Public History
History Beyond the University
Relatively few people learn about the past from history books or through formal study after the age of 15. For most people what they know comes from a mix of handed down family tales combined with television documentaries and historical dramas with a pinch of poetry, fiction and plays and occasional trips to museums and heritage sites. I’m particularly interested in how museums, historic sites and heritage centres chose what stories to tell and how they use history to tell them.
In May 2022 the RTE One show Brainstorm took a trip behind the scenes of the National Museum where curator Brenda Malone and I got to show off some of the amazing artefacts that are held in the stores there. Click on the image to see Michael Collins’ Wolf Slippers, Harry Boland’s boots and a bullet in a brick….
Commemoration
We remember what we are taught to remember. Many parts of our past go unheralded, many stories go untold. Traditional history emphasises political and military events and focuses on the actions of ‘Big Men’. History has long been politicised and I’m interested in unpicking how and why that has happened.
One way to see how history is remembered is through commemorations. Every time a significant commemoration comes along there’s a flurry of articles in papers, popular history books and tv shows - in 1966 it was the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising, in 1998 the bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion, in 2016 the centenary of the 1916 Rising. I’m interested in the state and personal commemorations and how they often reflect the time in which the commemoration occurs more than the event that’s being remembered.
The images below show a variety of ways in which the 1798 Rebellion, the Famine, the 1916 Rising and the Civil War have been commemorated.
