On 18th August last I was privileged to return to the National Library of Ireland in Dublin to deliver one of the Summer lunchtime talks at the institution, which are organised by Eneclann and the Ancestor Network. The title of the talk was The Forgotten Irish: Revealing the Personal Stories of 19th Century Emigrants through American Civil War Pension Files. The 40 minute lecture looked briefly at the Irish in the American Civil War, before discussing the origins and contents of the U.S. pension files and finally going through a number of examples to demonstrate how they can be used to recreate social histories of individual emigrant family groups. The latter elements will also form part of my forthcoming book on the topic. The event was one of the small number of my talks that have been podcast, and I’m pleased to say it has just been made available via the Irish Family History Centre. If you are interested in hearing what I had to say, you can do so by clicking here. As ever, I am always interested in readers thoughts!