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Dr Cathryn McWilliams

@candlelitink.bsky.social
464 followers 436 following 40 posts

Irish women’s history, letters, memoir, creativity & writing. Norn Iron cutty. Ready for the hills. Associate Prof of English, University of South-Eastern Norway.

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Reposted by Dr Cathryn McWilliams
Sarah Creighton @saraita101.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Me for The Irish News on the Garvaghy Road standoff www.irishnews.com/opinion/sara...
irishnews.com
Sarah Creighton: Drumcree is a f*** you to nationalism. Is this really what victory looks like for unionism?
If the Drumcree parade is forced down the Garvaghy Road, our peace process will lie in tatters on the tarmac
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National Library of Ireland @nlireland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
📣 We're #hiring: Education Assistant Join the National Library of Ireland's Education, Learning & Programming team and help deliver creative learning and public engagement programmes that bring our collections to life. 📚 Role details + apply: ow.ly/k1nu50ZPF3z 📅 #Apply by: 3pm, 9 Oct 2026
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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Daniel C. Blight @danielcblight.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
***URGENT PLEASE SHARE*** University of Brighton management have announced today that they ‘give notice of termination of all collective agreements’. This is a fundamental erasure of workers' rights. Management have announced the termination of all contractual documents, which includes:
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
More than 3 dozen sets of human remains at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford taken from NE India & Myanmar during colonial rule over 100 years ago are to be returned to the Naga people. 👇 BBC News - Oxford museum agrees to return remains to Naga ancestral homeland www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Oxford museum agrees to return remains to Naga ancestral homeland
Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum will return more than three dozen sets of human remains to the Naga people.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The one change that worked: I sent myself a letter – and realised what’s missing in this world of WhatsApp www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
The one change that worked: I sent myself a letter – and realised what’s missing in this world of WhatsApp
I’ve started writing to my sister, my mum, my friends … Not everyone writes back, but when we connect it’s on a deeper level than any group chat
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Reposted by Dr Cathryn McWilliams
Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
JIM HENSON wrote a letter to his Children to be opened after his death. It’s entirely beautiful.
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Dr Amanda Blake Davis 🌱 @abdavis.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
⚡️Job Alert⚡️ 📖 Research Associate - The Oxford Complete Works of Mary Shelley 📍Manchester Metropolitan University, fixed term Please share with ECRs! manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...
manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk
Research Associate (Mary Shelley) - (9237) | Manchester Metropolitan University Careers
All about Manchester Metropolitan - an exciting, modern university in the heart of one of the UK's great student cities.
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VenetiaJane’s Garden @venetiajane.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
If you would like to read about Elizabeth Blackwell’s life and see more or her work, there’s lots of information here 👇 artvee.com/artist/eliza...
artvee.com
Elizabeth Blackwell - Artvee
View public domain artworks by Elizabeth Blackwell on Artvee.
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Penn Press @pennpress.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
LISTEN: Mary T. Freeman discusses her book ABOLITIONISTS AND THE POLITICS OF CORRESPONDENCE, about how abolitionists harnessed the power of letter-writing to further their political aims, on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's podcast bit.ly/3R3k7kr
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Women's History Network @womenshistnet.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Women’s History Scotland has a Call for Papers for its Annual Conference 2026. Submissions are welcome from all career stages, especially postgraduate researchers. ❗The deadline for proposals is 1 July 2026. Details can be found here: womenshistoryscotland.org/2026/05/04/c... #womenshistory
womenshistoryscotland.org
Call for Papers: Women’s History Scotland Annual Conference 2026 – Women's History Scotland
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Katherine Ingram @kating03.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Thank you to the @womenshistnet.bsky.social for publishing my piece on Katherine Walker Lindsay, the long-serving secretary of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Society for Women’s Suffrage. I hope that you enjoy reading about Katherine’s life and contribution to the ‘Votes for women’ movement!
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19/06/2026
But I was told it was inevitable.
reuters.com
Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary school
Norway is imposing a near ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school pupils while also restricting their ​use in the education of older children to prevent a ‌negative impact on learni...
