Now online at UCD's Digital Library and at the Digital Repository of Ireland is an essential collection for genealogists with female teachers in their family history: the Registers of Carysfort College, 1883–1922.
Carysfort College (aka Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort) was a College of Education in Dublin founded and run by the Sisters of Mercy from its foundation in 1877 until its closure in 1988.
It was set up as a training college for Catholic girls who wished to become primary school teachers and its Diploma in Primary School Education was recognised by the Irish Government's Department of Education. The Diploma course was originally a two year course, lengthened to three years in the 1970s.
The online collection consists of three registers:
- Register of 1421 students admitted 1883-1896 with additional 21 extern students 1892-1907
- Register of 1391 students admitted 1897-1910
- Register of 1557 students admitted 1911-1922 (This register continues to 1925; post end-1922 entries have been redacted online.)
In addition to the basic personal details – age, residence, marital status etc – of each student are examination results and information about their early career
Each register can be downloaded as a single pdf, free of charge from the links above. An additional name index in Excel format can also be downloaded and searched for direction to the respective entry for each trainee.