Explore Digital Collections
Archives and Special Collections - Digital Collections
Archives and Special Collections creates, preserves, and provides access to digitised and born-digital collections, making research resources available online for teaching, learning, research, and public engagement.
Our digital collections include digitised archives, rare books, photographs, audiovisual recordings, manuscripts, and born-digital material. They are made available through the Archives Catalogue and a range of trusted digital platforms, extending access to researchers in Ireland and internationally.
Explore the Digital Collections
Researchers can discover and browse our digital collections through the Archives Catalogue, where digital content and collection descriptions are continually expanded as new material is digitised and catalogued.
Explore the Archives Catalogue
Digital Collections
Discover a selection of digitised and born-digital collections preserved by DCU Library. Additional collections and digital content will be added as digitisation and cataloguing progresses.
Dates: 1995-2021
Extent: 2 born-digital files
The David O'Donoghue Collection documents the research of Irish journalist and historian Dr David O'Donoghue on Irish-German relations during the Second World War. A former journalist with RTÉ and Agence France-Presse (AFP), Dr O'Donoghue was awarded a PhD by Dublin City University in 1995 and has published extensively on the subject.
The collection currently comprises the audio documentary Hitler's Irish Voices, exploring the Irland-Redaktion German radio service (1939-1945), together with an interview in which Dr O'Donoghue discusses the documentary and the research underpinning his doctoral thesis, Hitler's Irish Voices: The Story of German Radio's Propaganda Service, 1939-1945.
Dates: 1782-1950
Extent: 1 digitised album
The Henry Morris Collection comprises an album of correspondence and related papers assembled by Henry Morris (1874-1945), Irish scholar, educator, folklorist, and manuscript collector. A leading figure in the Irish Language Revival, Morris founded the Monaghan branch of the Gaelic League and made a significant contribution to Irish scholarship and cultural life.
The collection includes correspondence with many prominent figures of the Irish cultural and political revival, including Patrick Pearse, Eoin MacNeill, and T. M. Healy, providing valuable insights into the intellectual, cultural, and political life of Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Dates: 1905-2011
Extent: selected digitised documents and photographs.
The Kenny Family Collection documents three generations of a family closely associated with Irish advertising, publishing, commerce, and public life. At its core are the papers of Kevin J. Kenny (1881-1954), founder of Kenny's Advertising Agency in 1902, one of Ireland's earliest full-service advertising agencies.
Through correspondence, business records, photographs, printed material, and personal papers, the collection provides an insight into the development of Irish advertising and the social, cultural, and political life of twentieth-century Ireland. Kevin J. Kenny's work brought him into contact with many of the leading figures of the Irish revolutionary period, including Roger Casement, Patrick Pearse, Arthur Griffith, and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington. Their correspondence offers valuable perspectives on events such as the Easter Rising, the Gallipoli campaign, the War of Independence, and the Civil War.
Dates: 1935-2003
Extent: 2 boxes
The Seán Lester Collection comprises the personal diaries of Seán Lester (1888-1959), Irish diplomat, journalist, and the last Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Covering his service as High Commissioner of the League of Nations in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) between 1935 and 1939, and later as Deputy Secretary-General and Acting Secretary-General in Geneva during 1940-1941, the diaries provide a remarkable first-hand account of international diplomacy at one of the most critical periods in modern European history.
Written as Europe descended into conflict, the diaries document the rise of Nazism, the outbreak of the Second World War, and the final years of the League of Nations. They offer valuable insight into the political and diplomatic challenges of the period, capturing Lester's personal observations as he and his colleagues struggled to preserve the League in the face of its collapse, describing a world that was, in his words, "falling about our ears."
Digital Preservation
Archives and Special Collections preserves born-digital and digitised collections to ensure their long-term accessibility and authenticity. Through digital preservation, we safeguard digital collections so they remain accessible for future teaching, learning, research, and public engagement.
Digital Platforms and Partnerships
Selected digital collections are also available through national and international platforms, increasing discoverability, interoperability, and long-term access.
Online Exhibitions and Digital Stories
Online exhibitions and digital stories provide new ways to discover Archives and Special Collections through curated narratives that explore the people, places, and events represented in our collections. Combining archival material with interpretation and digital storytelling, they support teaching, learning, research, and public engagement.
An introductory digital exhibition featuring selected highlights from the Charles J. Haughey Collection, including correspondence, photographs, speeches, election literature, audiovisual recordings, and memorabilia from across Charles J. Haughey's public and political life. The exhibition traces his involvement with Fianna Fáil from the 1940s onwards and provides an introduction to the breadth and significance of the collection.
As the first digital release from the collection and DCU Library's first contribution to the Google Arts and Culture platform, the exhibition offers a high-level overview of the archive and a preview of future digital releases.
A bilingual digital exhibition exploring the life and work of Agnes O'Farrelly (Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh), one of the leading figures in the Irish cultural revival and women's rights movement of the early twentieth century. The exhibition traces her pioneering career as the first female Irish-language novelist, an Irish-language scholar, professor, and prominent member of the Gaelic League, as well as her role in the establishment of Cumann na mBan.
Drawing on digitised publications from DCU Library's Conradh na Gaeilge Collection, the exhibition introduces O'Farrelly's literary, academic, and political legacy through a selection of her published works and related material.
ArcGIS Storymap
An interactive StoryMap exploring how historians and researchers analyse archival sources through a close examination of a 1939 letter from Eóin MacNeill to Henry Morris from DCU Library's Henry Morris Collection. Combining archival research, digital storytelling, and interactive mapping, the StoryMap demonstrates the importance of evaluating multiple sources critically and placing documents within their wider historical context.
Created using ArcGIS, this narrative tutorial introduces archival research practice by following the people, places, and sources connected to the letter, illustrating how evidence can be interpreted to build a richer understanding of the past. It offers a fresh approach to information literacy through digital mapping and storytelling, encouraging users to engage critically with primary sources.
A bilingual digital exhibition introducing the Children's Books Ireland Collection, which documents the development of contemporary Irish children's literature through books shortlisted for, and recognised by, the annual Children's Books Ireland Awards. Through selected highlights, the exhibition celebrates the creativity of Irish authors and illustrators while showcasing the breadth of children's publishing in Ireland.
In 2021, Children's Books Ireland transferred the collection to DCU Library's Archives and Special Collections, where it continues to grow through the annual Children's Books Ireland Awards. Comprising approximately 4,000 books and related material, the collection is available for consultation in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room and supports teaching, learning, research, and public engagement.
Planning Your Research
Our Special Collections are available through the Library Catalogue.
Need help identifying relevant collections? Our team will be happy to help identify archival collections that may support your research before you arrange a Reading Room appointment.
Visit the Reading Room
Special Collections material may be consulted in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room by appointment.
Contact us for appointments, opening hours, accessibility, and visitor information.
