Recommended Sources in Local History
Continuing our series on the sources of information available to local historians, here we are highlighting the nuggets of information available in journals and magazines, primarily those from the nineteenth century.
Our readers will be well familiar with the sketches of Irish life as depicted in Punch, the Graphic, and the Illustrated London News. These publications are among the better known sources for images of nineteenth century Ireland and are possibly over-used, or misused. While the depiction of Irishmen during the nineteenth century is often an unpleas-ant one, or even racist in nature; they are nonetheless very valuable and often make a point beyond the obvious.
There are currently an increasing number of repositories digitising a broad volume of titles. The one major disap-pointment in all of these developments is that access to such repositories are often available only to academics and their students. One hopes that, in time, history societies and heritage groups may be able to come to an arrangement to facilitate wider access to these great sources.
The digitisation of journals covering arts and sci-ence provide a fresh source for images or detail. For example, the sketch (right) of ‘The Unwelcome Intruder’ is from the London Reader magazine 135 years ago and accompanies a story on Athenry town. A poem, ‘The Eviction’, is also attached:
God help the poor in winter’s cold.
The tender young, the trembling old.
When north winds blow
O’er lea and moor,
When snowstorms drive,
God help the poor.
This Chronicle was created using information originally published in the South East Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Newsletter No. 22
