She became devoted to preserving the historical record of the independence movement. Noticing the huge number of visitors for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress she organised a small exhibition there of 1916 memorabilia for the National Museum of Ireland. She was irritated by the display of Catholic religious artifacts there. She campaigned for a permanent exhibition of recent Irish nationalist history. Gifford coordinated a substantial body of material pertinent to nationalist organisations, the Easter rising, and the war of independence, which now forms the core of the present collection.