The Diaries of Rosamond Jacob

Writing Ireland 1917 – 1923

This project publishes online the diary of novelist, historian and activist Rosamond Jacob, making the entries available online 100 years after they were written, beginning with January 1st 1917 on January 1st 2017. The diaries are an extraordinary archival treasure of 171 volumes held in the manuscript collections of the National Library. They give a detailed account of Jacob’s life and world from 1897, when she was just 9 years old, to her death in 1960.

We focus on volumes 31-42, which cover the period 1917-23, during which Jacob published her first novel, Callaghan and became a ‘footsoldier’ (Lane 2010) in the battle for independence. Jacob was a suffragist, republican and feminist from a Quaker tradition whose fiction and historical writing are ripe for reappraisal. Her diaries are in many ways her masterpiece. Digital access to these diaries will assist in the preservation of the originals and will help to progress our understanding of political engagement, social and sexual mores in the 1917-22 period, especially in relation to women.

This project has been generously funded by the UCD Decade of Centenaries Internal Award Scheme.