About

As far as I'm aware there has been no written record of the history of the society, so here is my attempt to ensure that future members know a little about where their society came from. We know little about the creation of the original 'UCC Historical Society', one thing that is know is that the first email ever sent by the committee was on Wednesday, 1st of September 2010 listing off the five members of the then committee. From there the society continued to operate till the end of the 2019/2020 academic year when it ceased to run events for unknown reasons.

It was around this time that the society's saviour comes into the story. On Sunday 30th of August 2020, Richard Keyes-McDonnell emailed the society hoping to become involved only to get no response. Richard learned that the society has been left to rot away as another failed society. However, Richard's passion for history meant they were determined to ensure that UCC students with a similar passion for history had a society that represented them. Richard began contacting the history department and the society's executive and started getting traction for being able to restart the society for the 2022/23 academic year. Like a phoenix from the ashes, the society was starting back again.

It was during the summer between the two years that I heard of the resurgent history society looking for help. I contacted Richard and met with him and another history student in Vicarstown to discuss starting the society again. Richard for all his work would be chair and I’d be Finance Officer. Going into 2022/23 the society looked strong.

Unfortunately, semester one was hampered by administrative works, finance and budget meetings and answering the hundred of emails that had built up in an inbox that hadn’t been opened in months. But despite these hurdles we got through it, and got additional members meaning semester two would be our true start of the new and improved UCC Historical Society.

Our first event was held at 3pm in Boole 2 on Friday, 20th January 2023 and was a talk by Dr Olesia Zhytkova entitled “Ukraine and Ireland: similar pages of history”. The talk had fantastic attendance with the Boole being almost full as we invited members of the Ukrainian community in Cork to attend as well as students to spread the word of history on campus and beyond. A few of us went to Abbey Tavern after to celebrate our success and in so doing started a tradition of the committee being social, fun and fostering lifelong friendships. Other events from this time were a talk about the Cork LGBT archive and the now famous ‘Histor-tea’. With several events under our belt we held our first AGM since the revival on Tuesday, the 18th of April 2023 where I was elected Chairman with four other committee members for the coming year.

While the society had been successful in hosting events, I had a vision that the society would be far more social in orientation, making it a space for lovers of history to come together, make new friends and discuss their shared passion for history. With this vision in mind I organized the ‘Historical Networking Event’ on Tuesday, 19th of September 2023 in Vicarstown. It was here that many of our current committee members were found and many friendships were started. The society regulars only grew from here with many joining the committee at our EGM which was held on Monday, 24th of October 2023. It was also at this EGM that we officially changed our name from the ‘UCC Historical Society’ to the ‘UCC History Society’.

James Power, UCC History Society Chairman, 2023 - 2024