Author Archives: Keith Smith

About Keith Smith

I am an historian specialising in religious history, material culture and digital history. My particular interest is in the material culture of the religious orders in Ireland during the 16th and 17th centuries. My doctoral research focused on the creation and survival of early modern religious altar plate and the importance of local patronage in its survival and destruction. I was the research assistant on phase 1 of the Monastic Ireland project, based in the Discovery Programme, where my primary function was the production of the Monastic Ireland website: a comprehensive database of historical information, images, and practical information, aimed at the general public as much as scholars. I am now a research assistant on phase 2 of the Monastic Ireland project, based in TCD, a more traditional academic project where my focus is on the fate of monastic houses after the dissolution in the 16th century. I am an occasional lecturer and tutor in the schools of ‘Art History & Cultural Policy’ and ‘History & Archives’, both in UCD and I also am a tour guide in Meath and Wicklow.