Yesterday, we had a visit from an international researcher who was excited to go through our Joseph McGarrity Collection. He was looking for materials related to Irish nurses who participated in the Easter Rising of 1916.

One of the items in the collection is In Times of Peril, which contains excerpts from the diary of nurse Linda Kearns.

Our copy is especially noteworthy as it belonged to Éamon de Valera (to whom the book was dedicated) and bears his signature on the title page. De Valera served as the first president of the Irish Republic (1921-1922) and the third president of the modern Republic of Ireland (1959-1973).

An excerpt from Kearns’ diary is one of the readings featured in the fifth episode of our Mail Call podcast.

Our researcher had a very productive visit. It is always thrilling to see researchers examining primary sources and bringing new connections to light. You can view a list of published resources that have used materials from our collections in our Zotero library.