Biography
I am Lecturer in History and Director of the MA Public History & Cultural Heritage programme at the University of Limerick.
I research and publish on long nineteenth-and twentieth-century Irish cultural and social history, and have particular interests in cultural histories of music, country houses, and landed estates, as well as contemporary public history theory and practice. I welcome enquiries from potential MA and PhD students, as well as postdoctoral colleagues, interested in working on these topics.
Research Interests
My research interests lie in the cultural and social history of Ireland in the long nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on processes of individual and collective identity formation. I have a particular interest in socio-economic and political aspects of music history, particularly the roles that music has played in Irish nation-building. I also explore the social life and musical culture of country houses and landed estates in Ireland.
I am a Research Associate at the Research Foundation for Music in Ireland, Conservatory of Music and Drama, Technological University (TU) Dublin, Member of the European Network for Country House and Estate Research (ENCOUNTER), and Member of the international Sound Heritage network leading the Irish Research Council-funded Sound Heritage Ireland project an inter-sectoral forum for communication and collaboration on issues concerning the sounding' of historic properties with a particular focus on music in country houses.
I am currently preparing the manuscript for my latest sole-authored book project: Having a ball: elite social life and musical culture in rural Ireland, 1750-1950. This book is based on my pioneering interdisciplinary work which draws together and contextualises my extensive doctoral and postdoctoral archival research on the political, cultural, and socio-economic history of music in modern Ireland. Research on aspects of this long-term study has been funded by the Office of Public Works, Irish Research Council (Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship; New Foundations Networking Grant), the Royal Irish Academy (Charlemont Award), and the AHSS Faculty at the University of Limerick. Outputs of the research to date include refereed book chapters, and journal articles.
As well as contributions to local and national radio and television programmes, my work includes public history and heritage interpretation projects with the Office of Public Works including a travelling exhibition on pioneering Victorian Irish photographer W.D. Hemphill, and the Bryce House restoration project at Garinish Island in Co. Cork, specifically its reinterpretation as a historic house museum.
Teaching Interests
POSTGRADUATE
As Course Director of the MA Public History and Cultural Heritage, I am/have been responsible for the design, coordination, delivery and assessment of the following programme modules:
- HI6201: Introduction to public history: theory and practice
- HU8012: Digital Humanities
- HI6792: Public history internship
- HI6111: MA History research methodologies
- HI6142: MA History dissertation writing
- HI6191: Graduate seminar in Irish cultural history [Module common to all MA History programmes]
This unique online MA is offered as a one year full-time or two-year part-time online/blended postgraduate degree programme, and aims to provide a structured academic approach to the practice and performance of history in the public domain: https://www.ul.ie/gps/course/public-history-cultural-heritage-online-ma
I also co-convene and contribute to the delivery and assessment of the following module:
- HI6002: History Research Seminar.
UNDERGRADUATE
I am/have been fully responsible for the design, coordination, delivery and assessment of all of the following modules:
- HI4168: The country house in Ireland: class, gender, and culture (*NEW* in Autumn 2021)
- HI4103: Imagining Ireland: from early modern to modern (Autumn 2020)
- HI4076: Patriots to Parnell: Ireland, 1750-1891 (Spring 2020, Spring 2021)
- HI4102: Ireland: revolution to independence 1898-1968 (Spring 2017)
- HI4148: History of Australia (Spring 2017, Spring 2018)
- HI4053: Ireland, 1750-1850 (Autumn 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
- HI4227: Politics, culture & the Spanish monarchy (Spring 2015, 2016)
- HI4207: The Spanish monarchy, Europe and America (Autumn 2014, 2015)
- HI4132: Warfare and diplomacy. Europe in the seventeenth century (Autumn 2014, 2015)
I have also contributed to the delivery of the following team-taught modules:
- HI4142: Games of Thrones: gender, power, and identity in Ireland and the wider world. [Module leader, teaching team coordinator, coordinator of tutors, and examiner] (Autumn 2017, 2019)
- HI4112: Sources for History: contested pasts (Spring 2016, Spring 2017)
Professional Activities
Employment
- 2017 University of Limerick - Lecturer (below the bar) in History & Course Director, MA Public History & Cultural Heritage
- 2014 University of Limerick - Teaching Fellow, Department of History
- 2013 Office of Public Works: National Historic Properties - Consultant historian
- 2013 Visit Maynooth project, Maynooth University Campus, Co Kildare - Heritage interpretation strategist
- 2010 National University of Ireland, Maynooth - Irish Research Council (IRC) Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- 2008 National University of Ireland, Maynooth - Lecturer (occasional) in History
- 2008 National University of Ireland, Maynooth - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses & Estates
Award
- 2016 - Irish Research Council New Foundations Grant Awardee
- 2015 - Royal Irish Academy Charlemont Research Scholar
- 2010 - Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Education
- 2013 Digital Marketing Institute - Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing
- 2008 National University of Ireland Maynooth - PhD History
- 2003 National University of Ireland Maynooth - Higher Diploma Irish History
- 2002 National University of Ireland Maynooth - BA Joint Hons
Consultancy
- 2013 Office of Public Works -
Outreach
- Organising internships for MA students with museums and public history sites/professionals/projects locally, regionally, and nationally e.g. Limerick Museum, Limerick Archives, Hunt Museum Limerick, People's Museum of Limerick, National Museum of Ireland, Donegal County Museum, Waterford Viking Triangle Museums, Kerry County Museum, Wexford County Council, Galway City Museum, Special Collections Glucksman Library
Association
- Member, Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland (SSNCI)
- Member, Irish Association of Professional Historians (IAPH)
- Member, International Federation for Public History (IFPH)
Research Collaborators
- E A E R N: Eighteenth-century Arts Education Research Network - International Collaboration Type - University of Glasgow -Scotland
- Sound Heritage - International Collaboration Type - University of Southampton -England
Publications
Books
Music and dancing at Castletown, Co. Kildare, 1759-1821
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2011)
Music and dancing at Castletown, Co. Kildare, 1759-1821
Dublin :
Four Courts Press
Book Chapters
No accomplishment so great for a lady': women and music in the Irish country house
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2021)
No accomplishment so great for a lady': women and music in the Irish country house
In Women and Music in Ireland ;
Ita Beausang, Jennifer O'Connor-Madsen and Laura Watson(Ed.)
