Robert Day (1836-1914) was one of Ireland’s most prolific and important antiquarian collectors. He is of interest to Irish archaeologists today, particularly those who specialise in artefacts, due to his collecting activity. He married Rebecca Scott in 1857, thus linking him to another prominent business family in the city. The couple had eleven children, the eldest of whom, Robert Scott Day (1858-1920), later emigrated to Canada.
The Journey
It came as a very welcome surprise when one of the authors (Murray) was contacted in September 2025 by Mary Day of Vancouver, the great granddaughter of Robert Scott Day about material from the collection in her possession. After a month of planning and corresponding with the Days, two of the authors (Nic Cnáimhín & Skarstrand) made arrangements to travel to Vancouver, Canada, to meet the family and to collect and return the material to Ireland. We travelled in mid-November where we met with Mary and Catherine. We spent a few days documenting and packing the material for safe transport back to Ireland. Our time spent with the Days in Vancouver was extremely valuable to furthering our understanding of this collection’s journey, and they couldn’t believe the importance of the material that has been passed down from their great great grandfather Robert Day.Day Material in the Museum Collection
The Museum has close to 400 objects originally from the Day collection, including the the newly acquired items. As well as these objects, the Museum holds a collection of Robert Day archival material known as the Day Notebooks No. 1-5. The 2025 acquisition consists of 103 objects primarily beads of glass and amber, seals, intaglios, as well as other objects, most of which were still attached to their original collection cards. A total of eight books were also acquired, including scrapbooks, diaries, publications, inventories and so on. These will join the five Day notebooks to form a Robert Day archive within the Museum.The original collection cards have provided us with information such as provenance, acquisitions years, and associated individuals. They also provide catalogue numbers corresponding to those in the Day Notebook No. 2. This acquisition of Robert Day material provides us with great insight into his collection by allowing us to add to the corpus of research undertaken over the years.
