Irish History since 1922

Irish Studies Librarian

Aedín Clements
Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:00-4:00 and by appointment.
Office Location: 1202E Hesburgh Library (Through Entrance to Theology Reading Room, then third door on left.)
Contact Info:
631-0497

About this Guide

A guide to research resources for Irish History, since 1922, organized by topics. The guide was prepared by Melinda Grimsley Smith along with Aedin Clements.

Northern Ireland Conflict: Documentaries

Blood and belonging / a presentation of Films for the Humanities & Sciences; BBC Wales/Primedia co-production in association with Primetime PLC. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1993.
Abstract: Presenter's perception of nationalist tendencies in Yugoslavia, among the Kurds, in Germany, Ukraine, Northern Ireland, and Quebec.
Audio Center Videocassette N277-5 VC

Bloody Sunday / Paramount Classics and Portman Film present in association with Granada, The Film Council, and Bord Scannan na Eirean/ [United States] : Paramount Home Entertainment, [2003], c2002.
Abstract: Recreation of the events of "Bloody Sunday", Jan. 30, 1972, when British troops fired on unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland. BY the end of the day, 13 civilians were dead and 14 more wounded in the tumult and tragedy of Northern Ireland's darkest day.
Audio Center DVD G793-1 DVD

Maze / a Lion Television Production for WGBH Boston and Channel 4 in association with Radio Telefis Eireann.
PBS Home Video, c2002.
1 videocassette (57 min.), VHS.
Tells the story of Maze prison, just twelve miles out of Belfast, where murders, riots and dramatic escapes took place along with the beginnings of IRA participation in a political process. Features interviews with former inmates and guards.
Audio Center Videocassette B811-1 VC

Northern Ireland chronicle [London? British Information Services?, 1982?]
Abstract: A history from the British point of view of the conflict in Northern Ireland from 1600 to ca. 1981. Includes interviews and documentary footage.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-37VC Non-Circulating

Origins / produced by Radharc Films. Bronx, NY: Irish Visions [distributor], c1991.
Abstract: Describes the origins of the conflict between the people of Ireland by looking at the differences in traditions of the Irish and the Scots, the Protestants and the Catholics, and the natives and the newcomers.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-11 VC

The two traditions. Part 2, / A Radharc Films Production for Radio Telefis Éireann ; written and directed by Joseph Dunn.
Dublin: Radharc Films, c1991.
1 videodisc (27 min.) DVD
"The rebellion of 1641 and the massacre of protestants lies at the root of much bitterness in Northern Ireland. New examination of historical evidence leads to questioning some of the received wisdom." With commentaries by Dr. Margaret McCurtain, Andrew Boyd, Dr. Aidan Clarke, Dr. Nicholas Canny and Dr. Ciaran Brady.
Audio Center DVD D923-1 DVD

Uncensored voices : war or peace in Ireland / Irish Visions USA. -- Woodlawn, NY : Irish Visions USA, c1995.
Abstract: A look at the current prospects for peace in the North of Ireland. Features rare archival footage of the early civil rights movement, Bloody Sunday, the Hunger Strikes, as well as footage of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams' historic visits to the United States. Included are interviews with Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Fr. Des Wilson, Mary Nelis, Eamon McCann and Oliver Kearney. It features an interview in Federal Prison with Jimmy Smyth, who escaped from Long Kesh Prison outside Belfast in 1983.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-15 VC

War and peace in Ireland / a film by Arthur Mac Caig. New York, NY: First Run/Icarus Films, 1998.
Abstract: The film retraces the conflict in Northern Ireland through film footage of events and comments of citizens representing the various factions that have resulted in the struggles through the year's from1968 until the present. The main protagonists of the film include John Hume, Gerry Adams, John Taylor, David Ervine, and Albert Reynolds.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-28 VC

Feature Films: The Troubles

Cal / Eastern Counties Newspapers Group Limited. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, [1990].
Abstract: A harrowing, sensitive love story set within the hatred of strife-torn Northern Ireland.
Audio Center Videocassette O18-1 VC

The crying game / written and directed by Neil Jordan. [Van Nuys, Calif.] : LIVE Home Video, [1993]
Abstract: A haunting, humorous and shocking romantic thriller about Irish terrorists, their hostage and the hostage's exotic girlfriend.
Audio Center Videocassette J82-1 VC

