Old woman and two young boys in doorway of thatched cottage

Today is the day, the Photo Detectives exhibition ( https://www.facebook.com/NationalLibraryofIreland/posts/10159391458300038 ) opens at 12.30. I found a to-do-list on the other Marys desk earlier. It read: "Tan / Nails / Hair / Pedicure / Shoes / Bag / Dress / Hat? / Coat / Umbrella?". (A woman's work is never done :) )..Now, getting back to the knitting, our late eighteenth and early nineteenth century photos often feature elegant people in sumptuous surroundings. However, this photo I feel shows the lot of the majority of the Irish people in stark focus. I wonder what happened to the two boys? What part did they play in the formation of our nation? ..And, while some of us were distracted by the #PhotoDetectives exhibition ( https://twitter.com/hashtag/PhotoDetectives?src=hash ) , the ever dutiful O Mac ( /photos/[email protected]/ ) held down the fort, and filled-in several of the blanks on this image. It is possible that the people pictured are (or are at very least neighbours of) the Finnertys of Kilglass ( http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Clonbrock/Kilglass/466680/ ) near Clonbrock County Galway. They could well be pictured in this previous image of the local school ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/5800277541/ ) . OMac is confident that the house still stands - near the junction ( https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.4133456,-8.3454477,3a,75y,314.8h,87.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLl0D-ELWBf0tyScZ2o6-1g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 ) of the road to Ballyforan.......Photographers: Dillon Family..Contributors: Luke Gerald Dillon, Augusta Caroline Dillon..Collection: Clonbrock photographic Collection ( http://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000315679 ) ..Date: Catalogue date c.1900..NLI Ref: CLON492 ( http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000183490 ) ..You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie ( http://catalogue.nli.ie )