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.
pole-arm / Royal College of Surgeons, 1916
Pike, found at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1916, after the surrender. A second pike of the same type as EW.1200 - Poker shaped blade, quadilateral in section, sharply pointed, altering shape to cylindrical where it joins shaft; held to shaft by cylindrical collar. The pike-head proper is itself...
pole-arm / Royal College of Surgeons, 1916
Pike used by a Volunteer, pre 1916. Found at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1916, after the surrender. Long, flat blade, 12.75" long, 1.5" broad at the butt tapering to blunt point. Attached to shaft (4'1.5" long by 1.2" diam.) by a tang. The attachment strengthened by a brass cylindrical collar,...
pole-arm / Royal College of Surgeons, 1916
Pike used by a Volunteer, pre 1916. Found at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1916, after the surrender. A second pike of same type and dimensions as EW.1202 -Long, flat blade, 12.75" long, 1.5" broad at the butt tapering to blunt point. Attached to shaft (4'1.5" long by 1.2" diam.) by a tang. The...
last letter / Kilmainham Gaol, 7/8 May 1916
Last letter of Michael Mallin. Directed to his father and mother from Kilmainham Gaol. Not dated, but in the late hours of 7 May or early hours of 8 May 1916, the date of his execution. Signed 'Michael Mallin, Commandant, Stephen's Green Command'. One page, written on both sides, measuring 8...
notebook / Irish Volunteers / South Dublin Union, 1916
Irish Volunteer and 1916 Rising notebook, Eamonn Ceannt, Con Colbert, Cathal Brugha. Duplicate leaf book with numbered pages. Inscription inside cover in front, in ink 'Found 4th May '16 in kitchen of S.D.U.- week following Sinn Féin rebellion by D.S. Thompson'. Contents (carbon duplicated script...
last letter / Kilmainham Gaol, 7 May 1916
Last letter written by Seán Heuston before his execution, Manuscript letter, one sheet, written in pencil. Addressed from Kilmainham Prison, Sunday, May 7, 1916. Directed to Mr. Walsh, a colleague of Heuston's, probably at the Great Southern and Western Railway, regarding arrangements for his...
altar cloth / Frongoch, 1916
Frongoch Altar Cloth. Piece of purple linen which was used as the frontispiece or as a drapery at the back of the Altar in Frongoch Camp in 1916. Large cross in linen appliqued in the centre. Measures 40 inches by 88 inches.
cameo brooch / Winifred Carney / Grace Gifford
Brooch presented to Winifred Carney from Grace Gilford. Cameo brooch in gold frame, engraved on back 'To Winifred Carney from Grace Plunkett in Memory of April 29th, 1916'. Elliptical convex plate, 2" by 13/5", of shell or similar substance, white, opaque with head of female, hair wreathed in...
rosary beads / Winifred Carney
Winifred Carney's rosary beads. Rosary beads, silver metal, in an egg-shaped ivory case. Case in two sections, screwing together. Black ribbon attached to section which forms lid. On the ribbon is a gilt ring with a sliding catch and, at end of ribbon, green thread tassel. Engraved on section...
souvenir / Frongoch, 1916
Copy book written by a German prisoner of war in Frongoch Prison Camp, 1916. The camp was occupied by Germans previous to arrival of Irish prisoners. Mostly headlines and single words; some addresses. Picked up by Patrick Ronan in Frongoch, 1916.
stand / Helga / Mountjoy, 1916
Shell, unexploded, mounted in a bespoke wooden stand with plaque attached to the front reading 'Fired from the Helga Easter 1916 and penetrated roof of stores Mountjoy Prison'. It is unlikely that the range and trajectory of the Helga's gun could have propelled the shell as far as mountjoy, and it...
socket bayonet / 1916 Rising
A shotgun bayonet, homemade type, c. 1916. Blade steel 10.7 inches long, 1.3 inches at section, rivetted to cylinderical steel socket, open at both ends, 6 inches long. Socket made to grip barrel of shotgun, tightening by two wing nuts. No maker's mark.
letter / Stafford Prison, 1916
Letter, handwritten, of Michael Collins, written from Stafford Prison, 24 June 1916. To Mollie. Referring to personal items and his impending transfer to Frongoch. 4 pages.
subscription card / Rifle Fund, 1914-16
Cumann na mBan. Printed card for the entry of names of subscribe to fund to buy rifles, and of amounts subscribed. Collector's name, Miss Ethel Russell, handwritten. One entry - J.W. Russell, for 1 shilling, not dated. Written in ink on back are the names of the Honouurable Secretaries - Maire...
souvenir / G.P.O., 1916
Mechanism of a telephone generator, metal frame with bell, wire coils and cog wheels, removed from the General Post Office, Dublin, after Easter week, 1916. Received by Edward Mulcahy at the time as a souvenir.
Howth rifle / Tom Clarke, Howth
Tom Clarke's Howth Rifle. A "Howth Rifle" inscribed: "Tom Clarke to John Daly. One of the first two pieces landed at Howth Pier Dublin 26th July, 1914". The gun was taken by Tom Clarke from Dublin to Limerick the day following the Howth Gun-running. On arrival at Limerick he marched with it on his...
souvenir / Reading Gaol, 1916
Prison mug brought by Darrell Figgis from Reading Jail, 1916, as a souvenir. Ordinary type prisoner's mug. Pottery mug, with white glaze, circular base. Printed in black on one side on a band, 'Prison Commission', a broad arrow within this band. Painted black on the base. Stamped with a crown...
souvenir / Frongoch, 1916
Rugby football used by the prisoners to play Gaelic football in Frongoch, 1916. Brought out of the camp on their release in December 1916. It originally bore the inscription "1916 Frongoch", marks remain where this was defaced by some ladies in whose possession it was during the War of...
mobilisation order / Irish Citizen Army, Sunday 23 April 1916
Special mobilisation order of the Irish Citizen Army, for all ranks to parade at Liberty Hall with full equipment on Sunday at 3.30, signed James Connolly.