Feature Films: The Troubles

Northern Ireland Conflict: Feature Films

The Dawning / TVS, The Vista Organization present; Lawson Productions. [Van Nuys, Calif.] : LIVE Home Video, 1993.
Abstract: In 1920 Ireland, a young woman enlisted in a dangerous mission by an IRA gunman faces life-and-death choices when what seemed to be a romantic game leads to violence and revolution.
Audio Center Videocassette K71-1 VC

A further gesture: / Channel Four Films.
[Dublin] : A Zephr Films, Samson Films/Road Movies, Drite Production, 1999.
1 videocassette (98 min.).
Stephen Rea is Dowd, a long-term inmate in a high security H-BLOCK prison near Belfast. When he escapes as part of a daring mass breakout, the survivors head back to their former lives while Dowd heads for New York and a new beginning.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-54 VC

In the name of the father / Universal Pictures presents a Hell's Kitchen / Gabriel Byrne Production. Universal City, Calif.: MCA Universal Home Video, 1994, c1993.
Abstract: Fact-based film about Gerry Conlon, the young Irish punk who is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and forced to confess to a terrorist bombing. He and his father, along with friends of Gerry, are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. There, his father shows his true strength, and Gerry works to prove their innocence and clear his father's name.
Audio Center Videocassette S552-2 VC

Nothing personal / Channel Four Films with the participation of Bord Scannán na héireann/The Irish Film Board and British Screen presents a Little Bird Production; a film by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. [United States]: Trimark Home Video, 1997.
Abstract: It is 1975 and civil war has exploded in Belfast, Ireland. Kenny, the leader of a gang of Loyalists assassins, must control his men before he can control the city. When Liam, a single father of two children, is kidnapped by Kenny's crew, Kenny must come to grips with the meaning of loyalty and the wisdom of war.
Audio Center Videocassette I65-32 VC

Northern Ireland Major Resources

CAIN: Conflict Archive on the INternet

This website, hosted at the University of Ulster, comprises invaluable resources for the study of the Northern Ireland Troubles and of the Peace Process. It includes links to documents, databases, bibliographies etc., on every aspect of the Northern Ireland Conflict.

The Cain Bibliography, Key Events, and Key Issues, provide a solid overview of events and publications, and "Last Updated" notes are helpfully included. Key documents such as The Agreement Reached in Multi-Party Negotiations are provided in full text.

The Northern Ireland Political Literature Collection on Microfilm:

Northern Ireland political literature. Phase one, Periodicals, 1966-1989, is a collection of over 3,000 microfiche, of issues of 924 periodicals published during the period 1966 to 1989. The comprise part of the Northern Ireland Political Collection of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.

The microfiche collection is in the Lower Level, Hesburgh Libraries, (Drawers: Microfiche G3) and may be used in conjunction with a print guide, on the Microform Guides shelf in the Lower Level. The periodicals are also catalogued individually so may be searched in the Library Catalogue.

Northern Ireland Images

Posters, photographs and wall murals from Northern Ireland have been collected and documented in a number of places.

Troubled images
A database containing over 3,000 annotated posters and images on the Northern Ireland conflict, from the Linen Hall Library's Northern Ireland Political Collection. This collection includes essays and voice recordings. (Available through Library.)

Murals of Northern Ireland
A collection of images of murals from Northern Ireland, principally West Belfast, Republican and Loyalist, painted during the Troubles, and photographed by Tony Crowley. The collection is published by Scripps College: Humanities Department, 1997. Images and copyright belong to Tony Crowley.

CAIN: Northern Ireland Political Ephemera:
A guide to the political ephemera on the CAIN web site.

CAIN: Political Wall Murals in Northern Ireland: This includes a Mural Directory by Dr. Jonathan McCormick, a bibliography, and links to other sites such as the Bogside Artists' 'The People's Gallery'.

Bobbie Hanvey Photographic Archives: The Burns Library at Boston College has a large archive of the photographs of award-winning photographer Bobbie Hanvey. Many of these are digitized on this site.

Last Update: 05 Jan 21:57 | Tagged with: Ireland; Irish history.