Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Library recently published three new collections on the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) – Papers of Micheal Davitt, J.D. White Collection, and Papers of John Millington Synge.
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Library recently published three new collections on the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) – Papers of Micheal Davitt, J.D. White Collection, and Papers of John Millington Synge.
The Papers of Michael Davitt is a collection of photographs, notebooks and diaries, personal papers, autobiographical writings, and letters and pamphlets created by, for, or about, the great Irish republican and nationalist agitator Michael Davitt (1846-1906). Davitt was a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician, and member of parliament who founded the Irish National Land League. The Davitt papers, originally collected by Davitt’s widow, Mary, were in the hands of Davitt’s biographer T.W. Moody, professor of Modern History in TCD, and were arranged, numbered, and listed by him. Additional listing was performed by staff in the Library of TCD. The papers were deposited in the Library in parts on 31 March 1978 and 20 August 1980, and were presented to the Library by Davitt's son, Judge Cahir Davitt (in May and June 1982 with some later additions in January 1983). A selection of digitised material from the collection is now available to researchers and members of the public for sustained access in the DRI Repository here: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.5x227432t
John Davis White (1820-1893) was a historian, collector, and proprietor and editor of the Cashel Gazette newspaper (founded in 1894). He is remembered for having made ‘an enormous contribution to the cultural, religious and practical life of the town’ of Cashel (1). Interested in printing, from 1844 to 1883 he compiled a collection of broadside ballad sheets, eventually numbering 1,500, which he bequeathed to the Library of TCD (2). The J.D. White collection comprises more than 900 popular slip ballads from White’s collection, printed in Dublin, Cork, and Johnstown, mainly in the 1850s and 1860s, that refer to contemporary events including the Crimean War, crime and politics, and emigration. The ballads were digitised by the Library of TCD in 2011 and are now available for long-term access on the DRI here: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.s752m201v-1
John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, collector of folklore, and a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival. Heralded by W.B. Yeats as ‘the greatest dramatic genius of Ireland’ (3), Synge's writings have been vastly influential on playwrights and writers from George Fitzmaurice, Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Marina Carr, and Martin McDonagh (4). After Synge’s death in 1909, all of his papers were inherited by his nephew and literary executor Edward M. Stephens. They were purchased by the Library of TCD in 1969 from Stephens’ widow, Lily M. Stephens, who also donated to the Library many other manuscripts of related interest, including letters which Synge had written to his fiancée Molly Allgood. The Papers of John Millington Synge collection is a significant resource for students of literature and includes literary drafts, correspondence, research notebooks, diaries, and juvenilia. It can be accessed on DRI here: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.rr17fk819
Jennifer Doyle, the digital content creation manager at the Library of TCD, commented on the significance of the newly published collections:
We are delighted to be able to open up and share with a wide audience a number of important digitised collections through the DRI's platform. The special nature of these collections, some of which are unique and distinct like the Papers of Michael Davitt and John Millington Synge, make them extremely valuable primary source material not only for academic research and beyond, but for general interest as well, informing as they do our past, present, and future.
DRI is pleased to be able to preserve these important cultural collections from the Library of TCD for long-term access. Explore more collections from the Library of TCD here. Keep an eye on our Twitter account for further publication announcements.
Image: Synge, J. M. (John Millington), 1871-1909. Photograph of two boys with cart and donkey at Wicklow town harbour, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.qf8621811
References
1. Society, County Tipperary Historical. 1994. "John Davis White of Cashel (1820-1893)." County Tipperary Historical Journal 97-104. https://tipperarystudies.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1994%2011%20[pp%2097-104]%20Denis%20G.%20Marnane.pdf.
2. Williams, Fionnuala Carson. 2009. "White, John Davis." Dictionary of Irish Biography. Oct. Accessed Sept 2021. https://www.dib.ie/biography/white-john-davis-a9004.
3. Johnston, Denis. 1965. John Singleton Synge (Columbia Essays on Modern Writers Series, #12). New York: Columbia University Press.
4. Kiberd, Declan. 2009. "Synge, (Edmund) John Millington." Dictionary of Irish Biography. Oct. Accessed Sept 2021. https://www.dib.ie/biography/synge-edmund-john-millington-a8429.