Woodbridge, UK :
Boydell & Brewer
Expanding the narrative: public history, music, and the Irish country house
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2021)
Expanding the narrative: public history, music, and the Irish country house
In Sound Heritage: Making Music Matter in Historic Houses;
Jeanice Brooks, Matthew Stephens, and Wiebke Thormählen(Ed.)
London :
Routledge
Music masters' and 'musicianers': census records and Irish music history, 1821-1911
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2019)
Music masters' and 'musicianers': census records and Irish music history, 1821-1911
In Documents of Irish music history in the long nineteenth century (IMS 12);
Kerry Houston, Maria McHale and Michael Murphy(Ed.)
Dublin :
Four Courts Press
pp. 182-194
'What do we mean by Irish music?': the politics of state-sponsored music publication in independent Ireland'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2018)
'What do we mean by Irish music?': the politics of state-sponsored music publication in independent Ireland'
In Music Preferred: Essays in Musicology, Cultural History and Analysis in honour of Harry White;
Lorraine Byrne Bodley(Ed.)
Vienna :
Hollitzer Verlag
pp. 215-228
[ULIR]
Useless and extravagant? The consumption of music in the Irish country house'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2016)
Useless and extravagant? The consumption of music in the Irish country house'
In The country house: material culture and consumption;
Swindon :
Historic England
[ULIR]
Hemphill's world: Clonmel and beyond'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2014)
Hemphill's world: Clonmel and beyond'
In William Despard Hemphill, Irish Victorian Photographer;
Karol Mullaney-Dignam(Ed.)
Dublin :
Irish Government Publications for National Historic Properties, Office of Public Works
pp. 41-52
French horns playing at every meal: musical activity at Carton, 1747-1895'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2014)
French horns playing at every meal: musical activity at Carton, 1747-1895'
In Aspects of Irish aristocratic life: the FitzGeralds and Carton House ;
Dublin :
UCD Press
pp. 92-105
[ULIR]
Persevering post-PhD: contemporary issues for early career academics'
Karol Mullaney-DIgnam
(2014)
Persevering post-PhD: contemporary issues for early career academics'
In Restating the value of Humanities in contemporary contexts ;
Dublin :
Royal Irish Academy, 2014
pp. 46-50
[ULIR]
The Music in the Irish Country House project: origins and objectives'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2011)
The Music in the Irish Country House project: origins and objectives'
In The Irish country house: its past, present and future ;
Dublin :
Four Courts Press
pp. 166-183
Forging a musical culture: state, nation and music in Ireland, 1922-1932
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2008)
Forging a musical culture: state, nation and music in Ireland, 1922-1932
In Musical Culture and Memory;
Tatjana Marković and Vesna Mikić(Ed.)
Belgrade, Serbia :
Belgrade University of Arts
pp. 76-83
Edited Books
Aspects of Irish aristocratic life: essays on the FitzGeralds and Carton House
(2014)
Aspects of Irish aristocratic life: essays on the FitzGeralds and Carton House
Karol Mullaney-Dignam, Patrick Cosgrove, Terence Dooley(Ed.)
Dublin :
University College Dublin
William Despard Hemphill, Irish Victorian Photographer
(2014)
William Despard Hemphill, Irish Victorian Photographer
Karol Mullaney-Dignam(Ed.)
