In June of 2022, UMD students traveled to Ireland to study the country’s past. For six weeks, they made Dublin their home. The group worked at a museum located in the heart of Dublin. Through a program called “Your Tenement Stories,” UMD students helped document first-hand oral accounts of the often difficult living conditions in 20th-century Dublin.
For students in Dublin, most mornings began at a cafe. “The Irish don't work like us,” said Emma Wiessenberger, a history major who was on the trip. “If you show up on time, you're too early.” After grabbing some coffee, the group walked to the award-winning museum, 14 Henrietta Street. The building was constructed in the 1720s as a townhome for the city’s elite. However, by 1911, it housed over 100 people. Henrietta Street, and other tenements like it, were occupied until the 1970s. There are many people in Dublin today that lived under those difficult conditions, and Your Tenement Stories invites them to share their memories.
Weissenberger worked alongside four other students: Alyssa Stellar, Vito Bortolotti, Zack Nettell, and Julian Carrero. “It was intense,” Wiessenberger said. “We were asking these people to re-live those difficult times.” UMD students conducted their interviews in the morning. Some days were slow, others packed. After getting lunch from a local deli, their afternoons were spent transcribing the stories they recorded.
Weisenberger now works at the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. Her time in Ireland has inspired her. “I have a list of things from Henrietta Street that I want to incorporate at the Bong Museum,” she said. “I really took inspiration from how they connect with their community, with their culture.”
Steven Matthews and David Woodward are leaders of the Ireland Study Abroad Program. Matthews, an associate professor of history, has returned to Ireland year after year for archeological studies. Woodward, an instructor of history, is the director of the Museum Studies Certificate Program at UMD.
Banner Photo: Alyssa Stellar, Emma Wiessenberger, Vito Bortolotti, Zach Nettell, and Julian Carrero.
This story was written by UMD student Jack Wiedner, who is majoring in journalism and political science. Jack works with Cheryl Reitan in University Marketing and Public Relations.