Friday 7 December 2012

ARA Ireland Newsletter: packed with detail

The Winter issue of the Archives and Records Association's Newsletter has just been published and contains some features that I'm sure Irish genealogy researchers would find valuable.

First up is an article about the Bureau of Military History. It includes some background to the archive and the hows and whys of its creation, as well as providing some interesting statistics about how popular it has proved to be since its launch online (nearly half a million page views since August!). A selection of witness statements from the collection demonstrates how varied and detailed these papers can be.

Another recent addition to the genealogists armoury is the Soldiers' Wills collection which was launched by the National Archives of Ireland last month. The Newsletter carries two articles about this release. The first concentrates on a 'history' of the collection and its preparation for digitisation. The second is an in-depth look at the materials and techniques used to repair some of the wills, which were removed from the pocket books of the soldiers after their death.

Finally, if you weren't able to attend any of the Ulster Covenant lectures held at PRONI in September, the Newsletter contains a very useful summary of the four-week series. It also advises that a similar series of lectures will be presented next September to explore aspects of the Volunteer movements.

Well worth finding some time for a read through. You can download it from the ARAI website.