National Treasures, Episode 3 of 4, RTÉ One, Sunday, April 22nd at 6.30pm
It’s definitely the biggest crowd to date so what treasured objects lay in wait. Our team of knowledgeable historians are on hand and included in this week’s discoveries are a Bosco mug with a secret story and what might just be the bones of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Series Overview
National Treasures is a brand new series exploring fascinating objects in the hands of ordinary people that reveal the social history of Ireland over the last 100 years. Presented by John Creedon and filmed at a series of unique road show events held across the four provinces, each episode uncovers an eclectic mix of objects that have been preserved in the attics, mantelpieces and shoe boxes of Ireland’s inhabitants.
During each programme a carefully selected team of curators are tasked with examining these artifacts with the ultimate goal of selecting a special few to be included in a unique exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland. From politics to sport, work life to civil rights and music to fashion every single aspect of Irish social history will be explored through the fascinating objects brought to the roadshows.
Alongside the exciting roadshow events our travelling curator Michael Fortune will explore the boreens and laneways of rural Ireland finding more objects and owners and searching out people who couldn’t make it along to the roadshows.
Across the series we visit all four provinces beginning with Cork and travelling to Belfast and Dublin before coming to an end in Galway. The final episode will coincide with the launch of the National Treasures Exhibition in The National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.
National Treasures is produced by EZ Films (Man on Bridge) for RTÉ in association with the National Museum of Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
For more information see: nationaltreasures.ie
The Curators
Roisín Higgins is a social historian whose research is on memory and commemoration. She is interested in how we use objects to remind us of events, people and emotions, as well as the stories they help us to tell. Roisín is the author of the award-winning book ‘Transforming 1916: Meaning, Memory and the Fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising’ and she was the historical consultant on the commemoration zone of the GPO Witness History exhibition. She is a Senior Lecturer in History at Teesside University and has taught at universities in Ireland, England and Scotland.
Richard McElligott is a native of county Kerry and a lecturer in modern Irish history in University College Dublin. Richard has published widely on the history of Irish sport and also on the Irish Revolutionary period, 1912-1924. He is the author of Forging a Kingdom: The GAA in Kerry, 1884-1934 (2013) and editor of A Social and Cultural History of Sport in Ireland (2016).
Donal Fallon is a historian and author based in Dublin. He is editor of Dublin social history blog ‘Come Here To Me’ (www.comeheretome.com) and teaches with the Adult Education Department of University College Dublin. His publications include a forthcoming guide to revolutionary Dublin 1913-23 (Collins Press) and a history of the Nelson Pillar (New Island, 2014). He is a regular contributor to Newstalk radio.
Ruth Griffin is a fashion historian and writer working across cultural heritage from broadcasting to blogging. With a background in Fashion Design from the National College of Art & Design in Dublin and a Master’s degree in History & Culture of Fashion from London College of Fashion (now part of the University of the Arts) she has developed her knowledge and expertise in fashion history for over a decade. Her particular research area is about fashion and its relationship to the city of Dublin. She runs a programme of tours every summer and a blog that uncovers the often lost history of Irish fashion design, fashion businesses and icons who have influenced our own unique style. She is regularly asked to speak on radio and TV and at Dublin’s cultural hotspots from the National Gallery of Ireland to The Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin.
Linda King lives and works in Dublin. She is a design historian specialising in the study of Irish design, graphic design and the history of travel and tourism. She co-edited the first survey of Irish design: Ireland, Design and Visual Culture – Negotiating Modernity, 1922-1992 (2011), is a regular contributor to RTE radio and occasional contributor to The Irish Times. She has been a consultant on design issues to Designing Ireland (RTÉ), Dublin City Council, The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, Year of Irish Design 2015 and the National Archives (UK), amongst many others. She previously worked at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York.
