Using Digital Archives for Academic Research
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Using Digital Archives
for Academic Research
1The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is a national digital
repository for the long-term preservation of Ireland’s
humanities, social sciences, and cultural heritage data. We
archive digitised and born-digital material and are funded
by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Irish
Research Council (IRC).
We have over thirty members who ingest their collections
to the repository for the long-term preservation of that
material and to make it openly accessible to the public.
This booklet was put together for a webinar series hosted by the DRI in Spring 2021 called ‘Using
Digital Archives for Academic Research’. The aim of the booklet is to showcase some of the collections
in DRI, DRI’s member institutions, and other online resources. The list of DRI collections contained
in the booklet is not exhaustive – the intention is to draw attention to some of the digital research
resources in the repository which we encourage researchers to explore further. Included in the booklet
are some ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ which researchers using DRI for the first time might find
useful. We have also included links to DRI Factsheets on Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), Metadata,
and other publications that might be useful for referencing collections in DRI.
At DRI we work to support and encourage research in a number of ways. According to best practice
in open research, we encourage deposit of a wide range of research outputs (including data sets, oral
histories, reports, images, interviews, and content digitised through research projects) and enable
them to be preserved and shared according to the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable,
and reusable). All objects receive a persistent identifier (DRI uses DOIs), and this enables them to be
cited and retrieved over the long term. And fundamentally, we are about the long term, preserving
data in our certified trustworthy repository for others to use, and future generations to access.
We seek to encourage researchers through our annual DRI Early Career Research Award which
provides a bursary of €500 to an original piece of research (e.g., research done for a master’s or PhD
thesis, article, or publication) informed in whole, or in part, by objects/collections deposited in DRI.
Unpublished research is also considered if the work is intended for eventual publication. For further
information on the DRI Early Career Research Award application process and timeline, please visit our
website. If you are an Early Career Researcher who uses material in the repository, we hope that you
will consider applying for this award. You can find out more about this research by signing up to our
newsletter or following us on social media.
We wish you the best of luck in your research,
The Digital Repository of Ireland
2Name of collection Abbey Theatre Minute Books
Home institution/ National University of Ireland Galway
depositing
organisation
Summary of The Abbey Theatre minute books are a collection of
collection minutes of meetings of the Directors of the Abbey Theatre
from January 1904 to May 1939. These minute books
contain hand-written minutes from meetings attended
by Lady Augusta Gregory, W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Lennox
Robinson, and other members of the Abbey Board. The
minutes are spread across a number of searchable volumes,
which date from the opening of the theatre in 1904
through to 1939, the year when W.B. Yeats died. The
minutes detail discussions and decision-making around
artistic programming, theatre finances, international tours,
staffing and contracts, and other matters relating to the
management and administration of the Abbey Theatre.
The minutes cover key events in the Abbey history, from
productions by J.M. Synge, Sean O’Casey, Teresa Deevey,
W.B. Yeats, and Lady Gregory, as well as coverage of
international tours, such as to the United States in 1911 and
in 1932–1933. Each minute book has been transcribed and
this collection provides access to both the transcribed text
and the digitised original manuscript displayed in a side-by-
side searchable interface. This collection is part of the wider
Abbey Theatre Digital Archive, available to researchers at the
NUI Galway Library.
URL for collection https://digital.library.nuigalway.ie/islandora/object/
nuigalway:abbey-theatre-minute-books
Subject areas Irish Drama, Theatre, Irish Revival, History
Time period the 1904–1939
collection relates to
3Name of collection Amplifying change: A history of the Atlantic Philanthropies on the
island of Ireland
Home institution/ Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection ‘Amplifying change: A history of the Atlantic Philanthropies on the
island of Ireland’ is a collaborative project between the DRI, based in
Dublin, and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) at
Cornell University Library, New York. The project consists of an openly
accessible digital archive and online exhibition of the impact of the
Atlantic Philanthropies grantees on the island of Ireland, consisting
of select business records and new oral histories that reflect Atlantic’s
grantmaking philosophy, approach, and impact in the Republic of
Ireland and Northern Ireland.
URL for collection DRI’s Atlantic Philanthropies collection has been developed using
a thematic approach. The main themes include human rights,
education, and communities. The thematic digital exhibitions for
this archival project can be accessed at the following dedicated
exhibition platform: https://dri.ie/atlanticphilanthropies
The objects in this collection can also be accessed in the DRI repository:
The Atlantic Philanthropies – Island of Ireland – Grant documentation:
https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.98818707k
The Atlantic Philanthropies – Island of Ireland – Oral histories: https://
doi.org/10.7486/DRI.0c48h625z
The Atlantic Philanthropies – Island of Ireland – Publications: https://
doi.org/10.7486/DRI.2r377k43c-1
The Atlantic Philanthropies – Island of Ireland – Essays: https://doi.
org/10.7486/DRI.5b001r512-1
Subject areas Atlantic Philanthropies, Human Rights, Education, Communities,
LGBTQ Rights, Migrants Rights, Disability, Reconciliation, Infrastructure,
Knowledge and Learning, Senior Citizens, Children and Youth, Citizen
Participation
Time period the 1982–2020
collection relates to
4Name of collection Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment
Archive
Home institution/ NIVAL: National Irish Visual Arts Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment
was set up in 2015 by artists Cecily Brennan, Alice Maher,
Eithne Jordan, and the poet Paula Meehan. The campaign
group aimed to promote national and international
awareness of the restrictive reproductive laws of Ireland
and to encourage and inspire other groups and activists to
use cultural means to promote social change.
The Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment
played a leading role in the decisive referendum with ‘an
unprecedented intervention in the public life of the State
on the part of artists’. This unique archive is documentary
evidence of ‘a decisive moment in the interface between
artists and public policy’.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.gx421568w
Subject areas Reproductive Rights, Abortion, Pro-choice Movement,
Art, Artists, Art Activism, Artist-led Movements, Protest
Movements, National Campaigns, Constitutional
Law-Ireland-The Eighth Amendment, Constitutional
Amendments, Referendum, Women’s Rights, Personal
Narratives, Social History, Medical History
Time period the collection 2015–2018
relates to
5Name of collection Asylum Archive
Home institution/ Asylum Archive is the DRI 2020 Community Archive
depositing organisation Scheme winner. The collection is forthcoming to DRI and is
currently accessible through the Asylum Archive website.
Summary of collection Asylum Archive was founded in 2007 by artist, activist,
and independent scholar Vukašin Nedeljkovic. Vukašin
sought refugee status and was living in one of the
Direct Provision Centres where he started to collect the
visual material related to his experience as an asylum
seeker.
Over the years, Asylum Archive grew, and it has almost
6,000 photographs, academic essays, audio interviews,
publications, and found objects. Asylum Archive is the
continuation of Vukašin’s ongoing work highlighting
the injustices, confinement, and incarceration of
asylum seekers in Ireland. It is a significant work since
there is very little visual information about previous
Irish Carceral sites including Magdalene Laundries,
Industrial Schools, Mother and Baby Homes, and
Lunatic Asylums. Asylum Archive works closely with
grassroots movements like MASI (Movement of Asylum
Seekers in Ireland).
URL for collection www.asylumarchive.com
Social Science, Current Affairs, Politics, Asylum Seekers
Subject areas
Time period the 1999–2003
collection relates to
6Name of collection Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury
Home institution/ Beyond 2022 is an all-island and international collaboration
depositing organisation between Core Partners (listed below) and a growing list of
Participating Institutions in Ireland, the United Kingdom
and the United States.
• The National Archives (Ireland)
• The National Archives (UK)
• The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast)
• The Irish Manuscripts Commission
• The Library, Trinity College Dublin
Summary of collection The Public Record Office of Ireland, with its Record Treasury
containing seven centuries of historical records, was
destroyed on 30 June 1922. Beyond 2022 is a research
project working to repair this loss, as far as possible.
The project is gathering all replacement records (copies,
transcripts, calendars etc.) into one free, online resource – a
virtual recreation of Ireland’s lost Record treasury.
In June 2022, the project will launch the Virtual Record
Treasury of Ireland (VRTI). The VRTI will contain digital
collections from libraries and archives around the world.
Users will re-enter the destroyed archive to search across
collections, identifying connections and networks invisible
to researchers working on the original records.
Search the sample collections in this working prototype to
get a sense of the riches we are uncovering.
URL for collection https://beyond2022.ie/?page_id=1049#collections
Subject areas History, Archival Studies, Geography
Time period the 1500–1920
collection relates to
7Name of collection Brendan Duddy Collection
Home institution/ National University of Ireland Galway
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Throughout twenty years of violent conflict in Northern
Ireland, a secret channel of communication linked the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) to the highest levels of the British
government. At the heart of this channel was a single
intermediary, Brendan Duddy. His house was the venue for
secret negotiations between the British Government and the
IRA throughout 1975. He facilitated the intense negotiations
over the Republican hunger strikes in which ten men died
(1980–1981) and he was at the heart of the contacts (199–
1993) that culminated in a secret offer of a ceasefire that
was a precursor to the public IRA ceasefire of 1994.
As regards his personal involvement, the archives reflect
particularly the period of 1974–1976, the period of the
hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981, and then the intense
activity of 1993. Brendan Duddy’s active role was terminated
at the end of 1993, but he took on the role of observer and
advisor, as witnessed in the documents for 1994 to 2007.
There are also a range of memoranda and commentaries that
give additional information and context to events.
URL for collection https://digital.library.nuigalway.ie/islandora/object/
nuigalway:duddy
Full Archival Listing: http://archivesearch.library.nuigalway.
ie/NUIG/CalmView/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.
Catalog&field=RefNo&key=POL35
For more information: https://library.nuigalway.ie/
digitalscholarship/projects/brendanduddy/
Subject areas Northern Ireland, Conflict
Time period the 1975–2007
collection relates to
8Name of collection Brexit Collection, Web Archive
Home institution/ National Library of Ireland
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The collection comprises websites relating to Brexit, the
United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, covering
the period 2016 to the present date and archiving is
continuing through 2021. It covers the online representation
of Brexit and in particular the Irish response to the 2016
referendum. It comprises over 90 individual websites many
archived multiple times over six years and currently 2.6
TB of data that document the Irish experience of Brexit.
The collection includes the official response of the Irish
government, extensive news and media coverage of the
event, and also how individual sectors responded to Brexit,
such as the websites of the Irish Farming Association (IFA),
the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO), trade unions,
as well as groups that have campaigned, since 2016, against
a hard border.
URL for collection https://archive-it.org/collections/11284
Subject areas History, Politics, Society, Culture, Brexit, Agriculture, Tourism,
Education, Business, industry, transport
Time period the 2016–2021 (ongoing)
collection relates to
9Name of collection Bureau of Military History (1913–1921)
Home institution/ Military Archives
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Bureau of Military History Collection (BMH) is a
collection of 1,773 witness statements; 334 sets of
contemporary documents; 42 sets of photographs and 13
voice recordings that were collected by the State between
1947 and 1957, in order to gather primary source material
for the revolutionary period in Ireland from 1913 to 1921.
