis Exhibition,
and steps being taken for prevention of the disease.

17. An article on the opening of the Tuberculosis Exhibition in Waterford,
from the Munster Express, 11 April 1908.
From http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

18. An article on Anti-Tuberculosis Campaign, from the Irish Independent,
16 July 1908.
From http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

19. Further sources in the library for research on tuberculosis and
health in Ireland in the early 20th century

20. Archbishop Rinuccini
Early Modern Ireland – Kingdom v. colony, the struggle for mastery in Ireland,
1603 - 1660
Archbishop Giovanni Battista Rinuccini was born in 1592, in Florence, and became Archibishop of Fermo in
1625. When, in 1645, the Irish Confederates applied to Pope Innocent X to send a papal nuncio to them,
Rinuccini was appointed, he remained four years in Ireland, and took an active part in the chief political
transactions of the time.
He arrived in the Irish Confederate capital of Kilkenny in November 1645, where he declared his objective
to secure religious freedom for Irish Roman Catholics. His instructions were to restore and re-establish
thye public exercise of the Roman Catholic religion in Ireland. He arrived with much needed financial
support from Europe, which allowed him to have a strong input concerning the internal politics of the
Catholic war effort.
He remained in Ireland for four years. His account of events in Ireland during his stay allows today’s
researchers to gain a better insight into the time period. It is impossible for a history of the Irish Rebellion
to be complete withought the assistance of his account, Commentarius Rinuccinianus de sedis Apostolicae
Legatione ad Foederatos Hiberniae Catholicos per annos 1645 – 1649..
Many different sources are available in the library on Archbishop Rinuccini. In the Gilbert collection is a 20
volume transcript of the Nuncio’s Memoirs entitled De Haeresis Anglicanae intensione et progressu, et de
Bello Catholico ad Annum 1641 coept, ex indeque per diquot annos gesto, Commentarius. If interested in
further research, available books include The Authorship of the Rinuccini Memoirs by Rev. Father
Stanislaus and Catholic Reformation in Ireland: the Mission of Rinuccini, 1645-1649 by Tadhg ó
hAnnhracháin. Documents which are available in the special collections are Essays from the Dublin Review
which includes the essay, Rinuccini, Nuncio to Ireland.

21. From http://commentarius.co.uk/
This is a project website sponsored by the Department of Arts, Sports and
Tourism. It aims to provide full access to an English translation of
Rinuccini’s account of his stay in Ireland.

22. From De Haeresis Anglicanae (Gilbert Collection Manuscripts 20 – 24). This
is a transcript of the Latin original of The Nuncio’s Memoirs from the Earl of
Leicester’s library at Holkham.

23. The Commentarius Rinuccinianus, published for the Irish Manuscripts
Commission.

24. Further sources in the library for research into Rinuccini
and Ireland in the seventeenth century.
From ‘Lucania, Topographical,
Biographical, Historical’ by
Rev. William S. Donegan