Teachers and students of the Sisters of Mercy School, Bantry (c.1918).
Photographs created or collected by Paddy O'Keeffe (b.1897-d.1980), of Bantry, County Cork.
The photographs offer an invaluable insight into life in Bantry, and West Cork more generally, in the first half of the twentieth century. A large section of the photographs reflect Paddy O'Keeffe's interest in the sea, sailing, and maritime trade, particularly the fishing industry. The diverse range of topics covered in the collection include: photographs of local people attending festivals, parades and regattas; archaeological monuments; the changing built heritage landscape; and construction projects such as the building of public housing and Bantry General Hospital.
A large section of the collection relates to the Emergency period (the Second World War) and includes numerous photographs of Irish military personnel, particularly the Maritime Inscription (of which Paddy O'Keeffe was a member) carrying out training exercises. Of particular note are: photographs of British, American and German military aircraft which crash-landed in West Cork during this period; members of a Luftwaffe [German Air Force] plane who were rescued from the sea near Schull, County Cork; and the funerals of other Luftwaffe members who were not so fortunate.
A small number of early twentieth-century photographs collected by O'Keeffe include small studio portraits of various families. These may be connected to O'Keeffe's interest in West Cork genealogy, as many contain pencil notes on the reverse noting surnames or family connections.
Paddy O'Keeffe often wrote the date that the photograph was taken and captions on the reverse of the photographs, and these have been included in quotation marks in the catalogue descriptions where possible.
View: Paddy O'Keeffe Photographic Collection
The photographs are also searchable on our online catalogue.