URL for collection https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-
collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921
Subject areas History, Military History, Irish Volunteers
Time period the 1913–1921
collection relates to
10Name of collection Buried in Fingal
Home institution/ Fingal County Council
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Fingal County Council’s Archives Service has teamed up
with the Burial Grounds Section to provide access, for free,
to all the records of burials it holds. It is an interactive
database.
URL for collection https://buried.fingal.ie
Subject areas Genealogy, Family History
Time period the collection The earliest burial recorded is 1877 with the majority of
relates to records dating from 1920–2013
11Name of collection Cork LGBT Archive
Home institution/ Cork LGBT Archive is the 2019 DRI Community Archive
depositing organisation Scheme winner. This collection is in both DRI and on the
Cork LGBT website.
Summary of collection The Cork LGBT Archive preserves and shares information in
relation to the rich history of Cork’s lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender communities.
URL for collection www.corklgbtarchive.com
DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.2j635q62d
Subject areas History, LGBT History, Archives, Digital Archives, Queer
Archives
Time period the 1970s–current
collection relates to
12Name of collection Covid-19 Collection, Web Archive
Home institution/ National Library of Ireland
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The collection comprises websites relating to the Irish
response to Covid-19 covering the period March 2020
onwards. This collection has over 179 websites, many
of which were archived on a regular basis in 2020. The
collection includes websites of the Irish health service,
including the HSE and the HSPC, those relating to the
hospitality sector, agriculture, business, and the tourism
industry. The collection also contains websites documenting
the cultural and creative movements of 2020 as well as
how society, in general, responded to the pandemic.
Currently, there is over 2TB of data freely available on the
NLI portal with new websites being archived in 2021.
URL for collection https://archive-it.org/collections/13575
Subject areas History, Politics, Society, Culture, Health, Tourism, Business
& Industry
Time period the 2020–2021 (ongoing)
collection relates to
13Name of collection Debating austerity in Ireland: crisis, experience, and recovery
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy Publications
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The austerity that followed the 2008 economic and financial
crisis has led to impassioned debates across the social
sciences and the public at large. Although Ireland was
not its only victim, the depth of the interacting economic,
banking, and budgetary crises has meant that the level of
public interest has been especially intense. Among the hotly
debated questions were the following: What is austerity?
Was it necessary? What have been its consequences? One
of the defining features of the debate to date has been its
tendency to polarise opinion and adopt a one-dimensional
perspective. This book challenges us to adopt a more
nuanced approach to understandings of austerity, and by
extension the path to recovery. The book brings together
leading national and international experts from across the
social sciences to debate this traumatic period in Ireland’s
economic and social development.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.zk527x93q
Subject areas Social Sciences, Politics, Economics, Business, Finance
Time period the 2008–present
collection relates to
14Name of collection Documents on Irish Foreign Policy
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (DIFP) publishes official
archival material on Ireland’s foreign relations and is a
partnership between the Department of Foreign Affairs,
the Royal Irish Academy, and the National Archives. Since
1998 it has published hard copy editions of documents on
a biennial basis. The majority of these are taken from the
collections of government departments in the National
Archives and are a mixture of high-level correspondence,
eyewitness reportage, and technical memoranda, covering
an extremely diverse range of subjects. These explore Irish
political, economic, and social history through the lens
of international affairs and diplomacy, and also reveal an
Irish perspective on global events from the revolutionary
era onwards. After an interval, the volumes are placed
online on an open-access basis. DIFP is intended to make
documentary source material more accessible, and the
online version extends the availability of the archival
material published in the series.
URL for collection https://www.difp.ie/
DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.sf26nr10s-1
Subject areas History, International affairs
Time period the collection 1919–1948 (expanding to 1951 in Feb. 2021)
relates to
15Name of collection The Doegen Records Web Project
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Doegen archive of Irish dialect sound recordings made
during the period 1928–31 contains folktales, songs,
and other material recited by native Irish speakers from
seventeen counties. Crucially, it includes examples of
dialects that are now extinct. The collection also includes
a speech in English by W.T. Cosgrave, who was head of
the Irish government that funded the recording scheme. In
addition to the audio recordings the archive also features
a significant body of information about the speakers
such as date of birth, place of birth, addresses at various
stages in life, place of parents’ birth, level and place of
education, occupation, father’s occupation, level of literacy,
competence in other languages, musical ability, and
religion.
URL for collection https://doegen.ie/
Subject areas History, Irish Language
Time period the collection 1928–31
relates to
16Name of collection Dublin Castle Collection
Home institution/ Oireachtas Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection In 1924, the reference library of the Chief Secretary’s Office was
transferred from Dublin Castle to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The
collection (approx. 6,800 items) contains a variety of formats, including
books, maps, periodicals, political cartoons, prints, and pamphlets.
Much of it has been digitised and made available to the public.
Published materials cover a wide range of topics: the 1641 rebellion,
the Restoration land settlement; the Popish Plot and Exclusion crises;
the Act of Union; Catholic Emancipation; the Land League and the Land
War; Acts, Statutes and official reports of the British parliament, and
public bodies.
Periodicals include the long-running Dublin Gazette (digitised from
1750 to 1800) and the United Irishman edited and printed by Jeremiah
O’Donovan Rossa in New York (digitised from 1881 to 1900).
The collection also includes original manuscript material, most notably:
correspondence of George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend and
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1767 to 1772; handwritten letters
from Sir William Petty, Vincent Gookin and Myles Symner regarding
their survey work in Ireland to aid in the confiscation of Catholic lands;
handwritten trials of the Fenians in the 1860s.
