Ireland: A Nation of
Historians by Jamie Chavez
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| Harold's Cross Neighborhood of Dublin Photo by Jamie Chavez |
When people ask my Irish fiancé where he works, the simple answer is: the
electric company. But ask him what he does,
and you get an only-in-Ireland answer: he works in the ESB (ElectricitySupply Board)
Archives.
In the Harold’sCross neighborhood of
Dublin there resides an unprepossessing building that houses the ESB Archives,
a small department in a big company that preserves a history—in paper
documents, photographs, oral histories (preserved on video), and objects
ranging from old kitchen appliances and telephones to barometers and signs—of
the company. All of this is open, free, to researchers. How very Irish this all
is: a respect for the past and a willingness to honor it with careful
preservation. This is a company, after all, that, before commencing a massive
dam project (called the Shannon Scheme, for the river it’s built on) in 1925, commissioned
a well-known artist, Sean Keating, to
record it.
You see, when the Irish Free State was established in 1922,
it was one of the most impoverished countries in Europe. In order for the Industrial
Revolution—and thus prosperity—to find its way to Eire, things had to change.
It was an enormous task that faced the young government. How would they bring
electricity to a largely rural nation?
Answer:
electrify the population centers first, and move outward, like ripples on the
surface of a pond. Then buy up the local shops, such as the wealthy farmer who
might’ve installed a generator to power his equipment, or a mechanic or a
machine shop, all of whom probably had run current to close neighbors (for a
fee) and thus had a network established. And, finally, build a big ol’ dam. After
that, create a need for your
electricity by selling your customers those newfangled electric washing
machines and ice-boxes and such.
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| ESB workers having tea. Possibly from the 1940's or1950's. Photo courtesy of ESB. |
That’s
exactly what they did. The ESB was established in 1927, so the history of the
company closely parallels the history of the country. I learned all of this
when I toured the Archives a few years ago.
Pat Yeates
and Brendan Delany, my fiancé’s colleagues, explained how the Archives started,
almost accidentally, as a repository of old records: I saw hundreds of old
ledgers, from small electric companies around the country (that pre-dated the
ESB), in which each man’s name and his weekly wages were inscribed in beautiful
handwriting. This is how it was a hundred years ago.
With modern
technology, all those little substations are being shut down; all the
electricity comes out of Dublin now. But everything that was once in a small
local substation somewhere came to Dublin, too, and resides in the Archives—old
telephones, desks, perhaps an old wringer-washer from the 1930s that never
sold. It’s all there in Harold’s Cross.
Now the Archives
seeks out retired and present members of ESB staff: Pat interviews these
old-timers on video, and the material is preserved and edited for presentations
made by the ESB (the Archives has its own edit suite to do this), or used by TV
documentarians. It has lent antique items to movie producers for use as set
dressing. It has thousands of photographs scanned and catalogued. It has made
permanent and semipermanent exhibits for local museums scattered around the
country (I visited one of these a few days after my tour of the Archives). I also
learned about the benefits of mobile shelving over static shelving—and was duly
impressed, I must say.
There’s
more to come—a visit to that big ol’ dam and to a fine museum the ESB
maintains. But I’ll save those for another time!
Jamie Chavez is an editor, writer, and blogger. This article reprinted by permission, © 2012.
Fascinating!
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