Research guides and articles
Introduction
The guides to sources, together with articles based on our holdings consist of introductions to some of our archival collections. They contain detailed information on a number of diverse topics, provide a historical background or context in which the records were created and may flag or highlight potential research areas of interest.
Please note that the guides and articles based on certain record collections are intended to give members of the public an idea of our holdings; the featured descriptions are guides to selected record collections and are not comprehensive listings of all the records we hold.
Guides
The research guides comprise descriptions of records held in the National Archives which relate to various subjects. In certain cases, they provide contextual information to record series created by specific Government agencies, in addition to administrative histories of those same bodies – examples include the Ordnance Survey and the Office of Public Works.
Click on the titles to view a description or administrative history of the record series:
- Guide to the records of the Crown and Peace
- Guide to sources on Ireland and European unity
- Guide to sources on national education
- Guide to the records of the Office of Public Works
- Guide to the records of the Ordnance Survey
- Guide to the records of the Poor Law
- Guide to sources on women’s history - includes the papers of Hilda Tweedy and the Joint Committee of Women’s Societies and Social Workers (see also the Directory of Sources for Women’s History in Ireland.csv and Women in 20th-Century Ireland – 1922-1966 database)
Articles
The following articles – available to consult in .pdf format – have been published in archival or historical journals and relate to selected record series held in the National Archives and provide contextual information about some of our collections.
- ‘The medieval Irish plea rolls – an introduction’ by Philomena Connolly
- ‘Sources in the National Archives for researching the Great Famine’ by Marianne Cosgrave, Rena Lohan and Tom Quinlan (parts 1 and 2)
- ‘Hospital records in the National Archives of Ireland’ by Brian Donnelly
- ‘Some unusual sources for the history of medicine in the National Archives of Ireland’ by Aideen Ireland
- ‘The Rebellion Papers’ by Deirdre Lindsay
- ‘Sources in the National Archives for research into the transportation of Irish convicts to Australia (1791-1853)’ by Rena Lohan (see also the Ireland-Australia transportation database and .pdf version)
- ‘The archives of the Office of Public Works and their value as a source for local history’ by Rena Lohan
- ‘Ferreting Out Evil – the records of the Committee on Evil Literature’ by Tom Quinlan
- ‘The Registered Papers of the Chief Secretary’s Office’ by Tom Quinlan (see also the CSORP website)
