Historical Collections Online
Search our Historical Collections Online, a sample of 10,000 artefacts from the National Museum of Ireland’s Historical, Military and Easter Week Collections, published as part of the Decade of Commemorations.
goblet / Siege of Derry, 1688-89
Goblet, post-1690. Coconut cup in which the turned stem and foot are said to have been made from the pear tree by which Colonel Lundy fled after the Siege of Derry. A wooden chalice with a wooden lid carved with concentric circles. A finial sits on top, dark and light wood used.
coatee / 1782 Club, 1840s
1782 Club uniform coatee. Green velvet with 1782 and shamrock buttons. Collar, cuffs and back panels in dark green velvet with silver shamrock embroidery. 1840s.
legal document / Laurence Steel, 1763
A rare legal document, printed form with manuscript insertions, binding Laurence Steel to provide himself with arms sufficient for a foot soldier, with one sword, one belt, on pike, or one sword and belt and bandoleers while living in Dublin City for the service of the King with a payment of £100...
scrapbook / Commissioner John J. Jones, Dublin Metropolitan Police
Album of souvenirs relating to Queen Victoria’s visit to Dublin in 1900. letters, menu card, portraits, etc. Also a photograph of the R.I.C encampment at Wexford during the Coolgreany Evictions 1887. Part of a collection of items belonging to Commissioner John J. Jones, who began his career in the...
flag / Irish National League, Kilmaley, 1885
Land League Banner. 1885, for the Kilmaley Branch. Portrait of Michael Davitt on one side with slogan 'Down with Landlordism' above, and 'Union is Strength' below. Portrait of Charles Stewart Parnell on the other side above Kilmaley. Below, 'Branch I.N. League'. Green in colour, with central...
flag / Fenian, Tallaght 5 March 1867
Fenian Flag; captured from the Fenians at Tallaght, on 5th March, 1867. Green silk 4' by 3'; with four rows each with eight golden stars embroidered. The design, influenced by the American "Stars & Stripes", shows thirty-two stars in all, representing the thirty-two counties. A note in pen on the...
replica / Fenian Flag
Replica of Fenian flag. Copy of the flag carried by the Fenians at Tallaght in 1867. Green field with 4 rows, each with eight gold stars on either side.flag / Catalpa, 1876
Flag of the Catalpa. U.S. flag, 14' by 10', 36 stars. The flag under which the whaler ship Catalpa, under Captain George Anthony, travelled on its Freemantle Mission to rescue six Fenians from Western Australia in 1876.
illustration / Uniform
Illustration or drawing, watercoloured, of uniform (green jacket and grey trousers), by F. Glenn Thompson. Possibly a member of the Irish National Guard.
flag / United States of America
A U.S.A. flag of the type flown from Dublin buildings during festive periods. Cotton and wool. 51inches by 102 inches. U.S. Stars and Stripes, with 50 stars.
cigarette lighter / World War II
World War II Cigarette Lighter. Stamped at base "Victory/May 1945/U.L./Made in England". Found by Mr R. Holzapfel on Iron Kerry Mountain peak, while mountaineering July 1982.
recruitment poster / Germany's threat to Ireland!, WWI
Recruitment poster, World War I period. 'Germany's threat to Ireland! The Germans have issued their orders: The Irish Seas are to be own with Mines. Irish Ships are to be sunk. Irish Men, Women and Children are to be sent to their doom without warning. Ireland's Food Supply is to be cut...
recruitment poster / What Have You Done For Ireland?
British Army recruitment poster, World War I. A Typographical poster, letterpress printed in green ink on buff paper. It reads as a poem entitled 'What have You done for ireland?' and is contained in linear border with stylised floral corner motifs. Poem (3 verses), within border, reads - "What...
/ Cardinal Logue and the War, WWI
Recruitment poster, c. 1914-1918. "I Believe Belgium and the treatment of its People will seal the doom of the Kaiser and His Power". Irishmen! Your help is needed to seal Germany's doom, and to save Ireland from Belgium's fate. Join an Irish Regiment Today'. The poster combines serif and...
/ The Man to be Pitied, WWI
A typographical poster, letterpress, printed in blue ink on buff paper. The headlines reading 'The Man to be Pitied' and 'Join an Irish Regiment Today'. A Central Section surrounded by a border describes the lot of the fit man who does not enlist. "He knows what his Country thinks of the Men Who...
poster / An Appeal to gallant Irishmen. WWI
Recruitment poster, 1914-18. Between titles, reads - "Do you hear the voice of heroic Belgium calling for your aid ? Do you know that Cathedrals and Churches have been violated in Belgium, and that Ministers of Religion have been driven from their Churches by the Germans ? Do you know that if...
flag / Grattan's Volunteer Flag
Grattan's Volunteer Flag. Textile banner, dark in colour, with 'Free Trade & Legislative Rights Established' on a riband across the top and bottom, and 'Ireland' in the centre, surrounded by a wreath of shamrocks
flag / Volunteer Flag
Irish Volunteer Flag. Textile banner, dark in colour, with 'Judges Made Independent & A Limited instead of Perpetual Mutiny Bill' on a riband across the top and bottom, and 'Ireland' surrounded by wreath of shamrocks in the centre.
flag /
Centrepice of flag, silk, embroidered with the figure of Hibernia in the centre, holding a flag and leaning on a Maid of Erin harp, with a wreath of shamrock around. Circa 1798 period.