The sixth and final podcast in the series of the History of Emotions Podcasts 'From grief to wonder: Exploring emotions in Irish History' by Ciarán Wallace takes a surprisingly positive look at a cultural tragedy - the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland at the outbreak of the Irish Civil War. Peering behind the cloud of smoke which billowed up on 30 June 1922, he describes the sense of wonder associated with the establishment of the PROI in 1867 and its fifty-five years preserving Ireland's most precious records. The building, its staff and the national archive they created were marvels of 19th century Irish skill and scholarship. Despite the losses of 1922, their work is now enabling the virtual recreation of the record treasury - opening the door for a new generation to feel that same sense of wonder and excitement at the historical discoveries ahead.

Dr Ciarán Wallace

Ciarán Wallace is Deputy Director of Beyond 2022. He completed his PhD on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century municipal politics in Dublin at Trinity College Dublin (2010). Having lectured in Modern Irish History at Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and Liverpool John Moore’s University Ciarán returned to Dublin to join the initial scoping phase for Beyond 2022: Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury.

Ciarán’s publications include ‘Civil society in search of a state: Dublin 1898–1922’ Urban History, August 2018; Curry, J., Wallace C., (2015) Thomas Fitzpatrick and the Lepracaun Cartoon Monthly 1905-1915; Griffith L.M., Wallace, C. (eds) (2016) Grave Matters: death and dying in Dublin 1500 to the present and Wallace, C., Gallagher, S. E., (2016) ‘A Far Cry from School History: Massive Online Open Courses as a Generative Source for Historical Research.’ The International Review of Open and Distributed Learning, 2016.