Postcards from the 1916 Irish Rebellion

A Presentation by the Ward Irish Music Archives and Milwaukee Irish Fest

2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Irish Rebellion in Ireland, also known as the Easter Rising. The rebellion was held to gain independence from Britain in a period when Britain was heavily engaged in WWI. The conflict caused great damage to the City of Dublin and more than 300 rebels and civilians died. More than 100 British soldiers also died.

While the rebellion was considered a failure at the time, in the aftermath of the rebellion most of the leaders were executed at Kilmainham Jail. Sympathy towards these leaders and the reaction from the British government turned the tide of national opinion. The events of 1916 led to the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War leading, in the end, to the establishment of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland in 1922.

The exhibit presented by the Ward Irish Music Archives, Milwaukee Irish Fest is taken from more than 140 postcards that are in the Bob Burke Postcard Collection at the Archives. The collection has more than 5,000 postcards. Postcards were very popular during the early twentieth century with the Golden Age of Postcards being 1907-1915.

The postcards in this exhibit are photographs showing the great amount of destruction in Dublin during and after the rebellion. Other photographs are of the leaders and participants in the rebellion. Some show the soldiers on both sides marching and getting ready for battle.

Content for this exhibit was developed through a grant by the Graduate Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Program at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The graduate student is Catherine Lewis who has a MA in English and the faculty is Marguerite Helmers, Professor of English at UW-Oshkosh. Caitlin Helmers also assisted with the exhibit.

The exhibit will be presented at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Center, 1532 Wauwatosa Ave., Milwaukee WI from August 2015 into fall 2016. A touring presentation of the exhibit will be at Milwaukee Irish Fest on August 14-16, 2015 and at a variety of Irish festivals in the U.S. in the summer of 2016. A powerpoint presentation will also be developed for programming at various events in 2016.