Irish Studies

A database of Irish-language biographies, with over 1,700 entries. "All of the featured lives, from 1560 to the present day, had a connection to the Irish language. ... The people featured in the biographies hail from every corner of the country and were active in a wide range of fields." Based initially on the print series Beathaisnéis (1986-2007), by Diarmuid Breathnach and Máire Ní Mhurchú, it has been progressively expanded since 2013. A project of Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, an interdisciplinary Irish-language school at Dublin City University.

A freely available biographical dictionary, covering people who were born, lived, or worked in the historic nine counties of Ulster. "The aim where possible is to describe their lives and achievements from a local perspective." This revised and updated online version of the 1993 print Dictionary of Ulster Biography, which was compiled by Kate Newmann, has been produced by the Ulster History Circle.

"A national digital repository for Ireland’s humanities, social sciences, and cultural heritage data," which includes "historical and contemporary content from across institutions, domains, and formats." In addition to textual historical documents and secondary publications, it contains photographs and other images, sound files, videos, and other formats. This repository (Irish name Taisclann Dhigiteach na hÉireann) is managed by the Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin, and Maynooth University (MU), with support from "a network of academic, cultural, social, and industry partners," including the National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland.

Database of "music publishers, printers, sellers and instrument makers in Dublin," primarily from 1750 to 1850, with some coverage of earlier and later periods. Developed initially from a card index by Brian Boydell, then expanded, as a project of musicologists Barra Boydell and Catherine Ferris; a work in progress, hosted by The Research Foundation for Music in Ireland.

A combined heritage database that displays data from the Archaeological Survey of Ireland's Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), enabling cross-database searching and using GIS-supported mapping. The ASI SMR contains records of all known archaeological sites dating before 1700 CE/AD, plus selected post-1700 sites. NIAH contains records of historic architectural structures and gardens for the post-1700 period.

A collection of copyright free and copy-permitted resources relating to Irish and Scottish medieval history, consisting of digital versions of primary texts and secondary resources. Part of the Internet History Sourcebooks, which were created by Paul Halsall at Fordham University.

A collection of copyright free and copy-permitted resources relating to Celtic history during late antiquity and the early medieval period, consisting of digital versions of primary texts and secondary resources. Part of the Internet History Sourcebooks, which were created by Paul Halsall at Fordham University.

Also called the Connacht and Munster Landed Estates Database; an integrated database of all landed estates and historic houses in the western and southwestern Irish provinces of Connacht (Connaught) and Munster, ca. 1700-1914. Free-text searching is supported as well as browsing by estate, family, or house. A map is provided, and about half of the over 4500 house entries include images. Project maintained by the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

"The national bibliography of Irish history ... an authoritative listing (in progress) of what has been written about Irish history from earliest times to the present," primarily covering works on Irish history -- books, articles and essays, pamphlets, conference proceedings, and Festschriften -- published since the 1930s. Originally established online at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, it is currently hosted and managed by the Royal Irish Academy Library.

"The purpose of the NIAH is to identify, record, and evaluate the post-1700 architectural heritage of Ireland, uniformly and consistently as an aid in the protection and conservation of the built heritage." The NIAH database of buildings, gardens, and arhcitectural surveys can be searched by name; registration number; type of structure, site, etc.; location; and date. In addition, the site provides links to online publications on the architectural heritage of selected counties, districts, cities, and parts of Dublin, as well as links to publications of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and other relevant resources. This inventory is a project of the Built Heritage Policy Section of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

A bibliographic database of records for Irish manuscripts and for articles in Irish periodicals. Originating in the print bibliography Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation (1965, with a supplement in 1975), it covers manuscripts held in libraries and archives internationally listed between the 1940s and 1975, with additional coverage into the 1980s for NLI manuscript holdings. Articles, reviews, etc., appearing in over 150 Irish periodicals are indexed to 1969, based on Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation: Articles in Irish Periodicals (1970). (The site provides information on obtaining copies of documents held at NLI itself as well as on the open-source metadata standards used.)