URL for collection https://opac.oireachtas.ie/knowvation/app/consolidatedSearch/#search/
v=grid,c=1,q=browse2%3D%5B%22Dublin%20Castle%22%5D%2C
queryType%3D%5B16%5D,sm=s,l=library3_lib,a=t
Subject areas History, Law, Military & Naval, Official Publications, Politics, Science
Time period the 16th–20th century
collection relates to
17Name of collection Dublin Ghost Signs
Home institution/ Dublin Ghost Signs is a DRI 2021 Community Archive
depositing organisation Scheme winner. Their collection is forthcoming to DRI and
is currently accessible through the Dublin Ghost Signs
website.
Summary of collection Ghost signs are the old and typically hand-painted signs
of advertising and businesses that have closed their doors
for the final time. In Dublin, these signs are everywhere –
on walls, above buildings and on tiled mosaic doorsteps.
Dublin Ghost Signs is an online collection of Dublin’s old
and fading signs which have stood the test of time. The
signs in the collection provide a glimpse into the city’s
past – its shops, businesses, and advertising. Ghost signs
are ephemeral in nature and are often only uncovered
for a short space of time, while work is being done on a
building, and they can often disappear as quickly as they
appear. Many of the signs in the Dublin Ghost Signs image
collection have disappeared from the street.
URL for collection https://dublinghostsigns.com/
Subject areas History, Geography
Time period the Photos were taken between 2013 to present but relate to
collection relates to signs from the eighteenth century onwards
18Name of collection Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act 1916
Home institution/ Dublin City Library and Archive
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Legislation to provide loans to construct buildings in Dublin
city centre to replace those destroyed during the 1916
Rising was enacted in 1916.
This collection comprises an index of queries about and
applications for loans, records of applications, and a
valuation of properties in Dublin city centre in the aftermath
of the Rising.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.ff36jm37m
Subject areas History, Geography
Time period the 1916–1923
collection relates to
19Name of collection Earley & Company
Home institution/ National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Earley & Company originated as Earley and Powells in
Dublin in 1864. The firm was one of the largest and most
prestigious ecclesiastical decorators both in Ireland and
the U.K.
The design archives of Earley & Company were donated
to NIVAL in 2002 by members of the Earley family. The
collection is comprised of designs for stained glass,
altarpieces, baptisteries and pulpits, decorative and
figurative designs for walls and ceilings, and documentary
photographs.
URL for collection http://www.nival.ie/collections/special-collections-not-
needed/collection/archive/earley-and-company/view/
collection/
Subject areas History, Art History, Ecclesiastical decoration, Design.
Time period the 1858–1964
collection relates to
20Name of collection Egan Gallery Collection
Home institution/ NIVAL: National Irish Visual Arts Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Egan Gallery was located on Dublin’s Ormond Quay,
and later, on St. Stephen’s Green. The archive provides a
rare and unique primary document of the Irish art scene
of the time and of the specific workings of this important
exhibition space.
The Daniel Egan Gallery Collection dates from 1855 to the
1920s and was donated to the Library by the Egan family
in 1998, along with a type-written genealogy of the Egan
family.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.fn10mc79d
Subject areas History, Social History, Art History, Irish art, Furniture design,
Framer, Gilder, Art Exhibitions.
Time period the 1855–1997
collection relates to
21Name of collection The Elephant Collective
Home institution/ The Elephant Collective are one of the winners of the DRI
depositing organisation Community Archive Scheme 2021 and are in the process of
preparing their collection for ingest to DRI.
Summary of collection From 2014–2019, the Elephant Collective, a national
voluntary birth activist group worked with Clare Daly
(MEP), then TD, to secure new legislation that would
make inquests into all maternal deaths both automatic
and mandatory. After six years, they succeeded, and the
New Coroners (Amendment) Act 2019 was ratified in July
2019. Ireland is the first country in Europe to pass specific
legislation around maternal death inquests.
URL for collection https://www.facebook.com/The-Elephant-
Collective-1662667163990925/
and
In 2021, the Elephant Collective will be launching a website
www.elephantcollective2010.com (not active as of Feb
2021)
Subject areas Reproductive Justice, Coroner’s (Amendment) Act 2019,
Inquests for Maternal Deaths, Birth Activism, Maternity
Services Ireland, Women’s Health Ireland
Time period the 2013–2019
collection relates to
22Name of collection Europeana Sport – Ireland’s Stories
Europeana
Home institution/ Europeana
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The ‘Europeana Sport – Ireland’s Stories’ collection is a
crowd-sourced collection of stories and images relating
to sport in Ireland, collected by the Digital Repository
of Ireland (DRI) and other Irish partners as part of the
Europeana Sport season. This small collection gives an
insight into the history and modern-day experience of
sports in Ireland and shows the range of sports played
in the country, from traditional favourites such as Gaelic
Games, tennis, and equestrian sports to some less well-
known sports such as surfing, kendo and kung fu. It forms
part of a larger collection set to be developed by Europeana
over the coming year, with a number of crowdsourcing
campaigns planned to gather stories of sport from across
Europe. The collection includes images of sports people and
sporting activities, interviews, and stories of the experiences
of playing sport in Ireland, and a range of ephemera and
objects such as posters, event programmes, trophies,
medals, sports jerseys, etc. It highlights the potential of
crowdsourcing as a way to engage audiences and enrich
our public record with these hitherto unseen objects and
stories.
URL for collection https://www.europeana.eu/en/search?query=proxy_
dcterms_isPartOf%3A%22Europeana%20Sport%20-%20
Ireland%27s%20stories%22
Subject areas Sport, History, Sport History, Ireland, Social History
Time period the 20th century, 21st century
collection relates to
23Name of collection Excavations at Knowth
Home institution of Royal Irish Academy Publications
material
Summary of collection The Excavations at Knowth collection presents material
relating to the modern programme of archaeological
excavations that began at Knowth, Co. Meath in June
1962. Knowth is situated in the Boyne Valley and forms
part of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage site.
