An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 49 The Bureau of Military History (1913-1921) is a collection of 1,773 witness statements and accompanying material collected by the State between 1947 and 1957, in order to gather primary source material on the Irish revolutionary period. Along with the Military Service Pensions Collection, the Bureau is among the most im- portant primary sources of information on this period available anywhere in the world. The Bureau was locked away in the Dept. of An Taoiseach for forty-five years after the last statement was collected, and in 2001 it was decided to transfer the Bureau to Military Archives and prepare it for release into the public domain. A team of archivists and support staff, under the direction of Commandant Victor Laing (former OC of Military Archives) suc- cessfully prepared the collection for its launch in March 2003. The Bureau is accessible on a separate website, www.bureauofmili- taryhistory.ie, but as part of the ongoing development and con- solidation of our online resources we plan to migrate the collec- tion to www.militaryarchives.ie by 2020. The Military Archives Oral History Project – Uinseann Mac Eoin Series: Uinseann MacEoin was a journalist, architect, campaigner for the preservation of Georgian Dublin, veteran republican and keen mountaineer. He was also the author of three books – Survi- vors (1980, based on interviews with veteran republicans), Harry (1986, biography of Harry White), and The IRA in the Twilight Years 1923-1948 (1997). In 2017, on the recommendation of Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, his family donated the material associated with the research for these books, including 105 audio cassettes of interviews, to the Military Archives. These interviews, recorded from the later 1970s to the 1990s, feature many veterans of the War of Indepen- dence who went on to join the anti-Treaty side. Such in- terviewees include Pax O'Faoláin, Peadar O'Donnell, Máire Comerford, Sheila Humphries, Sean MacBride, Eithne Coyle and Nora Connolly O'Brien. These cassettes have been digitised and are in the process of having detailed, time coded abstracts with accompanying contextual information written with a view to making them available to the public in early 2020. The Collins Papers give a unique and significant insight into one of the most influential figures of the War of Independence. The collection primarily consists of typed and handwritten correspondence between Michael Collins and Irish Republican Army personnel during the years 1918- 1922. These include typed memoranda, files notes, typed and handwritten correspondence between Di- rectors and Staff, General Headquarters (mainly Department of Intelligence, Adjutant General, Director of Training, Director of Organisation, Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff) and members of the IRA. Alongside Collins, the collection contains material attributable to individuals including Gearóid O'Sullivan, Liam Tobin, Richard Mulcahy, Eoin O'Duffy, Cathal Brugha, Emmet Dalton and JJ 'Gin- ger' O'Connell. The Brother Allen Collection was donated to the Military Ar- chives in 2016 as a gift to the nation by the Christian Brothers of O'Connell School, Richmond St. 134 men and youths who had been educated in O'Connell's took part in the Easter Rising, includ- ing Éamonn Ceannt, Con Colbert and Seán Heuston who were executed for their part. Given the school's credentials in relation to the cause of an Irish Republic it's no surprised that one Brother, William Palladius Allen, a man with a keen sense of history, cre- ated perhaps the most significant private collection of material relating to the Irish revolutionary period in the country. His col- lection of books (The Allen Library) was donated to the National Library of Ireland. The documents and museum items, counting in their thousands, were donated to the Military Archives, and form The Brother Allen Collection. Over 70 items from the collection currently form part of the 'Soldiers and Chiefs' and 'Proclaiming a Republic' exhibitions at the National Museum of Ireland, as part of a temporary loan, demonstrating the significance of the Military Archives and the Defence Forces as a player in the Irish cultural arena. As this is not a standard archival collection it contains within it an extremely rich and diverse wealth of material associated with the War of Independence. Members of East Cork Flying Column, 1920-21 from the MSPC Brigade Activity Reports. Patsy O'Hagan, Uinseann MacEoin, Nora Connolly, Sighle Bean Uí Dhonnchadha and Bobbie Edwards at the launch of Survivors, 1980. Uinseann Mac Eoin Series. Clever used to break Seán Hogan's manacles following the Knocklong rescue, 13th May 1919 (Brother Allen Collection).

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