Dublin City Historians in Residence

The Historians in Residence for 2025 are:

• Cormac Moore, for Dublin South East
• Katie Blackwood, for Dublin North Central
• Dervilia Roche, Historian in Residence for Children
• Catherine Scuffil, for Dublin South Central
• Elizabeth Kehoe, for Dublin Central
• Mary Muldowney, for Dublin North West (not pictured here)

Dervilia Roche

The Historian in Residence for Children, Dervilia Roche, aims to empower children in their own personal journey of discovery through stories and history. Children become very enthusiastic about history under Dervilia’s guidance. 

"This is the best day of my life!" - Children’s history workshop attendee

Dervilia hosts bookable workshops at Richmond Barracks for children ages 9 to 12 years, and visits local schools to teach children about their local history and how to do the research themselves. She is currently preparing to run history summer camps at Richmond Barracks and 14 Henrietta Street, and an accredited summer course for primary school teachers.

Cathy Scuffil

Cathy has been studying and sharing Dublin South Central’s history for several years. She has several very popular talks, including one that walks listeners through how she identified the people in a photo and where specifically in Crumlin that photo was taken. 

"It's so great to have a historian dedicated to our area, especially one who's as enthusiastic as Cathy is."
- 'One Photograph, Many Stories’ talk attendee

One of Cathy's long-term projects is Future Historians, which teaches secondary students how to research and share history.

Elizabeth Kehoe

Elizabeth has been working with the people in Dublin Central to record people’s stories. She is very interested in lived history and the stories that people have to tell.

“It was a very interesting talk, lovely to hear such stories, look forward to more. Loved hearing about normal people. Everyone has a story that should be shared.”
- 'Ordinary / Extraordinary Women' talk attendee

One of her long-term projects, 'Extraordinary People', tells the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. She’s also been collecting memories about O’Connell Street and is working on a project about the St. Vincent de Paul’s Girls’ National School on North William Street.

Katie Blackwood 

Katie has a particular interest in social history. One of her talks is about holy wells found in North Dublin. This has sparked a lot of interest in people who didn’t know they were there! 

“Really enjoyed your talk on the Holy Wells. While I have spent most of my life working in Dublin, it’s nice to learn more about it.” 
- ‘Ritual and Revelry: Four Holy Wells of North Dublin’ attendee

Katie has also been working on a long-term project on the social importance of Coolock’s factories and a history of hairstyles in Dublin. People have been showing up to her hairstyle histories talks with their hair done up and ready to show off!

Mary Muldowney

Mary focuses on social and labour history. She has been working with people in Dublin North West to research disappearing work places in Ballymun. Her interests take her all over Dublin, including Henry Street:

"Very interesting to hear how women were excluded from working history."
- 'The Women Who Worked on Henry Street 1790-2000’ talk attendee

Mary is very interested in sharing the untold history of women and the things that impacted their lives.

Cormac Moore

Cormac’s interests cover a wide range of topics, including the partition of Ireland, Irish sports history, and the Irish Revolution. He’s also researched Frank O’Connor’s life as a librarian in Pembroke Library. This was significant because it’s an under-studied aspect of O’Connor’s life. 

“An excellent talk that captured the essence of who Frank O’Connor was.”
- 'Life of Frank O’Connor’ talk attendee

In addition to his other interests, Cormac is currently studying the life of Ireland’s first Chief Rabbi.