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    Interview with Susan Curley Meyer recorded online on 24/11/2024; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0021

    Cite as: Beecher, Ruth (2026): Interview with Susan Curley Meyer recorded online on 24/11/2024; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0021. Birkbeck College, University of London.

    Description

    Susan was born in Dublin in 1969. In her interview she talks about her childhood as an identical twin. She discusses her school years and how she left school to take up a job just before the Leaving Certificate. She was proud when her mother intervened and she was allowed to return to take the exam after her mother’s intervention.

    Her successful career in floristry began in a flower shop in Bray and she progressed swiftly to an advanced level in the industry.

    Susan also talks about her social life of parties and her love life in 1980s Dublin. She recalls going on holiday to the Aran Islands with her first ‘real’ boyfriend and
    going on holiday with him to the Aran Islands where a stay in a bed and breakfast involved moving the single beds together. She relates the difficulty of obtaining contraception and advice even from women’s clinics at the time.

    She discusses other holidays and travels, including a period in the United States.

    During the recession in Ireland, she returned to education and achieved a degree, an MA and a PhD as a mature student. Her interest in art and design has continued across the years including a project on visual culture street trading in Dublin.

    Previews


    1 - Audio Track interview with Susan Curley Meyer recorded online on 24/11/2024; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0021 (0UNA-U1X0021XX-0001M0AR.mp3)

    Collection Method

    Úna Gan A Gúna Irish Women’s Oral History Collective

    Interviews with a range of women born in Ireland during the twentieth century or those with Irish connections. The aim was to gather the stories, memories and opinions of Irish women born in each decade of the twentieth century, about their experiences between the approximate ages of 15 and 25. The sample was found simply through women with whom volunteer interviewers had a connection or through Irish organisations. Interviews were recorded and participants checked and approved the transcripts and recordings.
    See website https://unaganaguna.org/

    Data Objects

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    Metadata

    Dataset Title:

    Interview with Susan Curley Meyer recorded online on 24/11/2024; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0021
    Creators:

    Beecher, Ruth
    Dataset Contributors:

    ContributionNameEmailORCID
    IntervieweeCurley Meyer, SusanUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
    InterviewerRodwell, PatUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
    School/Department:

    Birkbeck Schools and Research Centres > School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy > History, Classics and Archaeology
    Keywords:

    Dublin, Wicklow, identical twins, school, floristry, art and design, 1980s social scene in Dublin, contraception, travel, higher education
    Data collection method:

    Úna Gan A Gúna Irish Women’s Oral History Collective

    Interviews with a range of women born in Ireland during the twentieth century or those with Irish connections. The aim was to gather the stories, memories and opinions of Irish women born in each decade of the twentieth century, about their experiences between the approximate ages of 15 and 25. The sample was found simply through women with whom volunteer interviewers had a connection or through Irish organisations. Interviews were recorded and participants checked and approved the transcripts and recordings.
    See website https://unaganaguna.org/
    Collection period:

    FromTo
    24 November 202424 November 2024
    Temporal coverage:

    FromTo
    19692024
    Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues:

    The research proposal was ethically approved by the School of Historical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.
    Depositing User: Ruth Beecher
    Date Deposited: 03 Feb 2026 17:33
    Last Modified: 03 Feb 2026 17:33
    Publisher: Birkbeck College, University of London

    Export / Share Citation

    Cite as: Beecher, Ruth (2026): Interview with Susan Curley Meyer recorded online on 24/11/2024; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0021. Birkbeck College, University of London.

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