The Galway City Museum needs helps to tell Galway's revolutionary story in a new exhibition.
It is holding an opening evening on Thursday September 17 inviting any one who has objects, letters, memorabilia, or stories to tell about the revolutionary period in Galway between 1913 and 1923.
The Revolutionary years leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916 through to the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War had a major impact on the shaping of modern Ireland. However, a museum spokesperson asks while we are constantly reminded of the national event in Dublin and the long-term impacts of it on the rest of the country, what was happening in Galway, and what steered ordinary Irish people on the path towards Irish Nationalism?
Men, women and children in Galway played their part by providing help and information to men on the run. Galwegian Katie Hoare witnessed the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin and countless witnesses such as Mrs Martin Conlon withnessed serious atrocities closer to home - the murder of the Loughnane brothers near Gort, Co Galway, to name but one.
Liam Mellows led the revolt in Galway. He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was sent as an Irish Volunteer organiser from Dublin to re-organise and train volunteers in Galway prior to the 1916 Rising. The museum currently display Mellows' cane on loan from Renmore Barracks Museum, Galway, and hopes to feature much more in the new exhibition. Other figures such as Ada English, Alice Cashel, Larry Lardner, Fr Michael Griffin, and Colm O'Gaora all form part of Galway's story.
Now the museum is inviting people to drop into the Galway City Museum museum on September 17 between 5pm and 8pm. All original material will be scanned, photographed, and catalogued on the day, and returned to owners.
