Website gives instant access to 500-plus archive collections

Researchers have online access to information contained in more than 500 archival collections throughout the whole island with the relaunch yesterday of an expanded Irish Archive Resource website.

"In the words of Bosco, its the means to go through the 'Magic Door'," declared Joanne Rothwell, Waterford city and county archivist and a member of the IAR steering committee.

Details of the expanded access to archives were outlined at a launch in the National Archives in Dublin, attended by representatives of participating bodies including the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure of Northern Ireland; the Heritage Council; and the UCD school of history and archives.

‘Treasure trove’

Minister for Heritage

Heather Humphreys

said the portal gave researchers easy access to a “treasure trove that is . . . genuinely astounding. This portal will prove a valuable source to academics, providing details for access to primary source material available in the public arena through a central, one-stop site,” she said. “It will also provide an important tool to genealogists, local historians, the diaspora and visitors planning to come to our shores.”

She said the website (iar.ie) “should be seen as a clarion call to all archive services to ensure that materials in their archives [are] similarly digitised, catalogued, preserved, [and] guaranteed for future generations”.

The IAR website was launched as a pilot project in 2008. Researchers use it to determine whether matters of interest to them are reflected in archived collections, including some at the National Archives, the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, and some other participating country archives, for instance.

The participating archives have expanded to include, among others, TCD’s manuscript and archives research department, the National Museum of Ireland Archives, UCC Archives, Derry City Council Heritage and Museum Service, the archives of St Patrick’s College Maynooth, together with a host of religious institutions, private clubs and societies and seven photographic collections in the RTÉ stills archive, including the Cashman Collection.

"The idea behind the portal is to improve access to archive collections, irrespective of what institution they're stored in and to give researchers an opportunity to get access to collections they are otherwise unaware of," said Ms Rothwell.

The service is free and based on simple text searching. An advanced search allows for four additional search options: type; repository name; period; or townland, county or province.

Collection finder

“The great advantage in having the portal is that it allows you to track down collections irrespective of where they are stored and sometimes it can throw up some surprises,” said Ms Rothwell. “It’s an access point to the collections. We don’t hold the collections; we’re simply there to give access to the collections, the link bringing the researcher directly to the archive service itself.”

Describing the portal as “a work in progress”, she said collections beyond the over 500 already participating would be added. “What we have at the moment is there because the archive services themselves have added the collections.”