12th July 2014
The National Library of Ireland, in partnership with Trinity College Dublin and RTÉ, is organising a ‘World War One Roadshow’, to be hosted in TCD on Saturday 12 July. This will feature a series of pop up talks and lectures on the Great War, and Trinity College Dublin’s own unique history during this period, along with facilities to catalogue and record any memorabilia or stories related to the broader Irish involvement in the First World War. There will be a range of other activities including history tours of the campus related to the Great War and the ‘Last Cricket Match of Peace’. The day will conclude with the final Bugle call of the ‘Last Post’.
Commenting on its significance for TCD, Professor James Wickham said: “The World War One Roadshow forms part of Trinity College Dublin’s engagement with the Decade of Commemorations. With its programme of talks and lectures it will showcase research being conducted in Ireland on this period; it will also remember the over 450 Trinity College graduates who died in the Great War. We want it to be an informative and thought provoking day concerning Ireland’s part in World War One. We want people to come away from it with a greater understanding of Ireland’s role in what was one of the bloodiest conflicts of our time’.
Members of the public invited to bring memorabilia related to World War One to be catalogued, digitised, and uploaded to an online European archive. This archive is being developed by Europeana (Europe’s digital library, museum and archive), in conjunction with the University of Oxford and national partners across Europe, such as the National Library of Ireland, in time for the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the war in 1914. It will be the first ever online European archive of private stories and documents from World War One. Experts from the National Library of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin will evaluate and digitise the memorabilia presented on the day for the purpose of the archive. Members of the public with stories and memories related to the First World War are also encouraged to share them, as there will be facilities for recording such stories on the day. Commenting in advance, Katherine McSharry, Head of Services with the National Library of Ireland, said that ‘the huge interest in the forthcoming 100-year anniversary of the outbreak of World War One reminds us how important it is to ensure physical memorabilia of key historical events, brought to life with people’s stories and memories, are recorded for posterity. The National Library of Ireland will manage a team of cataloguers from TCD and NUIG, supported by NLI staff, for the World War One Roadshow, who will work to record and digitise the stories and items brought in by members of the public. We have been involved in similar events in the past, which have generated huge levels of interest. We know the Irish public has a wealth of items and stories to share in relation to World War 1, and we look forward to discovering more fascinating material during this event’.
RTÉ Radio 1 is another of the partners involved in this day of events. There will soundproof booths on campus where RTÉ Radio 1 will be recording family testimonies for broadcast in August. Over in the Edmund Burke Theatre, Arts Building there will be a special recording of Sunday Miscellany with new writing about WW1 for broadcast on Sunday 3 August at 9am. ‘Echoes From the Front’ is a sequence of performed readings with musical interludes, charting various scenarios from WW1 and will take place in the Trinity College Chapel. Four actors will read from accounts, diary entries and love letters capturing a glimpse of the human side of battle as part of this unique event.
View the full programme for the World War One Roadshow.
For further information please visit here
Photograph :- Members of the Irish Convention in TCD, 1917 (National Library of Ireland)