UCD Archives celebrates the launch of the extensive digitised papers of former IRA Chief of Staff and leader of Fine Gael, Richard Mulcahy
On Thursday 16 January, UCD President Orla Feely launched the digitised papers of Richard Mulcahy in conjunction with UCD Library, UCD Archives and Professor of Modern Irish History, Diarmaid Ferriter, with members of the Mulcahy family also in attendance.
Mulcahy was an Irish Revolutionary who partook in the 1916 Easter Rising and served as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence and supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. As a politician, Mulcahy served as leader of Fine Gael from 1944-1959, and also served as a Minister for Education, Defence and Gaeltacht at various times in his career.
In a comment to The University Observer, Professor Ferriter noted that, “what made Mulcahy unique was his stringent application of his administrative and organisational skills. He had a passion for paperwork and was a compulsive note-taker, continually committing his thoughts, conversations and observations to paper.”
He continued, “This means his papers contain an exceptional level of detail on nationwide events throughout the war of independence and civil war in both the political and military arenas. The digitization of these papers will result in a much greater awareness among the wider population of the internal machinations of the republican movement.”
Professor Ferriter also noted the significance of the digitization of Mulcahy’s papers, “[it] is a landmark and democratic development, ensuring the widest of access, and it places UCD, once again, at the forefront of the preservation and promotion of our heritage.”
This new digitized collection is the largest project undertaken by UCD Archives, and is “essential to an appreciation of the complexities of the Irish revolutionary period from 1916 to 1923” according to Kate Manning, Principal Archivist of the UCD Archives.
The digitization process was undertaken over the course of six months throughout 2023/24. Manning commented that “102 boxes of documents were digitised, creating more than 95,000 TIFF (Tag, Image, File Format) images and is more than three terabytes in size.”
The project received funding from the Irish Research Council, UCD Decade of Centenaries and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and will be made available in stages throughout 2025.
Digitised collections are made available via UCD’s Digital Library, whilst the Archive Reading Room is open by appointment to anyone. Further information on how to register as a user, how to access collections and how to make an appointment is available in the ‘Planning Your Visit’ section of the UCD Archives website.