The first element of this collection is the series of published
monographs presenting the results of the excavation and
post-excavation research at the site (six volumes have been
published to date and are available in this collection; the
final volume will be published in hardcopy in 2021 and
will be added to the collection in due course). The second
element is the excavation archive, which is being populated
on an ongoing basis and will contain original excavation
reports, drawings, photographs and other specialist
research that have gone into making the published series of
monographs possible, and personal recollections of those
involved in the excavations.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.8910z856b
Subject areas Archaeology (also aspects that relate to history, particularly
vol. 4 of the book series)
Time period the From the Neolithic to the modern era
collection relates to
24Name of collection Fáilte Ireland Tourism Photographic Archive Collection
Home institution/ Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Fáilte Ireland Tourism Photographic Archive Collection,
originally the property of Bórd Fáilte, was donated to
Dublin City Library and Archive in 2014. The copyright
in the images was transferred to Dublin City Library and
Archive at the same time. The collection, which comprises
approximately 100,000 images, is made up of glass plates,
black and white negatives, colour negatives and colour
slides. Most of the items in the collection date from the
1930s until the authority went completely digital in the
early 2000s.
The photographs were all taken by professional
photographers employed by Bórd Fáilte. The collection
covers all counties in the Republic of Ireland, with a
concentration on topics relating to tourism including:
accommodation; hotels and guest houses; crafts; nature;
festivals; sporting events and venues; shop fronts; rural
scenic views; ancient monuments and sites.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.pk02rr951-1
Subject areas History, Tourism, Ireland
Time period the 1930–2000
collection relates to
25Name of collection Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge/Dictionary of the Irish Language
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy
depositing institution
Summary of collection A digital corpus of Irish-language literature, assembled for
the purposes of lexicography, containing almost 3000 texts
produced between c.1580 to 1926. The collection is freely
available and searchable by headword or phrase/string,
and texts can be read on-screen or downloaded in a range
of formats. A unique feature of the search function is the
ability to return all word-forms from a single headword
search, thus allowing users to discover more about
historical forms of the language using modern spelling for
their search. The corpus contains historical and religious
works, creative literature and verse, and journals and
periodicals are also represented in the period after 1880.
URL for collection http://corpas.ria.ie/
Subject areas Irish Language, Celtic Studies, Literature, Linguistics,
Lexicography, History
Time period the 1600–1926
collection relates to
26Name of collection Gabriel Beranger’s ‘Rambles through the County of Dublin
and some of the neighbouring ones’ (RIA MS 3 C 32)
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection This small postcard-size album of 24 watercolours
provides illustrations of scenery and ancient monuments,
general views, and details of castles and churches in the
counties Dublin, Meath, Roscommon, and Wicklow. These
watercolours are copies of originals (since lost) painted
on expeditions undertaken by artist Gabriel Beranger, ca.
1729–1817, including Dublin on various dates in the 1770s,
Wicklow in 1773, and Meath in 1775.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.3n20hj111
Subject areas Watercolour painting, Irish–18th century, Watercolours–
Irish–1780–1800, Castles, Church buildings, Ruins in art,
Megalithic monuments in art, Round towers–Ireland
Time period the ca. 1780–1800
collection relates to
27Name of collection Gabriel Beranger ‘Rambles thro’ the County of Dublin and
some others in Ireland’, MS 3 C 31
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy Library
depositing organisation
Summary of collection A small postcard-size album of 23 watercolours (originally
24), providing illustrations of scenery and ancient
monuments, general views and details of castles, churches
and abbeys in the counties Dublin, Mayo, Meath and
Wicklow. These watercolours are copies of originals (since
lost) painted on expeditions undertaken by artist Gabriel
Beranger, ca. 1729–1817, including Dublin on various dates
in the 1770s, Meath in 1775 and Mayo in 1779. He copied
the originals into this and sister album RIA MS 3 C 32
between ca. 1780–1800.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.dj538q67j
Subject areas Watercolour painting, Irish–18th century, Watercolours–
Irish–1780–1800, Castles, Abbeys, Church buildings, Ruins
in art, Megalithic monuments in art
Time period the ca. 1780–1800
collection relates to
28Name of collection General Election 2020 Collection, Web Archive
Home institution/ National Library of Ireland
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The collection comprises websites relating to the Irish
General Election of 2020.It encompasses media sites,
commentary and news websites and covers the election
campaign, the results and government formation. It
also includes a sample of candidate websites from each
constituency selected on a random basis. Each constituency
is represented by two candidate websites where possible. In
addition, the websites of the outgoing cabinet and retiring
TDs were also archived. The websites of some relevant
representative groups, charities and advocacy bodies were
also included in this collection. In total 126 websites were
archived, amounting to over 200 GB of data, covering the
election and the formation of the government in
June 2020.
URL for collection https://archive-it.org/collections/13387
Subject areas Social Science, History, Political Science
Time period the 2020
collection relates to
29Name of collection Inspiring Ireland 1916 – Public Memorabilia
Home institution/ Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection As part of the national 1916 centenary celebrations, the
Inspiring Ireland project held a number of collection days
across the country and abroad, allowing members of the
public to bring in documents, objects and other material
relating to the 1916 Easter Rising and tell the story
attached to them.
This collection is made up of the digital objects created
from the items donated by the public at those collection
days. The items include personal correspondence, medals,
souvenirs, pamphlets and postcards, ephemera, and other
personal memorabilia.
