DUBLIN HISTORICAL RECORD

Dublin Historical Record - current cover
Click on any image for a larger version

The Dublin Historical Record is published by the Old Dublin Society (ODS). It publishes articles and other pieces on the history of Dublin and has been on the go now for nearly eighty years, 79 to be precise. It is published twice yearly and the 2017 Spring/Summer issue was launched last evening in the Oak Room of Dublin's Mansion House by the Deputy Lord Mayor.

Bernadine Ruddy
President Old Dublin Society Council

Bernadine Ruddy who presides over the ODS Council welcomed all present, including many of the contributors to the current issue. She thanked the Deputy Lord Mayor for the mayoralty's generosity in making the magnificent Oak Room in the city's Mansion House available for the occasion. She reminded the audience of the importance of the work of the ODS and of the Record's contribution to the discovery and logging of the city's history.

Séamas Ó Maitiú
Editor Dublin Historical Record

In introducing the current issue, Séamas Ó Maitiú, made particular reference to the journal's cover. For many years, if not from the beginning of time, this had consisted of a detail from John Speed's map of Dublin, though some concession was made to change by varying the background colour from time to time.

DHR cover, December 1977

When checking out my bookshelf to find an older issue to illustrate the earlier cover, I came across the issue for December 1977. A few things struck me. The journal was apparently published quarterly then and the price, 50p, was on the cover. I also noticed that Earnán de Blaghd was a member of the Council.

As it happened, this issue contained an article by yours truly on the History of Ballybrack in the Nineteenth Century. I must have been fierce energetic and academical in them days; the seven page article has almost four pages of footnotes, well endnotes actually.

Anyway, back to Séamas, who, in recent years started taking liberties with the cover, culminating in today's illustration of Howth harbour from an old postcard. This has great resonances for me as I lived the first four years of my life on the seafront there in The Gem. I'm looking forward to reading the article on Howth's marine past by Kevin Rickard.

In passing, Séamas told us that, in the evolving story of the cover during his editorship, the first and only person ever featured there was Brian Boru (courtesy of the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle).

Another article I'm looking forward to is Cathy Scuffil's All Quiet on the Southern Front where she examines Dublin's South Circular Road, from every conceivable angle, on the eve of WWI. Cathy's master's thesis on this subject has already been published by Four Courts Press and I gather she is soon to embark on further academic research, the results of which I await with interest as I think my grand uncle may figure in it.

Rebecca Moynihan
Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin

So let us pass on to the Deputy Lord Mayor who actually launched the journal. It has been a significant feature of the Dublin mayoralty in recent years that the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor have not only turned up at city related events but they have also made the Oak Room available for significant Dublin related occasions, this being one of them.

Rebecca Moynihan has been an enthusiastic participant in all of this, as was the previous Lord Mayor, Críona Ní Dhálaigh. They have both shown great enthusiasm for the city's history and community development, and unlike some of our national Ministers, didn't really need a script at all, such was their enthusiasm for, and professional approach to, the subject.

Peter Geraghty
Winner of the Society Medal for 2016

Peter Geraghty was presented with the Society Medal for his article entitled Dublin's first automobiles - early steam carriage trials on the streets of Dublin, which appeared in last year's Spring/Summer issue of the Record. Peter was thrilled to be honoured for what he described as a labour of love.

Cathy Scuffil & Henry Fairbrother

Séamas networking

Outgoing Deputy Lord Mayor - only days left