The Church of Ireland Gazette, formerly The Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette, covered the activities of the Church of Ireland across the island and it is an important resource for genealogists and historians. Researchers don't need to have Church of Ireland ancestors to find The Gazette valuable. As well as exploring the major national and international issues of the day, the paper also carried localised church and social news, which would have been of relevance to all local communities whatever their beliefs.
In addition to keeping the Gazette portal online, the funding will secure similar free public access to another database (here) hosting the Journals of the General Synod from 1912 to 1922, and to six online exhibitions examining various aspects of the Decade of Centenaries:
- The Birth of Partition: the Southern Experience Through the Eyes of the Church of Ireland Gazette;
- The Foundation of Northern Ireland: Two Jurisdictions – One Church;
- The centenary of the Easter Rising, when the Gazette’s editor, Ware B Wells, witnessed first-hand events as they unfolded in Middle Abbey Street, where the Gazette’s premises were located
- The centenary of the General Convention, 1917-18, as the last time all-Ireland representatives (including church leaders) participated in political negotiations before Partition in 1921;
- The centenary of the sinking of The Leinster in 1918.
- Christmas 1921, focusing on events in Ireland at the end of the pivotal year, through the lens of the Church of Ireland Gazette and other sources available at the Library.
These exhibitions can be viewed here.