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone
The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt
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Ultán Gillen @ultan1793.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
www.publicbooks.org/resistance-d...
publicbooks.org
Resistance Disguised as a History Lesson: Fascism and the University - Public Books
Her student—a former Nazi stormtrooper—was proof that no one was lost to the new regime, that every person might choose to refuse.
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Clodagh Tait @clodaghtait.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Our colleagues in University of Limerick are looking for an Assistant Professor in European and/or Global History (pre-1800)! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRU993/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) at University of Limerick
An opportunity for an academic position as a Assistant Professor in European and or Global History (pre-1800) is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openin...
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Support people and groups impacted by racist attacks chuffed.org/project/1854...
chuffed.org
Support people and groups impacted by racist attacks
We are raising funds to support people who have been attacked, displaced and traumatised in racist attacks in Belfast.
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National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🌈Discover Untold Stories Celebrate Pride with a fresh perspective at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. Join a LGBTQIA+ guided tour & explore powerful stories, identities, & histories. 📍 Collins Barracks, Dublin 🗓️ Sat, 6 June 2026 ⏰ 14:00 & 15:30 🎟️ Free www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum...
Promotional graphic featuring large bold red text reading ‘Non‑conformist tours’ layered over a contemporary beige upholstered chair with metal legs, set against a vivid pink background.
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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Eamon Cleary Postdoctoral Fellow in Irish Studies at the University of Otago otago.taleo.net/careersectio...
otago.taleo.net
Working at Otago - Your Career, University of Otago (s01)
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Congratulations on another hugely successful conference @whaireland.bsky.social The atmosphere was just as supportive, inclusive and generous as last year! Wonderful to connect with friends old and new 😊 Can't wait to see what next year brings... #irishhistory #Limerick
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MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture @maifeminism.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
"the story of a woman’s relationship to death is the story of the world, of then, of now, of always, of still." Michele Aaron sets the scene for our new issue in her foreword to MAI 16: Dead Women and Gendered Death in Visual Culture. www.maifeminism.com/dead-women-a...
maifeminism.com
Dead Women and Gendered Death in Visual Culture: Foreword
Looking at a broader context, Aaron praises our authors for interrogating how women's deaths are currently conceptualised in visual culture.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘It’s about recognising our role in history’: Bradford exhibition to revisit live Somali display
At the city’s Great Exhibition of 1904, 57 Somali men, women and children cooked, weaved and danced for visitors
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Tom Hulme @tomhulme.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
“Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life before Gay Liberation” @cornellupress.bsky.social featured in the Guardian! 🥹 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
‘Live and let live’: Northern Ireland historian uncovers surprising era of tolerance of gay men
Public records and private papers reveal compassion and tacit acceptance before ‘moral panic’ took hold in the 1950s and 1960s
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
In 2002, at the age of 91 years, artist Louise Bourgeois created 'Ode a L'Oubli' (Ode to Forgetting),  a book of 35 fabric pages made from her own cloth saved from different eras of her life #Womensart
Four images, three of fabric pages with different abstract designs and one image of a fabric book with the title on the white front cover in red font
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
‘The biggest, baddest, saltiest chick you would ever see’: why no one sang the blues like Big Mama Thornton www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
‘The biggest, baddest, saltiest chick you would ever see’: why no one sang the blues like Big Mama Thornton
Gay, fearless and utterly unique, Thornton had a hit with Hound Dog before Elvis – but was then fleeced and forgotten. One hundred years after her birth, a new documentary sets the record straight
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
You Are the Führer’s Unrequited Love by Jean-Noël Orengo review – Hitler, Speer and beyond www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
You Are the Führer’s Unrequited Love by Jean-Noël Orengo review – Hitler, Speer and beyond
This unconventional exploration of Albert Speer’s duplicity during his Nazi years and into his rehabilitation is a masterful forewarning of the post-truth era
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Reposted by Dr Cathryn McWilliams
Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Recording of Deidre's brilliant talk is posted! uconn-cmr.webex.com/recordingser...
