Research papers donated to ESB archive

The ESB Archive has received a very fine collection of reference papers from author Mícheál Ó Bréartúin, whose third book Aibhléis – Stair Úsáid an Leictreachas, a history of the use of electricity, was published last November.

Mícheal and his wife Pat visited the ESB archive on Thursday, January 29th to make the donation of the eclectic material that was used when he was writing both Aibhléis and Sreangscéal, a history of the development of telegraphy and telecommunications, which was published in 2005.

The papers donated are varied in content, with some of the material being unrelated to power – or to Ireland but the documents contain a treasure trove of information on the general history of the discovery and development of electricity and its usage. The material includes a number of reports and documents that Colm McLaughlin, formerly of the System Operation Department, passed on to the Mícheál in 2006 and which had in turn been originally compiled by Con Ó Béara, who gathered them when he was preparing material for Paddy Moriarity for his 1990 Callan lecture.

Much of the material is documented in the reference section of the books Aibhléis and Sreangscéal and consists, apart from original papers and reports, of articles, papers and sections of books the author photocopied over the years or downloaded from the internet.

Some of the reference material would be very difficult or impossible to find elsewhere, such as unpublished papers that were read at meetings of the institution of Engineers of Ireland or to meetings of the IEI's Irish-language group An Roth, as well as material that relates to the 1916 radio broadcast and stories about the Transatlantic Cable. The material also includes a very rare copy of Tom Wall's book on the history of telecommunications, as there are only two other known copies in existence – one in the Gilbert Library and one in the National Library. The donation also includes a tremendous amount of material about trams.

Mícheál is currently working on his fourth publication on the history of the River Shannon and when that is completed he also intends to donate further reference material to the Archive relating to early power supply in Ireland and relating to the building of Ardnacrusha.

His first book, GnÓthaí Eachtracha, tells of the places he lived while working abroad and was published in 2000. His most recent book, Aibhléis, on the history of electricity use, was fittingly launched by ESB Customer Supply and Group Services Executive Director, Brid Horan at the headquarters of Engineers Ireland.

Anyone interested in either visiting or donating material to the ESB Archive in Parnell Avenue, Harolds Cross should contact either Pat Yeates at telephone no. 6042132 or Gerry Hampson at telephone no. 6042134 or e-mail pub_archive@esb.ie.