Author name: Ruth Blair

Learn About Archives – A Website About Irish Archives

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Have you heard of the Archives & Records Association UK & Ireland? They have a website called Learn About Archives. Across the top of the page there are eight tabs.

The first tab is Home but the next tab is Archives Services and here you will find a directory of over 80 archive services. They say that shortly you will be able to download a PDF file and you can find a Google map to show you where the archives are located. Each week they highlight a particular archive.

In the directory you will find a map, contact information such as address, phone number, contact person and email and website addresses. You will find directions and hours of operation. There is usually a description of the records that are held at the archives.

You will find information on archives in all of the 32 counties of Ireland.

The next tab is Learn and here you have the choice of What are Archives?, Beginning Your Research, Visiting an Archives Service, Sources, Guidelines and Conservation. Click on any of these links to learn more.

Documents are next and here you will find topics such as: Guinness, Famine, Census, Photographs, Women, Politics, Letters & Diaries, Maps & Plans and Military. Click on any of these links and you will find digital examples of these resources.

News provides links to the news of the archives in Ireland, the Events tab promotes the exhibitions of various archives around the country and about us is self explanatory. The last tab is Links and here you can find links to all sorts of resources.

One of the links is to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Archive Collections.

There are four resource areas at the bottom of the page: Descriptive Guidelines, Documents, IAR (Irish Archives Resource) and Exhibitions. In previous posts I have written about the Irish Archives Resource so I won’t be looking at IAR in this post.

The Guidelines link takes you to a page which provides the Irish Guidelines for Archival Description and you can read the Archives and Records Association of Ireland’s newsletter.

The Documents link takes you to the same page as the Documents tab at the top of the home page.

The Exhibitions link takes you to Flickr and an assortment of photographs and digital images.

This website is a place to learn about some of the lesser known archives to be found in Ireland. It is also a place to keep up to date with new developments regarding Irish archives. If you are looking for a record that you can’t find in the usual places see if there is an archive that might hold that elusive item.

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

Ruth’s Recommendations

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Here are my favourite blog posts from this past week.

There is some sad news in the genealogy world in Ireland. The Genealogy News blog reports that the free genealogy service at the National Archives of Ireland has been cancelled. This was a wonderful service and it is sad to see it go. It seems the National Archives and National Library in Ireland are in as much trouble as Library and Archives Canada.

The National Archives UK blog has a post called “How a conservator helped uncover Jubilee records” which is a fascinating post.

Genea-Musings had two posts this week that were interesting called “Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 – Post 1 and Post 2.” I use RootsMagic so these posts have been bookmarked so that I can go through them and learn more. I love his easy to follow step by step process.

GeneaPress has a post called “Genealogy Jamboree Streamed Sessions Announced.” I have already signed up for a few this weekend. There is limited space so if you find something interesting sign up now.

Marian’s Roots and Rambles blog has a thought-provoking post entitled “Sharing and Genealogy.” There is a discussion in the comments section of this post.

What were your favourite blog posts this past week?

Let me know in the comments below.

Other bloggers that write their own lists are:

Genea-Musings – Best of the Genea-Blogs

British & Irish Genealogy

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved

NGS 2012 Conference Cincinnati Ohio Day 4

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Well this was the last day of the conference. It is always a mixed blessing. You are tired and want to go home but you have had such a good time you don’t want it to end.

The main lecture I wanted to attend today was Elizabeth Shown Mill’s “Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, Data Management & Analysis.” We were in the lecture room half an hour before it started and we could only get seats up near the front. It was the largest room and it was packed.

It was worth it though. Elizabeth never disappoints. I walked out of that lecture having learned something new. Every time I attend a conference my main goal is to learn something new every day.

The marketplace closed at 2 pm and we were packed up and on the road by 3:30 pm. We spent the night in Windsor Ontario and then drove the rest of the way home on Sunday.

Whenever I get home from a conference I am exhausted, on information overload and have a long list of things that I want to learn more about or implement. The last few weeks have been very busy for me so that list is still waiting. It will have to wait a little more as I am attending the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Kingston this weekend.

If you ever get the chance to attend a genealogical conference, be it a regional conference or a national one, please take the chance. You won’t regret it. Just remember the comfortable shoes!

©2012 – Blair Archival Research All Rights Reserved