Browse a selection of online exhibitions curated by members of the Irish Folklife Division. These exhibitions explore various themes, stories and objects from the National Folklife Collection and some feature rare archive imagery and video.

Antique Veterinary Objects

Learn about a unique collection of antique veterinary objects, established through a partnership between the National Museum and the Veterinary Department of Mayo County Council in the early 2000s. The collection, assembled by Veterinary Officer Cathal Walsh and colleagues Cathy Waddell and Cathy Gallagher, highlights tools once used in animal husbandry and veterinary science. It offers visitors an engaging glimpse into the work of vets in Ireland in times gone by.

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Making a wooden sieve - John Hamilton

The name of this craftsman was John Hamilton. In the summer of 1948, A.T. Lucas, along with Kevin Danaher of the Irish Folklore Commission, visited John Hamilton at his residence in Kitchenstown, Naul, County Dublin. They thoroughly documented and filmed the entire process of sieve making as performed by the talented craftsman.

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Making a cart - James Kelliher

In the summer of 1972, curator John O’Sullivan and photographer Brendan Doyle of the National Museum of Ireland recorded 70-year-old wheelwright James Kelliher of Glenflesk, Co. Kerry, making a donkey cart using traditional hand tools.

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The Murray Documents

In 2023, the National Museum of Ireland acquired a donation of 40 documents belonging to the Murray family that lived in rural County Sligo.

The well-preserved documents span 150 years from the early nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century and give a snapshot of the lives of a typical farming family.

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Making a Currach - Michael Conneely

In 1968, a two-man team from the National Museum of Ireland travelled to Inis Oírr off the coast of Co. Galway aboard the Naomh Éanna ferry. They spent eight days on the island documenting master currach maker Michael (Mikey) Conneely as he built a 19 and a half feet, three-man currach complete with mast and sail.

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Making a lidded tin can - Bernard Mongan

In 1965, expert tinsmith Bernard Mongan was filmed and photographed on behalf of the National Museum of Ireland as he worked at his encampment in Cahermorris, Co. Galway. 

Mr Mongan was filmed making a seven quart lidded tin can, which involved many steps. The whole process took Mr. Mongan little more than 15 minutes from start to finish. 

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Irish Travel Posters of the 20th Century

When preparing the story of Irish folk culture from 1850 to 1950, which is presented in the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park, the question of the romanticising of the past as opposed to the reality was addressed. This led the Museum to look at enhanced images from the past. Since that time, the Museum has acquired a growing collection of travel and tourism posters and, in 2007, mounted the temporary exhibition Come Back to Erin: Irish Travel Posters of the 20th Century, which was curated by the late Dr Séamas Mac Philib.

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Kitchen Power

Kitchen Power examines the promised lifestyle and everyday reality of rural electrification and the effect that it had on the lives of Irish women. In the 1940s and into the early 1950s Ireland was a country largely powered by manual labour, draft animals and fossil fuels such as turf, wood and coal, as electricity was rarely available outside of towns and cities. Rural electrification heralded dramatic changes in the way in which Irish people lived and worked. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) began the electrification of rural Ireland in 1946, and the project ran until 1965, with parts of rural Ireland only receiving electricity in the 1970s.

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