Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
Looking to the Future ... Beyond 2022
Initially launched as "Beyond 2022 - Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury", this project has bold ambitions. The plan is to harness the power of technology to re-create in a virtual format as much as possible of the contents of the doomed Public Record Repository that littered the Dublin skyline with seven hundred years of burning historical documents over 100 years ago. Ironic when you consider that after earlier conflagrations at storage facilities elsewhere in Dublin, the new building was so carefully designed to be fireproof but sadly not bombproof.
I must admit when I first heard about the project it seemed to be all about virtual reality headsets, inviting you to wander around in cyberspace plucking volumes from reconstructed shelves. There is a virtual reality visit feature on the website that allows you to do this from the comfort of your own home - watch the video for an introduction.
The task of reassembling anywhere near enough material sounded daunting to say the least. By tracking down Victorian and Edwardian transcripts, snippets of personal research, legal papers lurking in law offices and even old photographs of documents, the project is gradually re-assembling some of the lost treasures. I listened to a talk in 2020 by Dr. Ciaran Wallace, Deputy Director of the project, in which he reported how the process of collaboration right across the world was being hugely assisted by the power of clever technology to both track down and transcribe scanned images. That particular talk is no longer available online but I did find another talk by that he gave in 2022 to the Kilkenny Archaeological Society entitled "The Life, Death and Virtual Reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland." Watch it to learn more about the context for the project and the progress made up to that year. There are more short videos on the Virtual Treasury YouTube channel that illustrate the challenges and the work being undertaken.
Initially launched as "Beyond 2022 - Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury", this project has bold ambitions. The plan is to harness the power of technology to re-create in a virtual format as much as possible of the contents of the doomed Public Record Repository that littered the Dublin skyline with seven hundred years of burning historical documents over 100 years ago. Ironic when you consider that after earlier conflagrations at storage facilities elsewhere in Dublin, the new building was so carefully designed to be fireproof but sadly not bombproof.
I must admit when I first heard about the project it seemed to be all about virtual reality headsets, inviting you to wander around in cyberspace plucking volumes from reconstructed shelves. There is a virtual reality visit feature on the website that allows you to do this from the comfort of your own home - watch the video for an introduction.
The task of reassembling anywhere near enough material sounded daunting to say the least. By tracking down Victorian and Edwardian transcripts, snippets of personal research, legal papers lurking in law offices and even old photographs of documents, the project is gradually re-assembling some of the lost treasures. I listened to a talk in 2020 by Dr. Ciaran Wallace, Deputy Director of the project, in which he reported how the process of collaboration right across the world was being hugely assisted by the power of clever technology to both track down and transcribe scanned images. That particular talk is no longer available online but I did find another talk by that he gave in 2022 to the Kilkenny Archaeological Society entitled "The Life, Death and Virtual Reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland." Watch it to learn more about the context for the project and the progress made up to that year. There are more short videos on the Virtual Treasury YouTube channel that illustrate the challenges and the work being undertaken.
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland launched on the anniversary of the Four Courts fire in July 2022. This generated plenty of excited chatter from the genealogical community as you might expect, including yours truly - see my blog. John Grenham also blogged about "Rabbit Holes outnumbering Rabbits" , and waxed lyrical in his YouTube video too. His blogpost title is, I think, an hilariously apt way of summing up the fact that there are currently a fair few "dead ends" in the structure, which you only discover as you laboriously plod down through the tantalising levels in the catalogue.
Having said that, what has been built so far is both innovative and well presented. I particularly like the Gold Seams, described as "full scale reconstructions of archives that were destroyed in 1922." There are currently 3 published on the website;
The Curated Collections look like they have the potential to grow into a valuable treasure trove of historical resources. Working with other international archive partners, the goal is to collate scattered digital resources into one virtual library shelf. Genealogically speaking, the Deputy Keeper's Reports, 1867-1922 look interesting. However, I have to say that the on-screen reader is a bit slow refreshing pages. I have found links myself to majority of these same documents on the Internet Archive and they are all listed on my Public Records in Ireland page.
There is an option to Browse the Treasury which will show you all the contributing partners - many familiar names as well as some very niche institutions. Have a roam through the drop down catalogues for the ones that look interesting to you and see what is currently available online.
A bit like burying an elephant, this project is of course a mammoth undertaking (... pause for laughter!) So, keep up to date with the current priorities and discoveries via the articles published on their Research Strands. The project is using some interesting new technologies to achieve its goals - there is much talk of "knowledge graphs" for example. This does mean that some of the videos and articles are a bit niche to say the least - the Murmuration video is just silently bonkers - what's that all about?! Were some of the authors watching the Discovery Channel as they wrote I wonder - "Taming the Data Wilderness" made me chortle! If only I had had a machete when I was designing databases years ago!
Having poked gentle fun (I secretly wish I could understand it all much better), I am sure that I am going to enjoy seeing the Treasury's virtual shelves swell with content in the future and hopefully benefit from the free access.
Having said that, what has been built so far is both innovative and well presented. I particularly like the Gold Seams, described as "full scale reconstructions of archives that were destroyed in 1922." There are currently 3 published on the website;
- Medieval Exchequer (13th-15th centuries) (Introductory Video)
- Cromwellian Surveys (17th century)
- 1766 Religious Census
The Curated Collections look like they have the potential to grow into a valuable treasure trove of historical resources. Working with other international archive partners, the goal is to collate scattered digital resources into one virtual library shelf. Genealogically speaking, the Deputy Keeper's Reports, 1867-1922 look interesting. However, I have to say that the on-screen reader is a bit slow refreshing pages. I have found links myself to majority of these same documents on the Internet Archive and they are all listed on my Public Records in Ireland page.
There is an option to Browse the Treasury which will show you all the contributing partners - many familiar names as well as some very niche institutions. Have a roam through the drop down catalogues for the ones that look interesting to you and see what is currently available online.
A bit like burying an elephant, this project is of course a mammoth undertaking (... pause for laughter!) So, keep up to date with the current priorities and discoveries via the articles published on their Research Strands. The project is using some interesting new technologies to achieve its goals - there is much talk of "knowledge graphs" for example. This does mean that some of the videos and articles are a bit niche to say the least - the Murmuration video is just silently bonkers - what's that all about?! Were some of the authors watching the Discovery Channel as they wrote I wonder - "Taming the Data Wilderness" made me chortle! If only I had had a machete when I was designing databases years ago!
Having poked gentle fun (I secretly wish I could understand it all much better), I am sure that I am going to enjoy seeing the Treasury's virtual shelves swell with content in the future and hopefully benefit from the free access.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2023