"Sources relating to all of Ireland until the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, and Northern Ireland from 1922 until present." BHO, based at the University of London's Institute of Historical Research, is a digital library of key printed sources, including original documents and historical maps; indexes and calendars of archives; digital versions of secondary historical works; and datasets (database content in webpage format). Materials are tagged by place based on how much each country appears in a given publication. Collections listed that include a significant focus on Ireland: Calendar of Papal Registers, Britain and Ireland; Calendar of State Papers, Ireland; Inquisitions Post-Mortem; and Rushworth, Historical Collections of Private Passages of State. Other BHO resources also include Irish-related content.

"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." The digitized archive, which includes information extending later than 1921, including the Civil War period, is enhanced by an index of witnesses, PDFs of relevant press cuttings from the period, and links to historical essays that provide context. Open to the public since March 2003, the collection is part of the Military Archives of Defense Forces Ireland (Óglaigh na hÉireann).

"The Free Digital Humanities Resource for Irish history, literature and politics." The texts are in Irish, Latin, Anglo-Norman French, and English, with accompanying "introductions, background information, graphics, translations where possible, and scholarly bibliographies." Project hosted at University College, Cork (UCC).

A website that "charts the historical development of Ireland from 1912 to 1923, a decade which was the most turbulent and transformative experienced by Ireland in the 20th century." It provides access to collections of relevant primary resources held at the National Archives of Ireland, covering such events as "the 1913 Lockout, World War 1, the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independence, and a bitterly divisive civil war."

"An online virtual archive of documents and sources relating to the history of Ireland and its migration experience from the 18th to the late 20th centuries." Consists of multiple databases, which can be cross-searched: Enhanced Parliamentary Papers on Ireland (EPPI)," a complete set of British Parliamentary Papers relating to Ireland and Irish affairs published during the period of the Act of Union (1801-1922)"; the Irish Emigration Database (IED) of primary sources covering all of the island and the diaspora, ca. 1780-ca. 1920; and Voices of Migration and Return (VMR), based on interviews with emigrants from and people returning to Northern Ireland. A collaborative, primarily Northern Irish research project of Queen's University Belfast, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (U.K.), the University of Ulster, and Libraries Northern Ireland.

"Publishes essential source material for anyone interested in the development of Irish foreign policy since 1919." A project of the Royal Irish Academy, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the National Archives of Ireland.

"A complete set of British Parliamentary Papers relating to Ireland and Irish affairs published during the period of the Act of Union (1801-1922)," also including other documents such as reports of Royal Commissions of Inquiry. The geographic coverage is principally of Ireland, but a number of documents relating to Irish emigration and worldwide diaspora are also included. Keyword searching and browsing by year of publication, theme, or Library of Congress subject heading are supported. Part of the DIPPAM (Documenting Ireland: Parliament, People and Migration) joint research project of Queen's University Belfast, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (U.K.), the University of Ulster, and Libraries Northern Ireland.

"Selected transcriptions, facsimiles, and translations." Compilation of links to collections of open-access primary historical sources in a variety of formats, including paper, video or sound files, maps, photographs or other imagery, and databases. A section of the EuroDocs website for European studies created by ESS member Richard Hacken, Brigham Young University.

"The Online Historical Population Reports (OHPR) collection provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937," including census and registration documents, with supplementary textual and statistical materials to "provide an in-depth view of the economy, society (through births, deaths and marriages) and medicine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." Project hosted by the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex.

A database of primary sources related to emigration from all 32 Irish counties, particularly personal documents such as correspondence, diaries, and journals; newspaper material, including reports, advertisements, and notices of emigrant births, marriages, and deaths; and official documents (reports, debates, statistics, etc.). The period covered is 1700-1950, with the bulk of sources dating ca. 1820-ca. 1920. Part of the DIPPAM (Documenting Ireland: Parliament, People and Migration) joint research project of Queen's University Belfast, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (U.K.), the University of Ulster, and Libraries Northern Ireland.

"The purpose of the Digital Irish Famine Archive is to make accessible eyewitness accounts of the Irish famine migration to Canada in 1847-1848 ... [It] contains the digitized, transcribed, and translated French language annals of the Grey Nuns of Montreal, or Sisters of Charity, who first tended to Irish famine emigrants, especially widows and orphans, in the city’s fever sheds in 1847 and 1848. It also includes annals from the Sisters of Providence and correspondence from Father Patrick Dowd, who worked alongside the Grey Nuns in the fever sheds, as well as testimonies from Irish famine orphans, like Patrick and Thomas Quinn, Daniel and Catherine Tighe, and Robert Walsh, who were adopted by French-Canadian families." A collaborative, multi-institutional project currently housed at National University of Ireland, Galway.

