Last October, the RCB Library received a very welcome communication from Rosemary Kempshall in the UK, who wrote to say that she had in her possession a large volume of sermons written by the Revd George Sealy, a parochial cleric based in the diocese of Cork, from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
For July, the RCB Library Archive of the Month turns to a musical note as music historian Dr David O’Shea explores the recent accession of an original manuscript copy of Sir John Stevenson’s ‘Te Deum and Jubilate in the key of C, sung at the installation [sic] of the Knights of St Patrick 1819’ in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the loss of the PROI, the RCB Library has commissioned historian Dr Ian d’Alton to produce a commemorative piece entitled ‘Rosamond Stephen’s Civil War’, illustrated with extracts from her family archive.
The RCB Library’s Archive of the Month for May follows up on a previous story from December 2018 when, following generous financial support, the Library acquired a volume documenting the fund–raising and construction work involved in a significant renovation of St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, between 1859 and 1863 (RCB Library Ms 1048).
Two new titles in the Braemor Studies series were officially launched recently. The books, written by the Revd Karen Salmon and the Revd Christopher West, were both launched at an in–person gathering in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, at Braemor Park, Dublin.
April’s Archive of the Month from the RCB Library will present another of its digitized sources as a further contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. This is the memoir of Emily Ussher, of Cappagh House, near Dungarvan in Co. Waterford, who described unfolding events from 1914 to 1924 inclusive, from the perspective of a landed Protestant family.
Aisling Irwin has joined the Representative Church Body Library’s team as Assistant Archivist.
The Archive of the Month from the RCB Library for March shines a spotlight on a beautiful map that makes up part of Ms 1104, a recent addition to the RCB Library’s extensive manuscript collection.
The Representative Church Body Library’s first two Archives of the Month for 2022 feature the growth in its collections of parish registers, over the course of the last two years, and a rare archive relating to architecture in Armagh – both the city and the county – in Victorian times.
One of the most precious – if not the most precious – manuscripts in the RCB Library’s safe custody is the Red Book of Ossory (D11/1/2) which has a strong association with Richard Ledred, Bishop of Ossory from 1317 to about 1361.
