Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury launches

If there is one thing to learn about Irish genealogy and history, it is that the glass is always half full when it comes to the survival of records, it is never half empty. You'll hear a lot of doom and gloom from folk about records being destroyed, and how it just can't be done. Ignore them, there is often a way!

Today, Ireland pulled off a miracle, in retrieving a great deal of the material thought to be forever lost in the Public Record Office fire of 1922, during the Irish Civil War. Through transcripts, surrogate copies, conservation miracles, and collaboration with other archives worldwide (not least PRONI and TNA), the new Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland platform has now been launched at https://virtualtreasury.ie.

Having just watched the official launch online, which I found to be extraordinarly emotional, it's just too big to review right now, so I am merely going to suggest that you get stuck in, and in due course, when I can breathe a little more, I will properly review it! 

Suffice to say that having just typed in my home town of Carrickfergus, 506 entries have popped up, and they will be duly plundered very soon. My home town of Carrickfergus has a Latin motto - Gloria Prisca Novatur - meaning 'the glory of old renewed'. Today, whilst our old PRO has not been fully restored, much of its former glory has been renewed in Dublin. A superb effort from all concerned, and a fitting conclusion to the Decade of Centenaries.

For more on the launch visit https://beyond2022.ie/ and https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2022/0624/1306668-virtual-record-office/.

The glass is half full, it is not half empty. Have fun!

Chris 

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Getting closer to Beyond 2022

I've just watched a superb online event hosted by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) concerning the Beyond 2022 project (www.beyond2022.ie), which is seeking to recreate much of what was lost with the destruction of the original Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922. 

I have written about the project before (see https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/05/beyond-2022-virtually-recreating-irish.html and https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/12/irelands-beyond-2022-project-progresses.html), but today we got to see some of the real deal! As well as a digital walkthrough of the reconstructed original building (see below - and believe me, the next project beyond this should be to have that actually reconstructed, it was gorgeous!), we also got a look behind the scenes at conservation efforts for much of the material which was damaged in 1922 but which survived. When complete, the site will act as both a digital repository, drawing on surviving materials and transcripts, and as a finding aid to locate materials in partner institutions which can act as surrogates for what was lost.

In the months after the fire, damaged material was wrapped up into 378 parcels and stored to await future conservation efforts. In 2017, the Irish Manuscript Commission provided funds to do a conservation survey of the material, which comprises 16,000 vellum sheets and 9000 pages or text blocks. These have been graded into five categories, with Grade 1 needing only a little work to restore them, and Grade 5 being properly messed up material! Of these, the parcels break down as follows: Grade 1 (28), Grade 2 (72), Grade 3 (88), Grade 4 (145), and Grade 5 (45). 

To give an idea of some of the gems found, 66 Yeomanry forms from Co. Carlow in 1798 are included (the year of the United Irishmen rebellion), and we also got to see Port and District books for Coleraine (1696, 1738-39, and 1788-89) and Donaghadee (1725-26 and 1775-76), both of which are Grade 2, and Strangford (1751 and 1818-1819), at Grade 4. The materials include accounts of quit rent and hearth tax money, amongst other papers.

In addition to this, we had demonstrations of materials that exist in surrogate form at PRONI that are being drawn into the project - e.g. 17th century Down Survey maps, and Lord Castlereagh's papers (he was basically running the show in Ireland during the 1798 rebellion and the Union of 1801) - but we also heard some really useful nuggets of info of interest to genealogists. 

The Representative Church Body Library of Ireland (https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/rcb-library), for example, has contributed some Church of Ireland materials to the Beyond 2022 team for testing for possible inclusion, and the PRONI wills calendar (https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/will-calendars), which currently has entries from 1858-1960, is to be expanded by another 20 or 30 years in the near future, with work on this currently carrying on in the background. 

Although the project has been known about for a while now, today's session was the first chance to really glimpse the full potential of what the project hopes to achieve, and also to tilt the balance of the glass back towards 'half full' rather than 'half empty' in terms of what has survived and accessible.

For further details, and to start playing some of what is already available, visit Beyond 2022 at www.beyond2022.ie.

(With thanks to PRONI and all participants - PRONI has recorded the session, and so I suspect it will join the archive's YouTube channel soon)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts November 2nd - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.