Process Paper
My topic is ‘The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921’, the subtopic being ‘Women’s Reactions to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.’ I originally thought my topic was going to be mainly about Irish Immigration, but I narrowed my focus to just the Irish Civil War. After that, I narrowed my focus again to the ‘Women’s Reactions to the Anglo-Irish Treaty,’ but the turning point was the ‘Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.’ My dad had told me a lot of stories about the Irish Revolution before NHD, my roots being Irish, I immediately decided to do something to do with Ireland’s history.
I conducted an interview with my dad and grandfather because they both are very knowledgeable about the topic and my grandfather’s dad was around during the Irish Civil War and had a scarring encounter with it. After that, I visited the Burns Library of Irish Studies in Boston College for primary documents. I found many good sources in the archives there, including correspondences and Cumann na mBan membership cards. The hardest part in conducting my research was getting primary documents to put on my website since my topic is Irish history, not American. The Burns Library helped me tremendously in that regard.
I chose to do a website because that seemed to be the presentation category through which I could convey my information best. I created my project using many pictures and text in my own words. I didn’t use a lot of quotes from people living at the time or excerpts from texts or letters. The thing I enjoyed most about creating my website was choosing the layout and design of the page. I made the background different shades of green to symbolize Ireland. In Ireland, wearing green was an act of defiance at one time; so using the revolutionary color seemed very appropriate.
‘The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty’ fits this year’s NHD theme of Turning Points in History perfectly because of how this one event changed Ireland forever. When Collins signed the treaty, it would spur a civil war and later, protests and bloodshed. The signing of the treaty was a major turning point in Irish history because it caused a partition of Ireland. Northern Ireland is still not a part of Ireland today because of the deal Collins made with the British. There is talk of reunification in Ireland today, but nothing has happened yet. The world is not the same because one day, Collins signed a treaty that would change it for good.
I conducted an interview with my dad and grandfather because they both are very knowledgeable about the topic and my grandfather’s dad was around during the Irish Civil War and had a scarring encounter with it. After that, I visited the Burns Library of Irish Studies in Boston College for primary documents. I found many good sources in the archives there, including correspondences and Cumann na mBan membership cards. The hardest part in conducting my research was getting primary documents to put on my website since my topic is Irish history, not American. The Burns Library helped me tremendously in that regard.
I chose to do a website because that seemed to be the presentation category through which I could convey my information best. I created my project using many pictures and text in my own words. I didn’t use a lot of quotes from people living at the time or excerpts from texts or letters. The thing I enjoyed most about creating my website was choosing the layout and design of the page. I made the background different shades of green to symbolize Ireland. In Ireland, wearing green was an act of defiance at one time; so using the revolutionary color seemed very appropriate.
‘The Signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty’ fits this year’s NHD theme of Turning Points in History perfectly because of how this one event changed Ireland forever. When Collins signed the treaty, it would spur a civil war and later, protests and bloodshed. The signing of the treaty was a major turning point in Irish history because it caused a partition of Ireland. Northern Ireland is still not a part of Ireland today because of the deal Collins made with the British. There is talk of reunification in Ireland today, but nothing has happened yet. The world is not the same because one day, Collins signed a treaty that would change it for good.