Using Digital Archives for Historical Research

This video recording is of “Using Digital Archives for Historical Research”, the first webinar in a three-part public lecture series on using digital archives for academic research hosted by the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) and aimed primarily at early career researchers.

Access to brick-and-mortar archives has been limited due to COVID-19 restrictions, creating challenges for humanities researchers that rely on archival materials for their research. This webinar aims to showcase some of the rich research resources contained in digital archival collections.

Featured digital collections in the first webinar include:

• Beyond 2022: This archival initiative aims to restore – as far as possible – the collections lost in the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922, at the outbreak of the Irish Civil War.

• The Inspiring Ireland Project - National Museum of Ireland: This collection contains a selection of cultural heritage objects from the National Museum of Ireland presented as part of the Inspiring Ireland project, which features a series of exhibitions containing cultural artefacts related to the events of 1916.

• Bureau of Military History (1913-1921): The Bureau of Military History Collection, 1913-1921 (BMH) is a collection of 1,773 witness statements; 334 sets of contemporary documents; 42 sets of photographs, and 13 voice recordings that were collected by the State between 1947 and 1957, in order to gather primary source material for the revolutionary period in Ireland from 1913 to 1921.

• Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA), Fáilte Ireland Tourism Photographic Collection and Jacob’s Biscuit Factory Archive: These collections, spanning from the 1890s to the early 2000s, comprise almost 20,000 images between them and growing.

#Learning Outcomes

After watching this webinar, early career researchers will be familiar with some of the digital archival collections that can be explored to advance historical research.