Tag: archives

National Archives publishes records of the 1926 Census

The publication of the records of the 1926 Census for the first time has been marked at an official state function at Dublin Castle, hosted by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, and Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD. The National Archives officially released the 1926 Census records at midnight, following the expiration of the one-hundred-year limitation on their publication under the Statistics Act 1993.

The Release of the 1926 Census

The National Archives made the entire census freely available and fully searchable on www.nationalarchives.ie at midnight. The newly released records provide an unprecedented resource, allowing users to efficiently navigate detailed household returns from 1926.

The preparation of the 1926 Census for public release has been a major project for the National Archives and the State, supported by a €5 million Government investment. The initiative which took almost three years, saw the careful conservation, preservation, high-resolution digitisation, and transcription of over 750,000 individual household and enumerator returns.

Speaking at Dublin Castle today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD commented:

“I’m honoured to mark the official release of Census 1926 by the National Archives, the first census undertaken by the independent Irish Free State. 

“When we think back to 1926, ten years after the Easter Rising and following a decade of conflict and upheaval; from the War of Independence to the Civil War, Census 1926 shows the ambition of the new state to carry-out a census of the 2.9 million people living in Ireland as part of its programme of nation-building and to do so, so soon after independence was a bold and visionary decision. As such, Census 1926 marks a historic moment in the development of modern Ireland.

“For people across Ireland, the release of the 1926 Census offers something deeply personal. It allows us to step back in time and encounter our own families, neighbours and communities as they were almost a century ago. It brings history out of the abstract and into the everyday.”

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD added:

“This is a significant day for the country and our diaspora as we see for the first time in a century the records of how we lived in 1926. I want to congratulate the team at the National Archives for their trojan work in getting us to today – not only through carefully cataloguing and preserving the records for generations to come, but also in putting together such a comprehensive programme of activities to allow people to engage with this important part of our history. 

“Indeed, there are over 1,000 people alive today who were recorded in the 1926 Census. These individuals offer a unique, living perspective on the past century of Irish life. The National Archives launched a Centenarian Ambassadors Programme last year which captures the first-hand personal testimony of those who see their own original family records made public today.  It is wonderful to see some of them here this afternoon.”

Also speaking at the launch Director of the National Archives, Orlaith McBride said:

“As we open these census records to the public, we honour those who came before us their resilience, their ambition, and their contribution to the Ireland we know today. 

“But perhaps most importantly, today reminds us that the history of Ireland is not only found in great events or political milestones — it is found in the lived experiences of its people. Every entry in this census represents an individual life, a family unit, a shared human story that together forms the fabric of our nation.”

Central Statistics Office (CSO) Director General Jennifer Banim added:

“The Census is a record of our past, a measure of the present and a plan for the future. Today’s release of the 1926 Census records shows the value of gathering, and preserving, this data. I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the National Archives, and all those in the CSO, who have contributed to this historic release. We in the CSO are proud to continue the long tradition of census taking in Ireland with Census 2027 providing an online option for the first time, marking another milestone in the history of the state.”

The Story Of Us Exhibition

To mark the release of the 1926 census, the National Archives has opened a major exhibition that explores what life was like in the newly independent Ireland of 1926. Using contemporary documents and images, audio-visual displays and, above all, the census returns themselves, The Story of Us explores the 1926 census to present a picture of life in Ireland in 1926: from sport and entertainment to language, culture, religion, gender and the working lives of the inhabitants of the Irish Free State a century ago.

The exhibition, which was also officially opened by An Taoiseach and the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport today, will run at Dublin Castle, opening to the public from 19 April until 15 August 2027.

The exhibition will visit London and Boston, before touring Ireland, as part of a partnership with ten local authorities, as well as a visit to the National Ploughing Championships in September.

Centenarian Ambassadors

Among the attendees at Dublin Castle on Saturday were some of the ‘Centenarian Ambassadors’ announced earlier this week. The programme captured the first-hand personal testimonies of those who were alive at the time the census was taken in 1926, which offer a unique and fascinating perspective on the past century of Irish life.  Almost 100 people contacted the National Archives throughout the programme, and the 48 selected ambassadors today live all over Ireland as well as in North America, the UK and Australia.

National Archives Director Orlaith McBride said:

“The census has never been about lists and numbers; it’s the story of us. It’s about the people living in Ireland in 1926 and all of their descendants today. Whether through the centenarian ambassadors, this exhibition, the book and all the other elements of our extensive public programme, throughout this project we have aimed to ensure the stories, information and human connections revealed by the census reach as many people as possible, in Ireland and around the world.”

Broader Public Programme

As well as the exhibition, The Census 1926 public programme also includes a number of other key components.

A new book, The Story Of Us – Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census has been published by Irish Academic Press and is on sale now. Featuring contributions from key members of the National Archives team and leading social historians, the book captures a number of unique perspectives on the census and the Ireland in which it was taken.

