General Collections highlights

Pilib O Runai

Setting up an Irish nursery

Pilib learnt some Irish at school, which was not common at the time something that was not very common at that time. He grew up with the language being spoken around him and always had an interest in it. He participat...

In Our Time – Creating Arts Within Reach

Creating Arts Within Reach

Belfast has seen a remarkable expansion in community arts activity over the last forty years, since the 1970s, putting it at the forefront of the movement within the UK and Ireland to change the way art is seen. It ha...

Noam Chomsky: Creating a New World Order (Part 1)

The political historian from 1993.

Everything you ever wanted to know about American Foreign Policy...but were too terrorised to ask! Noam Chomsky is the outspoken critic of American foreign policy. In May 1993, Noam Chomsky was invited to Belfast t...

My Secret Garden

Artist Liam Breandán de Frinse.

A portrait of the artist, Liam Breandán de Frinse. Liam Breandán de Frinse is one of Ireland's most accomplished multimedia artists, distinguished principally as a painter, but also well-known as an installation ar...

Heritage Collections highlights

Shankill War Memories

Residents of the Shankill area of Belfast talk to Mary Ann Quigley  about their memories of serving in the army at home and abroad. Robert Hoy talks to us about his experiences in serving in the Royal Engineers in Nor...

Michael Paterson

A path to clinical psychology

Marie Breen-Smyth, Associate Dean International, University of Surrey talks to Dr Michael Patterson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist about the injuries he received while on patrol with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ...

Mark Thompson

Talking Ulster Scots

Mark’s hometown of Ballyhalbert in Co. Down proved to play a significant influence on his life, “everyday whenever we got out of bed you opened the curtains and on a clear day, you could see Scotland”. It was at th...

War Stories – The Death Railway Survivor

The Far East in WW2.

During WW2, Mossley man Jim McCall was a Royal Navy wireless telegraphist who served aboard HMS Prince of Wales during its legendary engagement with the German battleship Bismarck. Attacked by Japanese torpedo plan...