A compilation of digital images of Irish manuscripts held at different repositories, together with commentaries. A project of the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. (Irish title: Meamram Páipéar Ríomhaire.)

A digital archive of early Irish inscriptions in the Ogham script (dating back to at least the 5th century CE) that includes a searchable database of texts and three-dimensional models of the stones on which they were written. A collaborative project hosted at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), developed by multiple bodies including its School of Celtic Studies.

Brings together reproductions of extant manuscripts of the Confessio of St. Patrick, reproductions of several published editions of it, and related early texts about Patrick, including English translations; an audiorecording of the Confession; a collection of articles on various aspects of life, works, and legacy; and a work of historical fiction written specifically for this Royal Academy of Ireland project.

An oral archive and database of interviews with over 90 returned and non-returned migrants from Ulster, 2004-2008. While all nine counties (in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) were included in the project, there is a focus on emigrants from Northern Ireland to Britain and Canada and the experiences of people who had left, then returned to Northern Ireland. Part of the DIPPAM (Documenting Ireland: Parliament, People and Migration) joint research project of Queen's University Belfast, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (U.K.), the University of Ulster, and Libraries Northern Ireland.

Catalogue of digital versions of historic photographs from multiple formerly private collections, which are currently held at the National Library of Ireland (Irish name: Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann). Collectively, these photographs date from 1860 through 1954. This database provides multiple search elements and filters for retrieving digital images and metadata, including map locations.

Official website of the National Archives (Irish name: An Chartlann Náisiúnta) of the Republic of Ireland, with general information about the institution and its history; an online catalogue; pages featuring specific collections; guides on searching legal records, historical records, and genealogy; and news items.

A repository at University College Dublin of both primary resources and secondary projects in digital scholarship. It "provides access to resources from many UCD cultural repositories, including: UCD Library Special Collections; UCD Archives; the National Folklore Collection UCD; the UCD Irish Dialect Archive; map collections in the Schools of UCD School of Geological Sciences and Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy; the UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy; the UCD Classical Museum; and more."

A unit within the National Monuments Service (NMS), the ASI carries out surveys of known and suspected archaeological sites and compiles and regularly maintains an official inventory of known archaeological monuments, the ASI Sites and Monuments Record (SMR). This inventory covers all sites dating before 1700 CE/AD, plus selected post-1700 sites.

An Irish government agency under the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the "Built Heritage Policy Section’s key areas of responsibility are to develop, promote and implement policies and legislation for the protection of architectural heritage and to promote best practice in modern architecture & urban design." As part of its function, it maintains the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), covering the post-1700 period.

Located in Dublin, EPIC portrays the "the far reaching influence of Irish history and the impact the 10 million Irish men and women who left Ireland had on the world." Its collections and displays include emigrant letters, interactive touch screens, a "rogues' gallery," and a "whispering library." It is also the site of the Irish Family History Centre, a genealogy service.

An art museum at Quinnipiac University (Hamden, Connecticut), whose mission is "to collect, preserve, exhibit and study its collection of art, artifacts and literature related to the Irish Famine/Great Hunger" (1845-1852). It features works by Irish and Irish-American artists from the mid-19th-century to the present.

An independent organization that protects historic properties -- buildings (such as castles and houses), estates, and gardens -- collaborates with other organizations in their conservation, and opens them to the public. It receives partial support from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Established by the Irish Government, the IMC is "committed to promoting public awareness of primary source materials and their importance for the history, heritage and culture of Ireland." Its website provides access to downloadable digital versions of backlist (often out-of-print) published scholarly editions of manuscripts; its Franciscan Accounts Database (digitized account books of Franciscan House, Broad Lane, Cork, 1764-1921); and issues of Analecta Hibernica.

An Irish government agency under the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the NMS "plays a key role in the protection of our archaeological heritage." Among its primary responsibilities are implementing legislation protecting monuments and sites; regulating excavations and underwater archaeological dives; providing advice to planning authorities, groups, and individuals on development proposals and other issues with archaeological heritage implications; and compiling inventories of sites and monuments, through its Archaeological Survey of Ireland unit and Underwater Archaeology Unit.