SPUR Student, Alison Roche in the IHTA

Maynooth University student, Alison Roche, gives an account of her six weeks as a SPUR student in the Irish Historic Towns Atlas.

My name is Alison Roche and I’m a final year student in Maynooth University studying History and Politics. I have just completed a six-week placement (8 July-16 August) with the Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) in the Royal Irish Academy through Maynooth University’s Summer Programme for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). SPUR offers students an opportunity to immerse themselves in ongoing research programmes. I applied for SPUR for this very reason, so that I could learn about the reality of field research and use this experience to figure out whether I would like to pursue further studies in history. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the IHTA, working in office with Sarah Gearty, Jennifer Moore and Frank Cullen.

 

 

During my time at the IHTA, I worked on a variety of projects. I focused mainly on recording nameplates for Drumcondra for the Dublin Suburbs series but also completed some archival research for Kilmainham, Inchicore, Ringsend and Goldenbridge in the Reading Room of the National Library of Ireland. Other undertakings consisted of map work for the forthcoming atlas on Cavan town, checking the new IHTA website and drafting material for social media. Field trips were a significant feature of my placement and with the IHTA I visited Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, Kilmainham and Drumcondra. I enjoyed a tour of the Royal Irish Academy library, which was arranged for me and other SPUR students. I was also lucky enough to join a trip to Knowth Megalithic Passage Tomb in Brú na Bóinne to celebrate the Royal Irish Academy’s publication on Knowth. Through this variety of work, I got to witness the various stages of atlas production and development; from Cavan which is at the research stage to Ballyshannon, which is nearing publication.

Some basic but important lessons stood out to me when I began to reflect on my time in the IHTA. Firstly, while I did consider that research outside of my college environment would be different, perhaps I did not realise just how different it would be. For instance, research for my classes and essays in university is often completed over a brief period of time due to timetable demands, meaning that the period in which I start and finish something is usually quite concise and is focused on a particular issue. My research generally follows a fixed procedure that I employ for practically every assignment.

However, I found the research under the IHTA to be the opposite of my previous experiences. Research was multifaceted. The topic of my studies changed frequently throughout the day as did the approach or methodology used for each individual task.

‘I had to develop better organisation skills, leave nothing to memory and establish a comprehensible methodology for each subject matter, ensuring to record the steps involved’

Research was also frequently set aside, to be returned to at a later date, in order to keep pace with other projects. In order to navigate my way through this altered work environment, I had to develop better organisation skills, leave nothing to memory and establish a comprehensible methodology for each subject matter, ensuring to record the steps involved. Tracing my work meant I could easily pick up where I had left off a week earlier, reinforcing the importance of methodology and recordkeeping.

All of these steps or details may seem glaringly obvious to an experienced researcher. However much of this was new to me as a student as it differed greatly from my university work and all of which I learned through trial and error. But with the help I received from the IHTA team and the many other kind researchers I met along the way such as Angela Byrne, Jonathan Cherry and Ruth McManus, I was never overwhelmed and never afraid to ask for help.

 

 

 

Perhaps the most important lesson that I learned at the IHTA and one that is also linked to the nature of research was that large projects such as the Dublin Suburbs series or the main town atlas series involve an immense amount of people and an almighty amount of tiny, but important assignments. No one person completes a project entirely by themselves —  it involves many contributors. Some of my tasks at the IHTA seemed very minute when I considered the bigger picture. Yet this is what history research is built upon and each piece of information no matter how big or small contributes to the final body of work.

My time at the IHTA was an invaluable experience and I am very grateful to attend a university that supports a programme such as SPUR. The people I met were excellent mentors, colleagues but above all good friends. I would like to thank Sarah and Jennifer in particular for their guidance and kindness towards me. Further thanks to Dr Jonathan Wright in Maynooth for facilitating the placement. I learned a lot and will apply this knowledge to my studies in my final year of college.

Alison Roche

September 2024