The collection days presented an opportunity for members
of the public to contribute to the Inspiring Ireland project
and share their personal and family narratives of the Easter
Rising.
The digital content also appeared on the multiple-award-
winning website Inspiring Ireland (www.inspiring-ireland.ie)
which is powered by the preservation infrastructure of the
Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI).
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.1c18df827
Subject areas Irish History, 1916 Easter Rising, Women Revolutionaries,
1916 Rising regional activities, public memorabilia, 1916
commemorations, Irish War of Independence
Time period the 1916, 1966, Twentieth Century
collection relates to
30Name of collection Inspiring Ireland 1916
Home institution/ National Museum of Ireland
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The items in this collection were contributed by the National
Museum of Ireland, as part of the Inspiring Ireland 1916
project. They include physical objects, documents, images, and
ephemera, gathered according to the project’s curated themes.
Inspiring Ireland 1916 is a series of exhibitions of the cultural
artefacts, stories and interpretation that surround 1916, built
on the multiple-award-winning website Inspiring Ireland. To
commemorate 1916 through digital cultural heritage, the
Inspiring Ireland website (www.inspiring-ireland.ie) exhibits a
rich combination of ‘found objects’ from private collections
alongside iconic ‘national treasures’ from Ireland’s National
Cultural Institutions and our Public Broadcaster, RTE.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.jm214p149
Subject areas History, Easter Rising, 1916, Feminism and Nationalism,
Suffragists, Republicanism
Time period the collection 1916, Twentieth Century
relates to
31Name of collection Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA)
Home institution/ Royal Irish Academy
depositing organisation
Summary of collection IHTA Online forms part of IHTA Digital and has the first 28
IHTAs available to search freely online as downloadable pdfs.
They are grouped thematically by town origin (e.g., monastic,
Viking, Anglo-Norman, early modern, Gaelic and plantation,
eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century towns).
IHTA Online consists of a number of elements. The maps are
thematic and Ordnance Survey-based, which illustrate the town’s
evolution. These comprise of a nineteenth century 1:50,000
view of the town and surrounding geographical influences; a
mid-nineteenth century 1:2500 town plan and a modern 1:5000
map. In some atlases we have growth maps highlighting where
towns developed through the centuries.
The text section has the atlas cover, essay, bibliography and
topographical information (TI). The TI is organised thematically
and concerned with the various sites of the town ranging from
religious buildings to street lights, slaughterhouses, courthouses,
workhouses, schoolhouses, railways etc. Over 50,000 histories
of urban features can be searched and compared across the 28
atlases. Each atlas includes hundreds of primary and secondary
sources from online and various repositories around the world.
The other elements of IHTA Digital are GIS prototypes that
has samples of Digital Atlases of Derry~Londonderry, Galway/
Gallimh and Dungarvan/Dún Garbhán and additional resources
that includes expert essay series on town-types.
URL for collection https://www.ria.ie/irish-historic-towns-atlas-online
Subject areas History, Geography, Archaeology, Architecture, Planning and
Heritage, Local Studies, Genealogy, Cartography, Irish and
European Urban Studies.
Time period the collection From earliest times of urban settlement to c. 1900
relates to
32Name of collection Irish Women at Work, Oral History Project
Home institution/ University College Cork
depositing organisation
Summary of collection This is a collection of 42 oral history recordings, related
transcripts, and artefacts collected as part of a project
focused on women’s experiences of work and employment
between the 1930s and 1960s. The interviews take a
life course approach, focusing on women’s early family
lives, education, entry into, and experience of the
workplace, marriage, and motherhood. The women,
when interviewed, were residing in Munster. Their
narratives provide rich historical insights into diverse jobs/
careers, workplace practices, and working conditions.
Gendered aspects of women’s lives were explored during
interview, as were women’s thoughts on their individual
and collective acceptance of, or resistance to, prevailing
gender expectations. The interviews attend to social class,
family, and relationship dynamics. Women’s views on social
and political issues such as church and state, the women’s
movement and changing gender roles, were ascertained.
The artefacts, primarily photographs, relate to the women’s
workplaces and their leisure, social and family lives.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.h9904j002
Subject areas Labour History, Women’s History, Social History, Economic
History, Social Science
Time period the The women’s transcripts recall life in Ireland between the
collection relates to 1930s and 1990s with particular emphasis on women’s
employment during the years 1930 to 1960.
33Name of collection Jacob’s Biscuit Factory Archive
Home institution/ Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Records relating to Jacob’s Biscuit Factory in Bishop Street
(1880-1975) and Tallaght (1975-2009) deposited by Valeo
Foods and Douglas Appleyard. The archives of W & R Jacob
and Company were acquired by Dublin City Library and
Archive in 2012. Comprising both the business archives
donated by Valeo Foods and the Appleyard Collection
donated by Douglas Appleyard, the 330 boxes contain
a wide range of records, relating to over 150 years of
biscuit making in Dublin. This archive represents a rich
and significant contribution to the study of business
and commercial life in Dublin in the late 19th and 20th
centuries. It also offers valuable information about life in
the community of over three thousand Dublin workers,
mostly women, who were engaged at any given time
during most of the company’s manufacturing period.
