Reading list

This is an amalgamated suggested reading list relating to archives, history, research and historic diaries.

The list provides a selection of sources and resources relating to five key topics: archival research; archival theory and the history of the archive; historical research; historic diaries; and transcription and palaeography.

Archival research

• Watch the video introduction (20 mins) to the Special Collections and Archives Department at UL
• Watch archivist Dr Kirsten Mulrennan outline the work of an archivist and the department in her UL Talks video (5 mins)
• See our list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in relation to archives and archival research.
• For a list of useful resources relating to archives and archival research, please see our A–Z of online resources. This list is continuously updated.

Archival theory and the history of the archive

• Verne Harris, ‘The Archival Sliver: Power, Memory and Archives in South Africa‘, Archival Science 2 (2002).
• Eric Ketelaar, ‘Tacit Narratives: The meaning of archives‘, Archival Science 1 (2001).
• Joan M Schwartz and Terry Cook, ‘Archives, records, and power: The making of modern memory‘, Archival Science 2 (2002).
• Alexandra Walsham, ‘The Social History of the Archive’, Past and Present 230 (2016).

Historical research

• Black, Jeremy and Donald MacRaild, Studying History (4^th, London, 2017) Available at UL Library, 907 BLA.
• Booth, Wayne C., Colomb, Gregory G., and Williams, Joseph M., The craft of research (3rd ed.. Chicago, 2003). Availabe at UL Library, 001.42 BOO.
• Berger, Stefan, Heiko Feldner, and Kevin Passmore (eds), Writing history: theory and practice (2nd ed., London, 2010). Available at UL Library, 907.2 BER.
• Brundage, Anthony, Going to the sources: a guide to historical research and writing (6th ed., Hoboken NJ, 2017). Available at UL Library, 907.2 BRU.
• Jordanova, Ludmilla, History in practice (London, 2006). Available at UL library, 901 JOR.
• Loughran, Tracy (ed.), A practical guide to studying history: skills and approaches (London, 2017). Available at UL library, 907.2 LOU.
• McDowell, W. H., Historical research: a guide (Harlow, 2001). Available at UL library, 907.2 MCD.
• Tosh, John, The pursuit of history: aims, methods and new directions in the study of history (6th ed., London, 2015). 2^nd 3^rd & 4^th ed. Available at UL Library, 907.2 TOS

Archival diaries

In this section you will find a selection of readings relating to diaries. Section one includes readings on diaries as sources for historical research. Section two includes examples of academic articles and book chapters that are based on diaries. Section three provides information on published diaries or extracts of diaries.

Diaries as sources for the historian

• Dekker, R., Egodocuments and history : autobiographical writing in its social context since the Middle Ages (Hilversum, 2002).
• Hämmerle, Christa, ‘Diaries’ in Miriam Dobson and Benjamin Zieman, Reading Primary Sources: The Interpretation of Texts from Nineteenth and Twentieth Century History (2^nd edn., Abingdon, 2020). Available at UL Library, 909.8072 DOB.
• Lejeune, Philippe, On Diary (Hawai’i, 2009).
• Vivian, Frances (ed.), Letts keep a diary – A history of diary keeping in Great Britain from 16^th–20^th century (London, 1987).

Academic articles and chapters based on diaries

• Breathnach, Ciara, ‘Professional patienthood and mortality: Seán Ó Ríordáin’s diaries 1974–1977’ in Medical Humanities, 42:2 (2016) pp 1–5 (doi:10.1136/medhum-2015-010828).
• Breathnach, Ciara, ‘Heavier the interval than the consummation:’ bronchial disease in Seán Ó Ríordáin’s diaries’ in Medical Humanities 40:1 (2014), pp 11–16 (doi:10.1136/medhum-2013-010386).
• Carter, Kathryn, ‘The Cultural Work of Diaries in Mid-Century Victorian Britain’, Victorian Review 23, 2 (1997), pp. 251–267.
• Eckerle, Julie A. and Naomi MAreavey, Women’s Life Writing and Early Modern Ireland (Nebraska, 2019). Available at UL library, 820.9004 ECK.
• Murphy, Rachel, ‘Lady Charlotte Stopford: A lady of leisure?’ in Leeann Lane and William Murphy, Leisure and the Irish in the Nineteenth Century (Liverpool, 2016), pp 226–244.
• Pelger, Erin Kennedy, ‘Lives through the looking glass: The diaries of three nineteenth-century American women’ (1999). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers, University of Montana.
• Sanderson, M. G., ‘Daily weather in Dublin 1716–1734: the diary of Isaac Butler in Weather 2018–06, Vol.73 (6), pp 179–182.

