Eilish Cramer Collection

Repository: Irish Film Archive

Identity Statement

TitleEilish Cramer Collection
Archive ReferenceIE IFA/13
Web Link to this Entryhttps://iar.ie/archive/eilish-cramer-collection
Creation Datesc1955-1965
Extent MediumThirteen rolls of 16mm non-professional film (4700ft) combined onto four reels; one 400ft section of The Battle of Messines, a British War Office film.

Context

Creator(s): Unknown

  • Administrative History ↴

    Unknown, as the material is an orphan collection at present.

  • Archival History ↴

    An orphan collection, this material was found in the late 1990s in the study of an old Dublin house that was awaiting demolition. The builder who found the cans gave them to donor Eilish Cramer in December 2008 when he discovered her interest in history. Eilish was unable subsequently to identify the owner of the house. In an effort to discover the identity of the filmmaker, who appears to have been a British Army officer in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, Archive staff have sent a sampling of the collection on DVD to Royal Irish Fusiliers’ Regimental Museum in Armagh.

  • Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

    Donation

Content & Structure

  • Scope & Content: Unknown ↴

    Stock dates suggest that the ten rolls of 16mm, silent, non-professional film span the mid-1950s to mid-1960s. They focus on the life of an officer of the Royal Irish Fusiliers based at Army Barracks, Armagh.
    The bulk of the collection concentrates on the activities of the Royal Irish Fusiliers in Armagh. These include many guard-of-honour ceremonies for VIPs, including the British Lord Chief Justice, Lord MacDermott and the British Secretary for State (Oct 1956-1958) John Hare.
    There is film showing the training of new recruits on the parade ground in the Armagh Barracks along with sequences depicting a sports day that includes rugby, football, and tug-of-war competitions. Footage also shows officers undergoing training in the use of mortars and machine guns, along with a military air show that includes scenes of the airfield filmed from the cockpit of an aircraft. There is also footage of officers returning from a St Patrick’s Day Church Service.
    As well as family trips/holidays taken in the Republic of Ireland, at Clonmacnoise and Dublin Zoo for example, the collection includes footage of Presidents Sean T. O Kelly and Eamon De Valera (stock date: 1959) attending the Agha Khan show-jumping event at the RDS. Other reels contain travel footage of Italy, Sicily, Egypt, Greece and Kenya.

  • Appraisal Destruction ↴

    Permanent Retention

  • Arrangement ↴

    Limited items – no arrangement applicable

Conditions of Access & Use

Access Conditions Accessible at the Irish Film Archive by appointment. Some access restrictions may apply.
Creation Datesc1955-1965
Extent MediumThirteen rolls of 16mm non-professional film (4700ft) combined onto four reels; one 400ft section of The Battle of Messines, a British War Office film.
Finding Aids Electronic catalogue Archive Web Link →

Allied Materials

There are no Allied Materials

Descriptive Control Area

Archivist NoteManus McManus
Rules/ConventionsISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000.
Date of Descriptions2011