Dublin :
Irish Government Publications for National Historic Properties, Office of Public Works
Peer Reviewed Journals
Review: Emer Crooke, White elephants: the country house and the state in independent Ireland, 1922-73 (Dublin, 2018)
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2019)
Review: Emer Crooke, White elephants: the country house and the state in independent Ireland, 1922-73 (Dublin, 2018)
In Irish Historical Studies;
pp. 363-364
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ihs.2019.85
[ULIR]
Review: Marjorie Fitzpatrick, Music and power in eighteenth-century court society: Handel's Messiah and Protestant Ascendancy (Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2016)
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2016)
Review: Marjorie Fitzpatrick, Music and power in eighteenth-century court society: Handel's Messiah and Protestant Ascendancy (Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2016)
In Eighteenth Century Ireland;
pp. 197-199
[ULIR]
Review: Helen Berry, The castrato and his wife (Oxford, 2011)
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Review: Helen Berry, The castrato and his wife (Oxford, 2011)
In Eighteenth Century Ireland;
[ULIR]
'Irish country house music collections: Birr Castle, Co. Offaly'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2012)
'Irish country house music collections: Birr Castle, Co. Offaly'
In Brio: Journal of the International Association of Music Libraries, UK and Ireland Branch ;
pp. 23-36
[ULIR]
Spacious and splendid': music, dancing and social life at Glin Castle, 1781-1854
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2012)
Spacious and splendid': music, dancing and social life at Glin Castle, 1781-1854
In Irish Architectural And Decorative Studies;
pp. 16-37
Review: Patrick Walsh and A.P.W. Malcomson (eds), The Conolly Archive (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 2010)
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2011)
Review: Patrick Walsh and A.P.W. Malcomson (eds), The Conolly Archive (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 2010)
In Irish Archives;
pp. 59-61
Précis: State, nation and music in independent Ireland, 19221951: Ph. D. thesis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 2008
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2009)
Précis: State, nation and music in independent Ireland, 19221951: Ph. D. thesis, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 2008
In Irish Economic And Social History;
pp. 97-99
DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24338752
Other Journals
Treasure island [on Ilnacullin/Garinish island, Co. Cork]
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2015)
Treasure island [on Ilnacullin/Garinish island, Co. Cork]
In Irish Arts Review;
'An 'Italian palace' in Co. Roscommon: the creation of Rockingham House, Boyle'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
'An 'Italian palace' in Co. Roscommon: the creation of Rockingham House, Boyle'
In Roscommon Historical and Archaeological Society Journal ;
pp. 12-16
[ULIR]
Conference Contributions
6th World Conference of the International Federation for Public History, Freie Universität Berlin
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2021)
6th World Conference of the International Federation for Public History, Freie Universität Berlin
Berlin, Germany
Why Public History? Conference, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2017)
Why Public History? Conference, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast, Northern Ireland
A great divide' or a longer nineteenth century? Music, Britain and the First World War'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2017)
A great divide' or a longer nineteenth century? Music, Britain and the First World War'
Durham University, Durham, UK
Sound Heritage Ireland Symposium
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2016)
Sound Heritage Ireland Symposium
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick
Moments of Becoming: Transitions and Transformations in Early Modern Europe Conference
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2015)
Moments of Becoming: Transitions and Transformations in Early Modern Europe Conference
University of Limerick
Eleventh Annual Historic Houses of Ireland Conference
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Eleventh Annual Historic Houses of Ireland Conference
Castletown House, Co. Kildare
Second Women and Music in Ireland Conference
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2012)
Second Women and Music in Ireland Conference
Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
The Irish diaspora and revolution, 1845-1945, International Conference
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2012)
The Irish diaspora and revolution, 1845-1945, International Conference
National University of Ireland Maynooth
Other Publications
What was St Patrick's Day like in 1918?
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2018)
What was St Patrick's Day like in 1918?
RTÉ Brainstorm
[ULIR]
Tríd an Lionsa (Through the Lens), episode 1
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2018)
Tríd an Lionsa (Through the Lens), episode 1
Sibéal Productions
Ireland's National Anthems: from God Save the King to The Soldier's Song
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2017)
Ireland's National Anthems: from God Save the King to The Soldier's Song
RTÉ Lyricfm
Cultural nexus: the country house in Ireland
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2015)
Cultural nexus: the country house in Ireland
Art Institute of Chicago :
Bryce House Museum, Co. Cork
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2015)
Bryce House Museum, Co. Cork
National Historic Properties, Office of Public Work
The FitzGeralds in Ireland
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2014)
The FitzGeralds in Ireland
[ULIR]
Silent Exposure: The photography of William Despard Hemphill
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2014)
Silent Exposure: The photography of William Despard Hemphill
National Historic Properties, Office of Public Works
Visit Maynooth: Heritage Interpretation Strategy
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Visit Maynooth: Heritage Interpretation Strategy
Tailteann Games [Aonach Tailteann]
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Tailteann Games [Aonach Tailteann]
In Encyclopeadia of Music in Ireland;
Feis Ceoil
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Feis Ceoil
pp. 372-373
Larkin' About: Topical humour from the Weekly Irish Times'
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
Larkin' About: Topical humour from the Weekly Irish Times'
[ULIR]
The Big House in Ireland
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2013)
The Big House in Ireland
BigMountain Productions
Music and the Irish Country House
Karol Mullaney-Dignam
(2012)
Music and the Irish Country House
NUI Maynooth