Mayor Dowds to Launch Local History Book an Exhibition County Library Tallaght
Back to List04/10/2004
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Mayor Robert Dowds to Officially Launch Local History Book and Exhibition in County Library Tallaght at 7.30 Wednesday 6th October 2004
Titled:
Archaeology, Early Christian Remains and Local Histories – Paddy Healy’s Dublin
In October 2003, the local studies section of the County Library in Tallaght was granted a most extraordinary gift by Peter Healy – access to the manuscripts of his brother, the late Paddy Healy. They contain the insightful comments of a noted field archaeologist and great teacher who had meticulously researched the areas, walked the routes and observed the sites he wrote about. They were prepared as notes for lectures to be given to a wide variety of groups such as local history societies, student groups, etc. At least two of the manuscripts were prepared by Paddy with a view to publication.
In order to make Paddy Healy’s work available to as many as possible, it was decided in the first instance to publish these manuscripts as bound typescripts, making them available for reference in South Dublin Libraries, in the local studies collections of neighbouring library authorities and in the legal deposit libraries. Copies will also be supplied to South Dublin schools as a reference resource.
These writings are being made available without a unifying editing, more like a collection of articles in a journal than chapters in a book. As is the case with a volume of a journal, the main access to the information is through the contents page.
In some cases there were a number of editions of his writings on an area. The edition chosen for publication was the most recent or most complete edition. There is some duplication within this publication but this has been allowed to stand so that each section as written by Paddy Healy could stand on its own. While the areas covered by some sections are not within the borders of South Dublin County or extend beyond those borders, they have been included as they are part of the overall collection of papers and because they inform about contiguous areas.
The Tallaght section of this book was published by South Dublin Libraries in July 2004 as All Roads Lead to Tallaght. It is hoped to publish another section next year.
In September 2004, Peter Healy again bestowed an enormous and invaluable gift on South Dublin Libraries local studies section: access to his brother Paddy’s collection of slides. Many of these slides were used by Paddy to accompany talks and lectures using material in this book. These slides will be made available via an online catalogue early in 2005.