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.
poster / Air Raid Precaution, WWII
Air Raid Precaution poster about gas mask. WWIIposter / Air Raid Precaution, WWI
Air Raid Precaution poster about incendiary bomb. WWIIrecruitment poster / Civil Defence, WWII
Recruiting poster for the Civil Defence. WWII
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.
battle tunic / Irish Guards, c. 1944
Battle dress tunic / blouse of the Irish Guards, Sergeant. c. 1944. Blouson-style khaki tunic. Sergeant's stripes at left and right sleeve. "Irish Guards" insignia at both shoulders. Front closing with five buttons. Belt at waist, two patch pockets with buttoned flaps at front. Makers's label...
photograph / Captain J.F. Doyle, c.1940
Small photograph of Captain J.F. Doyle showing him in uniform and with his wife c. 1940.
instruction leaflet / Siebe-Gorman Civilian Respirator
The Siebe-Gorman Civilian Respirator - instructions for use on a 4page illustrated quarto leaflet. c.1939. Found in Jacob's Biscuit Factory, Dublin, in 1974.
photograph / Wire pulling-Signals Style
Photograph caption ‘Wire pulling-Signals Style’ Two Irish Army soldiers wearing steel helmets with nets and foliage suck into walking alongside a hedge laying communication wire with wire being pulled on two handled cart. Emergency Period. Stamped ‘Irish Press Copyright’
booklet / Civilian War Duties
Booklet 'Civilian War Duties'. Public Information Pamphlet No. 1. Issued by the Department of Defence, Air raid Precautions Branch, St. John's Road, Kingsbridge, Dublin. Printed by Cahill & Co. Ltd., Parkgate Printing Works, Dublin. Back cover with illustraiton of a beehive shelter. Emergency...
handbook / Air Raid Precaution Handbook No. 6, 1938
Booklet, Air Raid Precaution Handbook No. 6. Air Raid Precautions in Factories and Business Premises. Published in London by His Majesty's Stationary Office. 1st Edition. 1938. Belonging to Captain Richard Burke of the Royal Irish Regiment, WWI. Stamped by Burke on cover and inside.
photograph / Irish Army
Photograph, black and white. Irish Army. A.A. Defence of Dublin, 1939-1945. Framed and glazed.
pencil / 'Emergency'
One of three Emergency Quality pencils c.1940s. Two partly pared bearing the legend 'Made in Ireland "Oifig an tSothathair" Emergency Quality HB; the unpared one has a similar legend but without 'made in Ireland' impressed into the wood.pencil / 'Emergency'
One of three Emergency Quality pencils c.1940s. Two partly pared bearing the legend 'Made in Ireland "Oifig an tSothathair" Emergency Quality HB; the unpared one has a similar legend but without 'made in Ireland' impressed into the wood.pencil / 'Emergency'
One of three Emergency Quality pencils c.1940s. Two partly pared bearing the legend 'Made in Ireland "Oifig an tSothathair" Emergency Quality HB; the unpared one has a similar legend but without 'made in Ireland' impressed into the wood.resource / Irish Neutrality, WWII
Saturday Evening Post on Irish Neutrality. Newspaper cutting containing excerpts from SEP riposte to comments by George Bernard Shaw on Irish neutrality in World War II.
newspaper / Bombing of London, Daily Mail, 1940
Copy of newspaper; The Daily Mail, 31 December 1940. World War II, German bombing of British mainland. Front page shows picture of St. Paul's Dome in London with the headline 'War's Greatest Picture - St. Paul's stands unharmed in the midst of the burning city'.
pay book / Peter Cleary, 1940
Army Book 64 Soldiers Service & Pay book: Peter Cleary 7077261, Enlisted Belfast 5 February 1940. British Army.
newspaper / The Daily Herald, 1940
Copy of newspaper; The Daily Herald, 16 November 1940. World War II, German bombing of British mainland. Front page article 'Midlands city is now like a bombarded French town. Coventry homeless slept by the roadside this morning, not a mortal blow - work will restart'.
certificate / Corporal R.J. Bruton, Burma, WWII
Certificate granting permission to Corporal R.J. Bruton, no. 14423195, of the 1st Northampton, to hold a Japanese sword, taken in Burma during World War II, as a personal souvenir. Issued by HQ Allied Land Forces, Sea. No. 30271/10/SDI (b). Dated 22 August 1946.