Following a major cataloguing project, the collection was
opened for public access in the Reading Room of Dublin
City Library and Archive in 2016.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.6w92hs96c
Subject areas Commercial History, Ireland
Time period the 1880–2009
collection relates to
34Name of collection J.D. White Collection
Home institution/ Digital Collections, The Library of Trinity College Dublin
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The J.D. White Collection comprises more than 900 popular
slip ballads printed in Dublin, Cork and Johnstown that refer
to contemporary events including the Crimean War, crime
and politics in Ireland, and emigration. John Davis White
(1820–1893) was the proprietor and editor of the Cashel
Gazette newspaper. During the 1850s White purchased the
printing press from the defunct newspaper the Clonmel
Herald which he used to start his own, short-lived single-
sheet newspaper, The Amateur Press. From there he
established another newspaper, the Cashel Advertiser, also
short-lived. In May 1864 he launched his third, and ultimately
more successful, newspaper, the Cashel Gazette and Weekly
Advertiser. The Gazette continued up until White died in
1893. In addition to his journalistic endeavours, White
was sub-librarian of Cashel library and a curator of Cashel
Museum. He was heavily involved in church affairs and was
something of an historian – in 1892 he published Anthologia
Tipperariensis, and another of his works, entitled Sixty Years
in Cashel, was published posthumously in 1893. The J.D.
White Collection was digitised by the Library in 2011.
URL for collection https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/collections/
sf2685934?locale=en
Subject areas History, Social Science, Music
Time period the 1820–1890
collection relates to
35Name of collection Joe Lee Dublin Based Community Films
Home institution/ Joe Lee Dublin Based Community Films was one of the winners of
depositing organisation the DRI Community Archive Scheme 2021. Joe and DRI are in the
process of preparing the collection for ingest to DRI.
Summary of collection This collection of 8 films: Barracks Square Estate (whatever happened
to St Michael’s Estate?) 66 mins 2017; Fortune’s Wheel (the life and
legacy of the Fairview lion tamer) 76 mins 2015, The Area (older
people dance their relationship to the city of Dublin) 25 mins 2013,
Citywide (a Dublin citywide history of how the Drugs Crisis emerged
in the 1980s and 90s and how communities responded) 13mins
2011, Bananas on the Breadboard (stories from the Markets Area
Dublin) 52 mins 2010, Inside Out Outside In (stories from O’Devaney
Gardens) 40 mins 2007, Dark Room (the impact of the 1990s drugs
crisis on Inchicore) 18 minute 2003, Dreams in the Dark (history,
crisis, and regeneration in St Michael’s Estate) 22 min 2002.
These films were made in community contexts in Dublin from the
early 2000s onwards by the freelance filmmaker and visual artist
Joe Lee. Joe has long-standing working relationships with local
communities in the Dublin postcodes of 8, 7 and 3. A number of
the films arose out of regeneration projects, while others arose out
of collaborations with artists like Ríonach Ní Néill or community
development workers such as Rita Fagen, Fidelma Bonass and
Éadaoin Ní Chléirigh..
URL for collection www.joelee.ie
Subject areas Irish History, Irish Social History, Social Geography, Social Science,
Community Arts, Older People and Dance, Development of Dublin
City, Dublin Housing, Dublin Drugs Crisis, Dublin Community
Response to Drug Crisis, British Military Barracks in Dublin
The films in the Collection feature a wide range of interviews with
local people who speak about their own experiences and stories
from their communities in the context of a changing city.
Time period the collection 20th century social histories of Dublin city communities, 19th and
relates to 20th century history Richmond Barracks Dublin
36Name of collection Kilkenny Design Workshop
Home institution/ National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The Kilkenny Design Workshops (KDW) were founded in 1963
by Córas Tráchtála, the Irish Export Board, in a radical move
which in effect established a state-sponsored design research
and development body tasked with improving the design of
Irish products and thereby increase exports.
Under the leadership of William H. Walsh, the former stables
at Kilkenny Castle were acquired and converted, opening
in 1965 with five workshops – silver and metalwork, textile
weaving, textile printing, ceramics, and woodworking.
Designers from across Europe were employed as lead
designers and mentors, producing prototypes which were
offered on a royalty basis to industry. Initially the emphasis
was on craft-based industries but over time the workshops
expanded to include industrial and product design.
Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s KDW moved more
overtly into the area industrial design.
KDW organised exhibitions which celebrated traditional
Irish crafts, e.g. patchwork, which were toured in Ireland
and Europe. In the late 1970s KDW instigated a designer
development training scheme, schools’ competitions, and
annual design awards also offered opportunities for aspiring
designers. KDW made access to good design available to the
public through its retail outlets – the first KDW shop opened
in Kilkenny in 1966, a second was opened in Dublin in 1976.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.5999n9755
Subject areas Design in Ireland, History of Design, Crafts, Industrial Design,
Product Design, Jewellery, Textiles, Ceramics, Woodwork
Time period the 1963–1988
collection relates to
37Name of collection The Magdalene Institutions: Recording an Oral and
Archival History
Home institution/ Irish Qualitative Data Archive
depositing organisation
Summary of collection This collection consists of interview transcripts and audio
recordings from the research project Magdalene Institutions.
The project collected 80 oral histories from 91 interviewees,
including survivors who worked and lived in the Magdalene
Laundries, as well as relatives, members of the Religious
Orders, regular visitors, and anyone else who had a story to
tell that relates to these institutions. 22 interview transcripts
in pdf format are available to the general public for reuse.
The research was conducted by the UCD Women’s Studies
Centre.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.dn39x152w
Subject areas Social Science, Sociology, Geography, History
Time period the Twenty Century Ireland
collection relates to
38Name of collection Maps & Atlases
Home institution/ Digital Collections, The Library of Trinity College Dublin
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The most significant collection of maps of Irish interest in the
Library of Trinity College Dublin’s Manuscripts and Archives
Research Library is that of George Carew, Lord President of
Munster (b. 1555, d. 1629). The collection contains more
than 80 maps, known collectively as the ‘Hardiman Atlas’
(IE TCD MS 1209) after its first cataloguer, James Hardiman,
and is one of the largest sets of original Tudor and early
Stuart maps of Ireland surviving anywhere. These maps,
along with several others from the Manuscripts & Archives
Research Library, the Department of Early Printed Books,
and the Glucksman Map Library, have been digitised by the
Library and can be accessed online via its Digital Collections
repository.
