1911 Census Exercise

This week Mike asked us to transfer data from the 1911 Census of Ireland into an Excel sheet. The complete census is now available and searchable online at www.census.nationalarchives.ie

The section we are processing is in the parish of Ballymodan which is about 20 miles west of Cork City.
I did the 6 households that I was assigned this morning and although inputting the data is hardly riveting stuff the information contained was interesting. Especially the fact that out of 27 people only one spoke Irish! At that time Ireland was still under British rule so I guess that Irish was not taught in schools but am not sure. The majority of adults and school-age children could read and write. Only 4 adults out of the group could not. I found it interesting that one of the ancillary census forms about the types of dwellings wished the enumerator to list how many windows each house had at the front. I have heard it said there was a window tax in place in Ireland at one stage but will have to research further to discover whether this was the reason for counting windows.
When I was finished I searched through the census to see if I could find my maternal grandparents, Margaret O’Reilly and Timothy McCarthy, from Bantry. I found both their census returns which was amazing to see. They were both 17 years in 1911 and lived down the road from one another in Chapel Street in Bantry. The quality of the image below is not great but my grandmother is the last entry. Her mother remarried following the death of her husband which is why some of the family are listed as Howards while my granny and her brother, Joe, are O’Reillys.

My Grandmother's Census Return

Digital History Seminar

One of the modules I am doing for my MA is digital history.  Its a small class of about 10 and our lecturer is Mike Cosgrave. Mike is very enthusiastic about the benefits of internet applications for collaboration and research. Although I email, facebook etc I never considered that blogging could be an effective tool for collaboration amongst historians. I think this could be really helpful to me as there isnt many in our university (UCC, Cork) studying the area I am researching (US foreign policy).

My MA Research Topic

My third year dissertation proposal dealt with US foreign policy and the decision to launch military attacks on Afghanistan following the terrorist’s attacks of 9/11. During my research the influence of regional actors, such as Pakistan and Iran, on Afghan affairs was evident. The importance of Iran and Pakistan in underwriting any long term stability in this region is also evident. According to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the three neighbouring states share a common culture, history and languages and Iran recently hosted a summit on Taliban insurgency in Pakistan and Afghanistan which was seen as an effort by Iran to establish a leadership role in this region.
The Guardian recently characterised Pakistan as ‘a nuclear-armed country hurtling towards chaos’. US General David Petraeus, in a leaked military review, identified Pakistan as the most urgent foreign policy issue facing the Obama administration. The security situation is worsening and it is believed to headquarter al Qaeda. Given the fact that Pakistan has nuclear capability and Iran is suspected of being in the process of developing it this alliance is worrying for the US whilst Iran-US relations remain hostile. While, presently, the US has some influence with Pakistan and Afghanistan its relations with Iran are strained to say the least. US President Barack Obama has sought to re-engage with Iran. In his Persian New Year Greeting, addressed to Iranians, the president spoke of ‘overcoming old divisions’ and distanced his administration from former President Bush’s call for regime change in Iran. However, the contemporary history of US-Iranian relations weighs heavily on attempts at reconciliation.
In my MA thesis I would like to explore the contemporary roots of US foreign policy towards this region in more depth with a particular focus on Iran during the 1970s.