Irish Historical Studies requests submissions for a First Book Prize from scholars resident on the island of Ireland for an academic book on an Irish or Irish Diasporic historical subject published in the calendar year 2024.
Submissions must be of the author’s first sole-authored academic book on a historical topic dealing primarily with the history of Ireland and/or its diaspora. Submissions should take the form of one hard copy of the book, as well as a pdf of the text. Submissions should be posted to the chair of the assessment committee by the deadline of 1 March 2025. The winner of the prize will be awarded €500 by the Board of Irish Historical Studies. Submissions may be made either by the author or publisher.
To apply: please download and complete the pre-submission form below and email as soon as possible to the assessment committee chair, Prof. Peter Gray, at p.h.gray@qub.ac.uk.
Book submissions should then be sent by 1 March 2025 to Prof. Gray at School of HAPP, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN, N. Ireland, with pdfs emailed to the email address above.
Assessment Committee 2025 (on behalf of Irish Historical Studies): Prof Peter Gray (QUB), Dr Sophie Cooper (QUB), Dr Andrew Sneddon (UU).
Dr Susan Flavin (TCD): ‘Drunk? Adventures in 16th Century Brewing’
Thursday 6 February 2025 at 6pm (27 University Square, QUB, Belfast, Room 01/003)
This seminar will consist of a screening of Susan’s film on re-creating sixteenth-century beer and will be followed by a facilitated discussion. No doubt this will be of particular interest to those intrigued by interdisciplinary research, public history, and (of course) beer!
This seminar focusses on practice-based approaches to history through the lens of the ERC FoodCult brewing project. The project was a major interdisciplinary initiative, bringing together historians, archaeologists, scientists, and craftspeople, to recreate beer from sixteenth-century Ireland. The journey was captured by a team of academic film makers. This resulting film captures the complexities of historical recreation while reflecting on the intersections of art, science, and history. It highlights how embodied and material engagement with the past can generate fresh historiographical insights and invite broader audiences to connect with history. The seminar will comprise a screening of the film, followed by discussion and reflection on historical recreation as a methodology, and its potential for radical cross disciplinary collaboration.
Due to the nature of this seminar, it will be in-person only, so please join us at 6pm in 27 University Square, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN. As usual, parking is free in the carpark at McClay Library after 4.30pm. More information is available at the event’s Eventbrite page.
Dr Andrew Mackillop (University of Glasgow): ‘Corporation, Province, and Empire: Ulster and the English East India Company, c.1700-c.1820‘
Thursday 5 December, 6pm-7.30pm. In-person in 27 University Square 01/003, Queen’s University Belfast and online via Teams.
Abstract: Ulster’s relationship with British imperialism is arguably one of the better understood aspects of Ireland’s long and complex involvement with English and British imperialism. Yet this is a history which is noticeably uneven, with certain periods and geographies garnering more attention than others. Compared to understandings of the era of ‘plantation’, mass transatlantic migration from c.1700 to c.1850s, or the Victorian and Edwardian phases of conspicuous military and industrial participation in Britain’s world system, the role of Ulster in the English East India Company’s trade and expansion in early modern Asia remains relatively underexplored. The paper charts the chronology and character of Ulster networks inside the London-based corporation which until 1813 controlled half of Britain’s global empire. It also reflects on the implications of these transhemispheric connections for assessing Ulster’s place in Ireland and in the British Empire during the long eighteenth century.
Professor Niall Ó Ciosáin (University of Galway) will speak on:
‘Publishing in Irish, Gaelic, and Welsh-speaking communities in 19th century North America’.
This seminar will take place in person in the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast (27 University Square) and online. You are very welcome to join us in person – parking at QUB is free to the public after 4.30pm – or online.
If you would like to join the USIHS mailing list, please email the Secretary, Dr Sophie Cooper, at usihs01@gmail.com.
All seminars will take place at 6pm in Institute of Irish Studies, 27 University Square, 01/003, Queen’s University Belfast. If you would like to attend online, please get in touch and I will send you the Teams link.
