USING LOCAL LIBRARIES & ARCHIVES IN YOUR IRISH RESEARCH
David Ryan takes us on a tour of the local repositories that contain a wealth of valuable information about the lives of our Irish ancestors, adding colour to the basic facts obtained from civil records
David Ryan tours the repositories, revealing the many ways in which they can help research in Ireland (something to look forward to after Covid!)
An often-overlooked source in our search for Irish ancestors is the treasure trove that is local repositories and the records they contain. These include street directories, local valuations, cemetery registers, maps, school rolls, workhouse records and even personal family archives. For the purposes of this article I will use some of the repositories in my home city of Cork as an example.
Locating local sources
Throughout Ireland there is a network of local libraries and archives. Most Irish counties on both sides of the border have their own dedicated county library and archive which are run by local councils. Larger cities
such as Cork and Dublin have more than one library and archives. For example, Cork has a city library, a county library and a separate City and County Archives.
When researching ancestors in a specific county in Ireland, it is worth checking to see if the county library and archives have any online resources which may be of help in your search. The head library for each county or city will likely contain books on local history, old newspapers, reference works and journals published by local historical societies, etc.
Examples of local sources
Street and trade directories of the principal cities and towns in Ireland are invaluable sources of information for researching family history. Earlier directories often concentrated primarily on the larger businesses and institutions. As time went on, the information contained became more detailed, with adverts for individual businesses, images, and descriptions of various trades. For example, if an ancestor is listed as working in a certain profession in a census or civil record, you can use trade directories to
If an ancestor is listed as working in a certain profession in a census or civil record, you can use trade directories to locate their place of work
locate their place of work and possibly learn more about it. In Cork, these trade directories are held by the local studies section in Cork City Library, with some others in the City and County Archives.
For Cork city and county, these directories date from the late 1780s to the mid-1940s. The later directories
also included a postal directory. The range of information they contain is incredibly detailed, including names of the heads of households on very many of the city streets, information on businesses, public institutions, and educational and medical establishments. Directories can be combined with period maps to understand the landscape that our ancestors inhabited.
Another useful source contained in local libraries and archives are cemetery registers. While there is an abundance of online sites containing information on Irish burials, these sites are often relying on published obituaries or surviving gravestones. The registers can provide more detail, sometimes even record the occupation and place of birth of the deceased. Cork City and County Archives for example, contains burial registers for Cobh/queenstown. Cobh is well
known as the departure point for many emigrants leaving Ireland to start a new life in America. There are also registers for cemeteries that are no longer in use.
Aside from the nationwide valuation records (such as the well-known Griffith’s Valuation), there were also some local valuations undertaken for specific towns or parishes. In Cork for example, the City and County Archives contain a valuation list for the parish of Holy Trinity in the 1831. The list was made for the Grand Jury of the County of the City of Cork. There are also a handful of later local valuation records, which can be used alongside those held in the Valuation
Surviving workhouse registers are often kept locally. Not all records for every workhouse survive
Office in Dublin.
Historic photos are another important tool when researching your family history and Ireland has no shortage of great photographic collections. Some are held at a national level, such as the Lawrence Collection, which is held by the National Library of Ireland. But if you are trying to find photos of the town or village your ancestors came from, then checking local repositories is essential.
Other useful local sources also include landed estate records, school registers, minutes of local council meetings and records of clubs, societies, and Trade Unions.
Using local sources
The collections in local archives and libraries offer a rich research resource for the family historian, who wishes to learn more about the shape and development of their ancestral communities and the authorities who served them. If you are planning to use them in your research, then there are some issues to be aware of.
Many local libraries and archives are quite small. An appointment will likely be necessary when conducting research, particularly in the current situation where space is even more limited to allow for social distancing. It is also important to be aware of limited opening hours (closing at lunchtime for example or only opening on weekdays). In the aftermath of the current pandemic crisis these opening hours may be even more limited than usual and there will likely be other restrictions in place.
Local archives and libraries are an essential source for family history research. If you are planning a trip to Ireland to research your ancestry, then they should be high on your list of places to visit. Aside from these public-run archives and libraries, there are also other special archives run by Irish religious orders or specific businesses, such as breweries. The Archives and Records Association of Ireland (ARA) has a useful listing of local and specialist archives throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland: http://familytr.ee/ara. They might just help you get through some of those stubborn brick walls.