Highlights of the Collections

Our archive collections are held across four distinct research collections, the Centre for the Study of Irish Art, the Yeats Archive, the Gallery Institutional Archive and the Sir Denis Mahon Library and Archive.  Our Irish art research collections are held in the ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art and the Yeats Archive; the Gallery Institutional Archive contains the official records of the institution and reflects the history of the Gallery from the 1850s to the present day. Finally, the Mahon Archive consists of correspondence, academic notes and photographs relating to collections and individual works of art, in particular Italian art and artists. In addition, there are papers relating to his work with various committees and boards and his lobbying activity on behalf of the arts. 

Discover selected highlights from these special collections below. If you wish to search the entire archives catalogue please use the search box above.

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Letter from Roderic O'Conor to Clive Bell regarding Sickert and the New English Art Club.
Roderic O’Conor: Letters to Clive Bell
Letter regarding Sickert and the New English Art Club IE NGI/IA/OCO2/1/10
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'Where I Hope To Be At 9pm' Sketch by William Orpen of the artist standing by a warm fire.
Sir William Orpen: Letters to Grace Orpen
Sketch by William Orpen of the artist standing by a warm fire IE NGI/IA/ORP1/5/1/1/7/7/212
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Jack Butler Yeats’s early scrapbook
Jack Butler Yeats: Early scrapbook
Jack Butler Yeats’s early scrapbook IE NGI/YA/Y1/JY/8/1
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Beatrice Esther Orpen. Life Drawing: Man and woman sitting
Beatrice Esther (‘Bea’) Orpen: Sketches and life drawings
Man and women sitting IE NGI/IA/ORP2/2/1/13/10
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An Túr Gloine: Cash Book 1903 - 1906
An Túr Gloine: Statements of accounts and Cash books
An Túr Gloine: Cash book 1902-1903 IE NGI/IA/TUR/1/3
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Illustrated invitation sent from F. Carruthers Gould to Sir Frederic William Burton
Sir Frederic William Burton: Invitations to events
Illustrated invitation sent from F. Carruthers Gould to Sir Frederic William Burton IE NGI/IA/BUR1/1/2/2/4
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Photograph of High street, Rye, East Sussex, England
Walter Frederick Osborne: Photographic Collection
Photograph of High street, Rye, East Sussex, England IE NGI/IA/OSB1/1/2/17
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Envelope addressed to Mr. James Herbert, Flushing, New York.
Aloysius O'Kelly: Letter to his nephew
Envelope addressed to Mr. James Herbert IE NGI/IA/OKE1/2/35
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Anne Yeats (1919-2001), Costume design of The Crow for Austin Clarke's play As the Crow Flies, 1948. © Estate of Anne Yeats, DACS London/IVARO Dublin, 2021.
Anne Yeats: Theatre design sketchbooks
Anne Yeats (1919-2001), Costume design of The Crow for Austin Clarke's play As the Crow Flies, 1948. © Estate of Anne Yeats, DACS London/IVARO Dublin, 2021.
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Contact proof of nine black and white photographic negatives of Gerda Frömel
Gerda J. Frömel: Studio photographs
Contact proof of nine black and white photographic negatives of Gerda Frömel IE NGI/IA/FRO1/1/7/1
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