THE UNIVERSITY of Limerick (UL) has acquired a collection of family heirlooms and military memorabilia dating back to the 1700s.
The Carrol collection covers the military careers of five generations of the Carrol family starting with the exploits of Maj Gen Sir William Parker Carrol in the Peninsular war. It also includes memorabilia from the Boer war and both world wars.
Many items are handwritten personal documents, including a letter from the Duke of Wellington to Sir Parker and also his wife's diaries for the years 1817, 1818 and 1819.
Limerick Civic Trust acquired the Carrol collection from June O'Carrol Robertson in 2002 and has lent the papers to the Glucksman Library at the University of Limerick to facilitate access to the archive by researchers.
"The Glucksman Library is delighted and privileged to now be the guardian of the Carrol papers.
"This addition to the UL library holdings will allow ample opportunity for many areas of scholarship. Never before has this collection been openly available for scholarly study and discovery and, by being housed here at UL, it will be available to a whole new generation of learners and researchers," said special collections librarian Ken Bergin.