Something I only discovered tbis week is that the catalogue cards from the Keane Index from 1891-1909 are now available to view via the National Library of Ireland's catalogue at https://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000923169?recordID=vtls000929125, thanks to the efforts of the library and the Irish Manuscript Commission.
The Keane Index provides the only current means to identify information held within the records of the Irish Land Commission, which the Irish Government has stubbornly locked away in a warehouse in Portlaoise, where they currently remain out of the reach of researchers. The Land Commission papers details the acquisition of lands by the general public from the landed gentry after the collapse of the landed estates system following An Gorta Mór from 1845-1851. Amongst the papers are deeds, wills, and other extraordinarily useful records for family history purposes.
The Keane Index comprises of 36,000 cards, that leads to information about properties contained within 35 bound volumes, all at about 400 pages each. The index allows researchers to search by county, estate, or individual name.
You can read more about the partnership with the NLI and IMC at https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/tracing-irelands-land-history-digitisation-keane-index.
And maybe, one day, when the Irish Government wakes up on this, we'll get to see the actual Land Commission records themselves (many for the north after Partition are already accessible at PRONI)...
** For more on the Irish Land Commission, see my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 and the USA via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.
Chris
Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, 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. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.
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