Irish women writers of children's literature 1870-1940

This paper reports on research into Irish women writers of children’s literature which was conducted as part of the UCD Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive (IVRLA) series of demonstrator research projects. The research focuses on the period from 1870 to 1940 and uses both the Manning Collection of children’s books in UCD and the Máirín Cregan papers at the National Library of Ireland. The report focuses on the issue of creating a virtual space for the specific consideration of children’s literature written by women – a space which has been created by the project’s online exhibition collection of extracts from relevant writers and useful reference material. The issues encountered in selecting material for this collection are considered and contextual information is provided for each of the writers featured in the project (Máirín Cregan, May Crommelin, L.T. Meade, Rosa Mulholland, and Katharine Tynan). In addition to the creation of an online space, the project also aimed to stimulate debate in the more traditional space and did so by arranging two events: a workshop for children which showcased work from some of the digitised IVRLA material and related it to contemporary children’s literature, and a symposium on Irish children’s literature. This paper reports on these two very successful events and suggests directions for further research in this field.