Online facility to aid researchers and amateur sleuths

RESEARCHERS, amateur historians and people tracing their family tree can find out where the records they are looking for might be held without leaving their desks or even lifting a phone.

The Irish Archives Resource website, www.iar.ie, funded by the Heritage Council, has brought together descriptions of the collections held by more than a dozen local authorities, colleges and private institutions. It is now possible to use the site to check if information on a subject being researched is available, saving the need to directly contact each archive separately to find out details of their holdings.

Brian McGee, archivist at Cork City and County Archives, said the facility has been developed from a pilot stage and it is hoped to have collections from up to 30 archives featured on the site by the end of the year.

“The primary aim is to aid people with information about archives held around the country that might be relevant to their research,” he said.

The site works like an internet search engine, allowing users to enter key phrases or names to locate records, with the option of more detailed searches by geographical area or type of collection also available.

It should be of assistance not just to researchers, but also to archive staff who would otherwise have to spend valuable time finding out the information now freely accessible on the website.

As well as council archives in Cork, Donegal, Fingal, Galway, Louth and Waterford, it also features links to Guinness Archives, the Irish Film Archive, NUI Galway John Hardiman Library Archives, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and University College Cork Boole Library Services.

As well as records of existing and historic government and local agencies, the archives hold documents relating to individuals, landed estates, clubs, societies, trade unions, religious, cultural and political organisations.

While most archives have digitised different proportions of their materials to make documents and records accessible online, Mr McGee said further funding and investment is needed to develop this area. However, he said, the online publication in recent years by the National Archives of the 1901 and 1911 censuses has helped enormously to give customers more information on names, ages and addresses of ancestors before coming to search local archives.

Most researchers who visit the Cork archives, which moved to a purpose-built new home in Blackpool in 2006, are academics or college students seeking historic information about individuals, organisations, localities or regions. But Mr McGee said a rising number of local history organisations are also availing of the service, along with people seeking to trace genealogical information.

Michael Starrett of the Heritage Council said the new website is a major step forward in making the country’s archival legacy more visible and accessible.