Photographs of 1960s Ireland.

The National Library of Ireland is home to a terrific collection of snapshot depictions of 1960s Ireland. Thanks to readers writing in we know the names of many of the faces in these photographs. Dates and locations transport us to a vibrant Dublin city and the lush Irish countryside.

Many images in this gallery of 1960s Ireland were taken by Elinor Wiltshire (née OBrien), a Limerick-born photographer raised on Foynes Island in the Shannon Estuary, Elinor was educated at home until a teenager, before attending Newtown School in Waterford.

In her 30s, she set up the Green Studio at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin with her husband Reggie Wiltshire, himself an accomplished professional photographer. The Green Studio was a commercial venture, and in parallel Elinor photographed Dublin street scenes and events of interest, such as Corpus Christi processions and the 1954 commemoration of Bloomsday by Dublin literati. She and Reggie were friendly with the poet Patrick Kavanagh, and he invited Elinor to photograph him in his home county of Monaghan. She used a Rolleiflex camera held at waist level looking down at the 6cm-square screen rather than directly at the subjects, resulting in more natural compositions…

After Reggie’s death in 1968 and following on from their interest in photographing Irish antiquities, Elinor spent six weeks in Ethiopia in 1971 taking photographs of early Christian churches – she met the emperor Haile Selassie while there. Those pictures were exhibited in Dublin. Elinor moved to London later in 1971. She worked for Intourist from 1974 to 1983, arranging specialist tours to the Soviet Union, helped by her knowledge of the Russian language.

Elinor lived in London for 40 years… She took up botany seriously at the age of 70… She was an active member of the London Natural History Society and took part in their detailed survey of Buckingham Palace gardens in the mid-1990s.