On 4 June, The National Archives in partnership with the OPW, will host the Exploring the 1926 Census Conference, a full-day programme of keynote lectures, thematic panels, and discussions, exploring the census as both a historical document and a contemporary resource.

The Good Luck Club, presented by ANU Productions, will run on site at the National Archives, opening on 27 May, while a major two-part documentary series Come to your Census, will air on RTÉ television next month, with an accompanying six-part RTÉ podcast series released.

The Heritage Council joins the National Museum of Ireland and participating local authorities in funding the digitisation of Ireland’s community archives, through iCAN

An event is being held in Wicklow today to mark a new chapter for the award-winning Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN), the leading organisation championing and supporting community archives in Ireland.

Since 2009, iCAN has supported the creation of 33 online digital archives in Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Wicklow, and there are three more currently in development. Over 180 volunteers are involved in managing and supporting the existing community archives.

iCAN was established by the National Museum of Ireland and has been developed in partnership with participating local authority Heritage Officers and with support from Creative Ireland*. Today, the Heritage Council is joining iCAN as a new funding partner, which will facilitate an expansion of the initiative and the iCAN team. Together, they have ambitions to support the development of at least 80 digital archives across Ireland by 2028.

Cork County Council is the latest local authority to partner with iCAN. Having joined the network last year and taken part in training over the last few months, a new portal for County  Cork will be unveiled today. www.heritagecork.org will be home to four digital community archives supported by iCAN – Bere Island Projects Group, Kilmurry Heritage Group, Kilshannig Heritage Society and Youghal Community Archives.

iCAN community archive websites are contributory, which means that anyone, anywhere in the world can contribute their photos, maps, letters, records, stories and documents to help build the collections. As well as documenting information about local heritage sites, traditions and well-known local people, the archives are also a valuable source for genealogy and ancestry projects.

Many of the archives also include oral histories and videos and valuable resources such as local ‘census’ documents dating from before the Famine, and visitors can access digital and searchable archives relating to specific graveyards, townlands, and even houses – which in turn gives a unique and valuable insight into family records.  One initiative, which is part of the Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage archive, is called ‘Who’s been living in my house’ and is unique in Ireland in that it has digitised ‘cancelled books’ or valuation office records – allowing visitors to search who lived in houses throughout the 49 townlands in Clarecastle, County Clare, between 1855 and 1970.

The diaspora uses the iCAN community archives to connect with local groups, who in turn assist with their family history enquiries. These connections frequently result in visits to Ireland with the local group bringing visitors to ancestral homes and graves and re-connecting them with unknown or lost family members.

Several of the archives also have volunteers who are based abroad in countries such the US and Australia. The iCAN network has been visited 2,244,000 times by visitors from 215 countries, or 16,000 cities, across the world – more than 5,750,000 pages of Irish heritage content have been explored.

Members of the iCAN network from around the country are gathering in the Brockagh Resource Centre in Laragh, Co Wicklow today to celebrate the continued expansion of the network and the launch of Heritage Cork. They will also hear from keynote speaker, author, and oral historian Tomás Mac Conmara.

Director of the National Museum of Ireland, Lynn Scarff said; “Inclusivity and collaboration are at the core of iCAN, by recognising collective ownership and empowering local communities to document their own history, heritage, and culture on digital platforms. We are ambitious to support the growth of iCAN nationwide because every community deserves the opportunity to build their own digital archive that recognises the unique value of these resources both for the community and historians into the future. Much of this material is either in people’s homes, memories or in resources unique to their local community – so they are uniquely placed to record it and preserve if for future generations.”

Chief Executive of the Heritage Council, Virginia Teehan, said: “Volunteer archivists can so often be the unsung heroes of a community, doing incredible work to safeguard knowledge, collections, stories and local history. The information they gather and preserve is crucial in providing people with a broader sense of themselves and where they come from, and The Heritage Council is proud to be in position to contribute to this important work.”

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Danny Collins said; Cork County Council is very proud to launch our new Heritage Cork portal today. This website will be home to the four digital community archives in Cork that are part of the iCAN network which not only provides a secure and permanent online presence but also gives deserved recognition to the tremendous work being done by these groups to document and preserve their local heritage. The training and support provided by iCAN is wonderful and we are delighted to partner with them on this important initiative.”

Lorna Elms, Development Officer with iCAN, said; “iCAN provides volunteers with practical and technical training to support them as they establish a digital archive for their local community. The work being carried out by volunteers around the country to create and maintain these rich repositories is so valuable. They’re documenting local history and heritage in a special way that brings people from all generations together to celebrate, record and preserve their shared history, and to enjoy a shared pride of place.”

In 2020, iCAN was awarded the ‘Best Network of Archives Award’ at the highly competitive UK and Ireland Community Archive and Heritage Group (CAHG) Annual Awards. Individual members of the iCAN network have also been the recipients of county, national and international awards for their heritage work and projects.

Members of the public are invited to visit, contribute to and to volunteer with the digital archives in the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN). The full list of archives is available at www.ouririshheritage.org