Published diaries / extracts from diaries

• Bhaldraithe, Tomás, The Diary of an Irish Countryman 1827-1835 (Cork, 1979) Available at UL Library Special Collections, Leonard B/305
• Cullen, Clara, The World Upturning –  Elsie Henry’s Irish Wartime Diaries, 1913–1919 (Dublin, 2012).
• Lenox-Conyngham, Melosina (ed.), Diaries of Ireland, An Anthology 1590–1987 (Dublin, 2009). Available at UL Library, 941.5 LEN.
• LeFanu, William, Betsy Sheridan’s Journal – Letters from Sheridan’s Sister (Oxford, 1986). Available at UL Library ARC, 942.073 SHE.
• Legg, Marie-Louise (ed.), The Diary of Nicholas Peacock, 1740–51 (Dublin, 2005). Available at UL Library, 941.9407092 PEA.
• Léoutre, Marie, Jane McKee, Jean-Paul Pittion and Amy Prendergast, The diary (1689–1719) and accounts (1704–1717) of Élie Bouhéreau (Dublin, 2019). Available at UL Library HSM, 941.506092.
• MacDermott, Brian (ed.), The Irish Catholic petition of 1805: the diary of Denys Scully (Dublin, 1992). Available at UL Library, 941.5081 SCU.
• Thomson, David with Moyra McGusty (eds)., The Irish Journals of Elizabeth Smith, 1840–1850 (Oxford, 1980). Available at UL Library, 941.840810924.
• O’Callaghan, Eimear, Belfast days: a 1972 teenage diary (Kildare, 2014).
• O’Malley, Cormac K.H. and Róisín Kennedy, ‘Nobody’s Business’: The Arran Diaries of Ernie O’Malley (Dublin, 2017).
• Phil, Lis (ed.), Signe Toksvig’s Irish Diaries 1926–1937 (Dublin, 1994). Available at UL Library, 823.912 TOK/P.
• The Gladstone Diaries 1825–1896, is available in thirteen volumes plus and index edited by M.R.D. Foot (Vols I and II) and H.C.G. Matthew (Vols III–XIV).

Online diaries

• Boyle, Richard, First Earl of Cork, Hathi Trust Digital Library
• Butler, Isaac, Diary of the Weather and the Winds, Gilbert Collection, Dublin City Library and Archives
• Croghan, Col. George (1765), University of Pittsburgh Digital Collections
• Bonnivert, Gédéon, CELT (Corpus of Electric Texts), UCC
• Fleischmann Diaries, UCC
• Godwin, William, Bodleian Library, Oxford
• Lynn, Kathleen, Royal College Physicians Ireland (RCPI)
• Machyn, Henry, British History Online
• Martin, Mary, Digital Humanities @ TCD
• Massey, William Henry, University of Limerick Digital Library
• Pepys, Samuel, The Diary of Samuel Pepys Online
• Stopford Price, Dorothy, Digital Humanities @ TCD
• See also: Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Women’s History: Collections, Papers, Letters and Diaries, and Utah State University Digitised Historical diaries.

Transcription and palaeography

• Lauri Hyers, Diary Methods: Understanding Qualitative Research (Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018) DOI:10.1093/oso/9780190256692.003.0003
• Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500-1800, The National Archives (TNA), UK
• Digital Recipe Books Project, University of Essex, UK
• Transcription Tips, The National Archives, US
• How to Transcribe, Library of Congress, US
• Reading and Understanding Medieval Documents, University of Nottingham, UK
• How to decipher unfamiliar handwriting: A short information to palaeography, National History Museum, UK
• Palaeography lessons, Staffordshire Archives and Heritage, UK
• Palaeography Guides, Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York, UK
• Reading the Past: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century English Handwriting, Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York, UK
• Transcribing Europeana 1914-1918
• Europeana Transcribe Transcribathon, as well as ‘Tips for Transcribing‘
• Queen Victoria’s Journals, Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Royal Archives, UK (paid portal, free trial available)