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Ulster Museum @ulstermuseum.org · 27/03/2026
Takabuti has become an iconic resident at the museum. But who was she? How did she come to be in Northern Ireland? And what is her future? This video features some of the perspectives we’ve been listening to regarding ways of honouring and respecting Takabuti, a mummified woman from Ancient Egypt.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Experience: I’ve spent decades collecting over 260 postboxes www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
Experience: I’ve spent decades collecting over 260 postboxes
It started with an obscure railway postbox that had been thrown in a skip – now my museum has pieces from Scotland, Ireland and Hong Kong
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Haven't been to a parade since 2016 because nothing can top Tralee's rave druid St. Patrick on Thomas The Tank Engine accompanied by the Donnie Darko rabbit
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Eileen Armstrong @earmstronglib.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
‘It’s like a giant book club’: how schools are getting children excited about reading again www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
theguardian.com
‘It’s like a giant book club’: how schools are getting children excited about reading again
In the National Year of Reading, teachers say a culture of enthusiasm, from dress-up days, story time and book clubs, can reverse a national decline
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Joel Herman @joelherman.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Martha McTier encouraging William Drennan to publish in 1783: 'If you have equal talents ... make use of them - gain the honour and enjoy it. ... for politics now ceases to be local, and so great and open the foundation, every man may build upon it that has materials.'
irishmanuscripts.ie
The Drennan-McTier letters, Volume 1: 1776–1793 - Irish Manuscripts
The Drennan–McTier Correspondence is unique. Between 1776 and 1819, William Drennan, a doctor in Newry and Dublin, and his sister Martha McTier in Belfast exchanged over 1,400 letters, discussing ever...
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Ulster Museum @ulstermuseum.org · 13/03/2026
You can now read a new page of the Catalogue of The Native Plants of Ireland by #JohnTempleton (1766-1825), on loan from @rialibrary.bsky.social Paper Conservator Harriet Gillespie shares with us why she turns the pages of books on display. #UlsterMuseum #Botany
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History at Queen's University Belfast @qubhistory.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Gillian O’Brien discusses the pros and cons of the proposed Irish Women’s Museum in Limerick www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
rte.ie
Why Irish women's history belongs in every museum & not just one
Opening a standalone women's museum in Ireland in 2026 risks reinforcing separation at a time when integration should be the goal
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National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Join us to mark #IWD2026 with tours, talks, screenings & exhibitions celebrating women’s stories, creativity & impact across Irish history. Explore Ireland’s cultural heritage through women’s experiences on Sun 8 March. #SpeirGorm #HerStory www.museum.ie/en-IE/News/I...
museum.ie
International Women's Day at the Museum | National Museum of Ireland
Welcome to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin & Castlebar covering Archaeology, Decorative Arts, Folk & Country Life, & Natural History.FREE Exhibitions
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The Belfast Review @thebelfastreview.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
We’re hiring a few volunteers for our upcoming issue. Prefer those based in Belfast & familiar with our magazine. (Free issue can be viewed on our website). Nonfiction editor, Social Media Intern, PR & Events Intern Email us to request an application. Deadline 15 March.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
‘I felt betrayed, naked’: did a prize-winning novelist steal a woman’s life story? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
theguardian.com
‘I felt betrayed, naked’: did a prize-winning novelist steal a woman’s life story?
The long read: His novel was praised for giving a voice to the victims of Algeria’s brutal civil war. But one woman has accused Kamel Daoud of having stolen her story – and the ensuing legal battle ha...
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National Library of Ireland @nlireland.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
"And here is love…" | An #Origami #LoveLetter Workshop 💌 In celebration of #StValentinesDay ❤️ Sat, 7 Feb at 2pm: www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/and-h… This workshop invites you to slow down + spend time with words, inspired by love poems of #SeamusHeaney
nli.ie
‘And here is love…’ | An Origami Love Letter Workshop
In celebration of St. Valentine's Day ❤️
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Holly Brewer @earlymodjustice.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
An open letter to @theguardian.com about their article last week about the Crown’s Silence, requesting that the Black scholar of Caribbean heritage who did the years of archival research behind this claim, and published it in 1979, Roger Norman Buckley, be acknowledged as the source of this reveal:
OPEN LETTER TO THE GUARDIAN
Dear Editors,
We write in reference to a recent article published in the UK online edition of The Guardian on Friday, 23 January 2026, which carried the following misleading headline: "British crown was world's largest buyer of enslaved people by 1807, book reveals."