URL for collection https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/
collections/1831cm56h?locale=en
Subject areas History, Geography
Time period the 1560–1838
collection relates to
39Name of collection The Michael Healy Collection
Home institution/ National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL)
depositing organisation
Summary of collection The collection comprises a portion of the 1916 diary of the
stained-glass artist, painter and illustrator, Michael Healy
(1873–1941); specifically, it is the period from 20th April to
17th May which encompasses the days before the Rising,
the event itself, and the aftermath.
The collection is supplemented with related material
gathered and prepared by art historian Dr David Caron in
the course of his Doctoral research on the work of Michael
Healy. This material includes typed transcripts of each diary
page, a watercolour image of a design for a stained-glass
window for Clongowes College, and an illustration of the
Túr Gloine studio made by the artist Patrick Pollen.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.95944s32v
Subject areas History, Social History, Art History, 1916 Rising, Stained
Glass, Personal Narrative
Time period the 1916 c. 1987
collection relates to
40Name of collection Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy Archive
Home institution/ National University of Ireland Galway
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy was an engineer from Limerick,
educated in UCC and NUI Galway, and was the city engineer for San
Francisco 1912 to 1932. In this role, he oversaw the construction of the
municipal railway system, upgraded the city’s water and sewer systems,
and carried out feasibility work on the San Francisco Bay Bridges
(Dumbarton, Golden Gate, and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridges).
The collection contains material that document his time in private
practice, primarily engineering drawings, related reports and
correspondence from the planning and execution of survey work in
California, and irrigation design and construction projects in Hawaii.
The archive also includes his memoirs, four in total. Engineering
Experiences: From Honolulu to Hetch Hetchy, Reminiscences of Hawaii
(February 1920) My Trip Abroad (July-October 1925), and Hetch
Hetchy: Its Origin and History (1934); the latter being the only memoir
from the collection that has been published to date.
The archive includes a large collection of photographs from his
projects and his personal life. There are also many photographs of the
fascinating O’Shaughnessy daughters that document their lives after
their father’s death, up until the 1960s.
URL for collection Digital Collection: https://digital.library.nuigalway.ie/islandora/object/
nuigalway:oshaughnessy
Exhibition: https://exhibitions.library.nuigalway.ie/s/oshaughnessy
The memoirs
• Engineering Experiences: From Honolulu to Hetch Hetchy
• Reminiscences of Hawaii (1920)
• My Trip Abroad (1925)
Subject areas Engineering, History, Travel, Memoir
Time period the 1860–1970
collection relates to
41Name of collection Muintir na Tír
Home institution/ National University of Ireland Galway
depositing organisation
Summary of collection Muintir na Tíre [meaning ‘People of the Country’] was
founded as a rural renewal movement in 1937 with a focus
on community development. This digital collection consists of
two publications: Rural Ireland, the annual Official Handbook
which provides information on the guilds, those on the
national executive and the work that Muintir na Tíre were
involved in during that year (1941-1970) and The Landmark,
the organisation’s monthly, (occasionally bi-monthly) journal
(1944-1969).
This digital collection forms part of a larger archive in NUIG
containing an abundance of material relating to social and
economic conditions in rural Ireland, Irish rural civil society,
the involvement of the Catholic clergy in local community
organising, and rural civil society/state relationships over a
period spanning more than 80 years.
URL for collection Digital collection https://digital.library.nuigalway.ie/islandora/
object/nuigalway:muintir
Full archival listing http://archivesearch.library.nuigalway.
ie/NUIG/CalmView/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.
Catalog&field=RefNo&key=P134
Subject areas Rural Ireland, Rural Renewal, Irish Guilds, Muintir na Tíre,
Catholic Church
Time period the 1941–1970
collection relates to
42Name of collection New Urban Living Essay Collection
Home institution/ Irish Qualitative Data Archive
depositing organisation
Summary of collection This is a research data set which contains 171 handwritten
children’s essays on ‘The Place Where I live’ written by
children aged 11–13 years of age between 2002 and 2004.
The essays are in jpeg and doc format and are available to
the general public for reuse. The data was collected as part
of a research project conducted at Maynooth University
by Mary P. Corcoran, Jane Gray, and Michel Peillon, which
looked at civic and social life in four Irish suburbs.
URL for collection DRI DOI: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.5999pp63t
Subject areas Social Science, Sociology, Geography, History
Time period the Twenty-First Century Ireland
collection relates to
43Name of collection Open Topographic Data Viewer
Home institution/ Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) but hosted and supported
depositing organisation by Geological Survey Ireland
Summary of collection The Open Topographic Data Viewer provides access to
processed aerial laser survey (LiDAR) data in raster format
from Geological Survey Ireland, Department of Culture,
Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Discovery Programme, Transport
Infrastructure Ireland (TII), New York University, and the Office
of Public Works.
The TII data derives for an aerial laser survey of the national
road network conducted in 2010/2011 to create strategic
noise maps. The captured data is at a resolution of two points
per square metre but, owing to overlapping flights paths, the
resolution is greater in certain areas.
There is also a useful tutorial on how to download the data,
load the data into a GIS and create hill shade models.
The data is licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International license.
URL for collection https://dcenr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.
html?id=b7c4b0e763964070ad69bf8c1572c9f5
Subject areas Archaeology, Geography, Geology
Time period the Prehistory to present day.
collection relates to
44You can also read
