HISTORY
According to the RIA, the Dictionary of of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, who Irish dictionary of national biography was
Irish Biography “will put the lives of recently retired following more than 30 promoted by The Irish Times in an editorial
people who made a significant years at the RIA. The copy then goes for during the 1930s. Two decades later, a plan
contribution in Ireland, or overseas, or editorial reading, a task carried out by a was pushed by the National Library of
who had careers of enduring interest, into member of the editorial board or an Ireland with the backing of the then
every major library in the world and onto outside expert. McGuire has had the task Minister of Education, Sean Moylan of
the shelves of scholars, journalists, of final editing. Fianna Fáil. A number of people worked
teachers, broadcasters, diplomats and In a nod to the 21st century, Turlough on the plan, including T. P. O’Neill, Eamon
general readers”. O’Riordan (MA ‘01) has been given the de Valera’s future biographer.
The heroes and heroines of the project task of coding the material for the online “During the 1970s, the Irish Council of
are the people – subjects as varied as Ailbe, edition. Key members of the in-house Historical Sciences used to discuss the idea
early sixth-century patron of Emly, and team of contributors include Larry White – it was always the last item on the
film actress Maureen O’Sullivan (1911-98), and Patrick Maume. agenda. In the 1980s, a pilot project was
the one-time love interest of Tarzan. established. The then Taoiseach, Garret
Composer Seán Ó Riada (1931-71) jostles FitzGerald (current Chancellor of NUI) had
for space with ‘Uncle’ Arthur Guinness a role to play in this, along with the late
(1725-1803), while Unionist leader Terence
O’Neill (1914-90) must struggle with Cork
‘Almost 100
John Maurice Kelly TD, former Attorney
General and Professor of Law at UCD.
hurler Christy Ring (1920-79) for the Linda Lunney from Northern Ireland set up
reader’s attention.
people have
a database of 60,000 names. This laid the
foundations. We trawled from this source.
Mammoth undertaking
The task of gathering information on
been engaged
“The project was initially under the
editorship of Gordon Heris Davies of
suitable subjects and then selecting the
final entries has been a mammoth one.
in-house to
Trinity College Dublin. In 1992, new editors
were appointed, Ronan Fanning, Aidan
Quinn and McGuire are only too well Clarke and myself – I was editing Irish
aware there are plenty of anorak
work on the
Historical Studies at the time and was
‘historians’ lurking in the undergrowth asked to come in and manage the
ready to pounce on any perceived
shortcomings in the dictionary as
project’
project.”
By 1997, the project was ready to start in
published. Standards of accuracy must be earnest, with the two Jameses at the helm.
pretty high. At the same time, the sheer At this point, Henry Boylan’s fine
amount of ground to be covered by the Dictionary of Irish Biography – published in
team has been without precedent. several editions – led the field. There was
“At the height of the project, you were Project’s birth also a much earlier publication, Webb’s
probably talking about 25 or 26 people The original genesis of the project can be Compendium of Irish Biography, dating
working on it,” says Quinn. Many would traced back to 1882, the year of back to 1879.
be doctoral or postdoctoral students. In publication of the UK Dictionary of Boylan’s biographical entries, however,
1997, when the Higher Education National Biography (DNB) by Leslie are much briefer than those that will be
Authority increased the grant to support Stephen and Sidney Lee. “The DNB is the contained in the soon-to-be-published
the dictionary, it became possible to have father and mother of all biographical national Dictionary of Irish Biography.
an in-house team of specialists to write a dictionaries,” says McGuire. “Stephen and “Every dictionary of biography rests on
large number of entries.” Lee had to transcribe everything by hand.” its predecessor and on the expert advice
Cumulatively, almost 100 people have The sheer scale of the task contributed to provided,” says McGuire. And the criteria
been engaged in-house to work on the a nervous breakdown suffered by Stephen for selection? “The obviously significant;
project, along with many outside (father of novelist Virginia Woolf). There people significant in their own lifetime,
contributors. are 50,000 entries in the DNB, which runs but since lost; and people for whom the
The material is edited initially by one of to 60 volumes. A new edition was significance of their careers has only
the two executive editors before being published in 2004 – today called the recently become apparent.”
sent out for copy editing, a task mainly Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. According to Quinn, an effort has been
carried out by Richard Hawkins, a Fellow According to McGuire, the idea of an made to promote people – particularly
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