Draft:UCC History Society

The UCC History Society, previously known as the UCC Historical Society and commonly referred to as 'HistSoc', is the oldest historical society in University College Cork, Ireland. The function of the society is to facilitate student conversation around history.

The society aims to promote an appreciation for the past, encourage intellectual curiosity, and facilitate engaging discussions and events centred around historical themes. The main events held by the society are Model United Nations, lectures, debating and pub quizzes.

History
There is evidence of the society's existence as far back as December of 1948, under the title of UCC Historical Society. The Irish Examiner advertised a talk from Professor Denis Rolleston Gwynn on 'The Story of the Rising'. Other talks put on by the society include one by Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford who gave a lecture on 'The Biography of Éamon de Valera'. Another lecture was given by Geoffrey Roberts, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, who gave a talk entitled 'Stalin as Warlord' to members of the society in 2007.

Dr. Noël Browne was the honorary president of the society during the 1990/1991 academic year. Former Irish Taoiseach, Charles Haughey's policy advisor, Martin Mansergh, gave an address to the society, as noted in Mansergh's The Legacy of History.

Previously, the society conducted mooting competitions until the conduction of these were taken over by the UCC Law Society.

The society ceased operations for unknown reasons in 2020. Operations were re-invigorated in 2022, with the first event of the resurgent society occurred on 20 January 2023. This was a talk delivered by Dr Olesia Zhythova entitled 'Ukraine and Ireland: Similar Pages of History'. This was not the first time the society had seemingly paused events as an article from 1974 suggests that the society had been "one of the least ambitious of societies" and was forced to re-start.

Following a 2023 extraordinary general meeting, the constitution of the society was amended and the name was changed to UCC History Society.

UCC Student History Journal
Since 2024, the society has began a student publication aimed at housing historical topics of interest. The UCC Student History Journal had its inaugural launch on 11 April 2024. The first edition of the publication contained contributors from University College Cork and University of Galway. At the launch of the first volume of the journal, Irish Historian Dr Hiram Morgan gave a speech introducing the topics.

Controversy
Following an event surrounding the Easter Rising, the History Society was the subject of criticism from the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM) for stating that there was "no stomach for rebellion amoungst [sic] the Irish people". This was denied by CYM, who referred to the rise of Sinn Féin.