The Bicycle and the Irish Revolution

Almost as soon as John Kemp Starley developed the first recognisably modern bicycle, the two-wheeled safety bicycle, in 1885, its potential military use was being explored by armies across the world. As early as 1886 the French Army was using cyclists as despatch riders, and in 1888 another milestone was reached when the London Regiment…

Lessons in MA Research: Obstacles, Nailing Down a Topic and the Benefits of Untilled Ground

The foremost difficulty in determining one’s MA research topic does not present itself when trying to come up with any idea at all for a thesis. Rather, the difficulty emerges when attempting to narrow down the wealth of ideas that likely already occupy one’s mind. I quickly encountered this difficulty myself, as did many of…

Come to the Economic and Social History Society of Ireland’s annual conference on 28-29 October.

The Department of History at Maynooth is delighted to be hosting the Economic and Social History Society of Ireland’s annual conference on 28-29 October. The draft programme can be found here: https://www.eshsi.org/conferences.html  Conferences – Economic and Social History Society of Ireland 2021 Annual Conference National University of Ireland, Galway 3-4 December 2021 Online Conference Click…

Clericus: a new digital humanities research project at Maynooth’s Arts and Humanities Institute

This blog is from Dr Richard Fitzpatrick, a research assistant and content manager for the Clericus digital humanities research project based in Maynooth’s Arts and Humanities Institute (MUAHI). Richard completed his undergraduate degree and PhD with the History Department in 2013 and 2018 respectively. His work on the Clericus project commenced in January 2020 with…

The Irish History Students’ Association comes to Maynooth!

The History Department at Maynooth University is happy to play host to the 2021 Irish History Students’ Association Conference (IHSA). The IHSA is the national association for third level history students in Ireland and has sought to promote the study of history on an all-island basis since its establishment in 1950. The IHSA’s annual conferences…

Adventures with Charlotte Grace O’Brien: student Jennifer Greene on her 2020 SPUR experience

This blog post has been written by current final year student Jennifer Greene who is studying History and French at Maynooth University. In the summer of 2020 she worked with mentor Dr. Jennifer Redmond on her current monograph project, a study of Charlotte Grace O’Brien. Over the course of this summer, I completed research on…

Department of History Postgraduate Success!

The Department of History is delighted to announce that over the course of the summer a number of its research students were successful in major funding applications. Thomas Appleby, who is working with Dr David Lederer on “The influence of Pietism on Psychiatry in 18th Century Germany”, was awarded one of the top John and…

Is there more to coprolites than meets the eye?

This blog post comes from current undergraduate student Seoda Matthews who took part in the Summer 2020 SPUR programme. She worked on the Moynagh Lough Project with Dr Michael Potterton This summer I had the opportunity to work with my history lecturer, Dr Michael Potterton, on the Moynagh Lough project, as a part of the…

The Sokols Project Part II: SPUR student Aleksandra Czarnik reflects

Over the summer, I completed work on a certain gymnastics association in Poland as part of the SPUR research programme under the guidance of Dr. Newman and Kamil Goworek, the other student taking part in this SPUR project. The project included looking at the Sokol organisation, which is a gymnastics association in Poland focused on…

Sokols: Pan-Slavism and Patriotism in the ‘New Europe’ after 1918 – Reflections on SPUR 2019

This is part one of a two part blog on the activities of students who participated in the SPUR programme this year under the guidance of Dr. John Paul Newman Spur project overview – John Paul Newman This summer I was lucky to work with two excellent Maynooth University students on the SPUR programme: Aleksandra…