The article in question, by Chris Osuh, showcases a new book by Dr. Brooke Newman, The Crown's
Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy (Harper Collins, 2026). But Newman's book is not the original source of that claim. That claim derives from earlier scholarship, the painstaking archival work of a Black historian of Caribbean heritage: the late Roger Norman Buckley.
It is unfortunate that the silencing of his original scholarship appears in the profiling of a book advertised as uncovering silences. While it is great to see public attention brought to the history of the Crown's involvement in slavery through the new book and its profiling in The Guardian, the headline compromises The Guardian's efforts to address the legacies of slavery generally and its own institutional links when it extracts and reframes earlier work by a Black scholar as a revelation new to this book.
The relevant passage in The Crown's Silence draws on original scholarship by Roger Norman
Buckley in Slaves in Red Coats: The British West India Regiments, 1795-1815 (1979). Dr. Brooke Newman repeats Buckley's figures, which she cites (referencing page 55 of Buckley's book, see attached) while changing his "British government" to "Crown." She then converts his careful "perhaps the largest individual buyer" to a more conclusive claim, changing his "British government" to "king" but without citing Buckley for that claim which is on page 56 of his book (see attached) and which, uncited in Newman's book, is the Guardian headline.
There is room for popular histories that rely largely on the secondary scholarship of other historians. But other historians have not been silent. Page from Buckley’s 1979 book2nd page from Buckley’s 1979 book
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National Library of Ireland @nlireland.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
"And here is love…" | An #Origami #LoveLetter Workshop 💌 In celebration of #StValentinesDay ❤️ Sat, 7 Feb at 2pm: www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/and-h… This workshop invites you to slow down + spend time with words, inspired by love poems of #SeamusHeaney
nli.ie
‘And here is love…’ | An Origami Love Letter Workshop
In celebration of St. Valentine's Day ❤️
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Reposted by Dr Cathryn McWilliams
Women’s History Association of Ireland @whaireland.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
This will be of interest to many of our members. The Women's Library is an incredible collection and the library is celebrating its centenary this year.
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Queen's University Belfast @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Congratulations to Professor @olwenpurdue.bsky.social who has been elected President of the International Federation for Public History. Professor Purdue is an internationally recognised public historian who works closely with cultural organisations and communities at local and global levels.
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Queen’s Historian Elected President of the International Federation for Public History
A leading Queen’s historian has been elected President of the International Federation for Public History.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Secret love letter shows softer side of Cambridge spy ring’s alleged fifth man www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Secret love letter shows softer side of Cambridge spy ring’s alleged fifth man
Intimate correspondence between John Cairncross and Gloria Barraclough features in National Archives exhibition
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Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
CFP: Representing the Global Irish Working Class: National and International Contexts and Dialogues (University of Galway, 11-12 June 2026) irishstudies.nd.edu/events/cfp-r...
irishstudies.nd.edu
Call for Papers: Representing the Global Irish Working Class
The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies is a teaching-and-research institute dedicated to the study and understanding of Irish culture—in Ireland and around the world.
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Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Threads of Time: Prints, Textiles & The Tactile Archive. Forgot to post about this nifty interview with Mia Funk from The Creative Process a while back... Let's call it the first press for my Printing on Fabric show (opening Dec 10!). www.creativeprocess.info/arts-intervi...
Photo of me with a colorful book and the title Threads of Time: Prints, Textiles & the Tactile Archive.
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Dr Cathryn McWilliams @candlelitink.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
‘I tried. I felt everything’: readers tell us how they would use their last chance to send a letter www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
‘I tried. I felt everything’: readers tell us how they would use their last chance to send a letter
With the Danish postal service ending its letter deliveries, we asked what you would put in your final envelope
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UCD Press @ucdpress.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Our gender studies books include an array of biographies, letters & diaries, feminist perspectives, histories of social movements, inspiring speeches and more. ⭐️ This is only a small selection of books in our catalogue now available for 20% off through 25 December. Shop the sale at www.ucdpress.ie
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Dr Mary McAuliffe @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Permanent women’s museum may be developed in Ireland - hooray - its is necessary and a matter of equality and gender justice #speirgorm www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
irishtimes.com
Permanent women’s museum may be developed in Ireland
Similar initiatives elsewhere include the Vietnamese Women’s Museum and Glasgow Women’s Library
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