Thursday 24 October: Medieval Panel
John Marshall (TCD), ‘Core or Periphery? Reinterpreting the Place of Ireland in the Marshal Transnational Lordship, 1189-1245.’
Tara Shields (QUB), ‘Late Medieval Lough Derg: The Annalistic Evidence’
Patrick McDonagh (TCD), ‘A Castle of Bones: Towards a Prosopography of the Liberty of Ulster’.
Thursday 21 November: Niall Ó Ciosáin (UoGalway), ‘Publishing in Irish, Gaelic and Welsh-speaking communities in 19th century North America’.
Thursday 5 December: Andrew Mackillop (UoGlasgow), ‘Corporation, Province, and Empire: Ulster and the English East India Company, c.1700-c.1820’.
Parking at QUB is free and open to the public from 4.30pm. Parking is available on the street and in the carpark by the McClay Library.
Please feel free to circulate this list to anyone who might be interested in attending. If you would like to be added to the USIHS mailing list, please email usihs01@gmail.com. Students and members of the public are especially invited to attend.
Dr Clodagh Tait: ‘Margaret Isabella and the fairy in the churn: Women’s folklore and girls’ histories’
Thursday 9 May at 6pm. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard Titanic Quarter Belfast BT3 9HQ(and online via Zoom)
The Ulster Society for Irish Studies (USIHS) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) would like to welcome you to the annual 2024 Beckett lecture, in memory of the late Professor J. C. Beckett. This year’s talk will be by Dr Clodagh Tait of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The last decades have seen a flourishing of studies of Irish women’s history and writing, providing new insights into women’s roles in politics, communities and domestic life, and greater understanding of how they grappled with the strictures placed on their freedoms. However, some women are inevitably less visible than others in the surviving sources. The Irish folklore collections (compiled from the 1930s), publications on folklore and folklife, and a variety of other sources, can help to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge about women’s experiences, customs and worldviews. In this paper I will discuss women’s folklore, considering in particular stories told by girls and women about the ways of the ‘good people’, or about childhood experiences interpreted as being encounters with fairies. Worn smooth and warm with retelling (though there are hints at sharp edges too), these stories assist us in reconstructing supernatural beliefs and the actions they prompted. And they also reveal something about how narratives about fairies were shaped by community input, how personal pasts were recollected, and how girls’ histories were handed down.
Clodagh Tait lectures in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. She has written extensively on early modern Irish social and cultural history, including the history of women and men; pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing; death, violence, martyrdom and protest; religious devotion; and the history of emotion. Her recent articles include studies of a Cork ghost story from 1688-9, of accounts of ‘crisis apparitions’ in Ireland and the USA, and of the magical and supernatural labours of women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is working on an anthology of women’s folklore and a book on cursing and blessing in Ireland over 400 years. She is joint editor of Irish Historical Studies.
‘Castle and City: Dublin Castle in its urban context, 1801-1923′
Thursday 18th April at 6pm. This talk will take place in person at Queen’s University Belfast (Institute for Irish Studies, 27 University Square) and online. If you are planning on attending in person, please remember that the carpark by the McClay Library is open and free to everyone from 4.00pm each day.
Dr Joe Curran is currently a postdoctoral researcher on Maynooth University’s PARISH (Preserving and Recording Ireland’s Sacred Heritage) Project in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame. He previously worked as an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. This project ‘An Urban History of Dublin Castle’, explored the economic, social, and cultural interactions between Dublin Castle and Dublin city during the British-Irish Union.
Stephen Scarth (PRONI): ‘From the Ashes: A history of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland’
Thursday 15 February 2024, 6.00pm – ONLINE and IN-Person at 27 University Square 01/003, QUB
Stephen is Head of Public Services at PRONI and leads on the marking of PRONI’s 100th anniversary programme of activities and events.
Stephen will explore how the new northern record office responded to the loss of eight centuries of records and evolved into a repository of national significance with over 3 million documents.
Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies 