eResources: Dublin Castle Records

They provide digital access to manuscript collections, journals, historic Irish newspapers and early printed books as well as a suite of family history and genealogy resources. They include items from NLI collections, and this digital access is easier and quicker than consulting the original items or microfilmed copies. A selection of e-resources which are available by subscription are currently only accessible onsite in the reading rooms. There are plans to extend free remote access to library members in the future.

A significant recent addition to our digital resources is the Dublin Castle Records 1798-1926 containing records of the British administration in Ireland prior to 1922. These documents record British policies, societal responses to various reforms, agrarian unrest, and nationalist movements. They include information about economic conditions, crime statistics, and government monitoring of political organisations. They also provide a record of the activities of prominent Irish figures e.g. Eamon de Valera, Maud Gonne, Helena Maloney and Francis Sheehy Skeffington. These records offer rich insights into the governance and political struggles in Ireland during British rule, and as such they are an invaluable resource for researchers of Irish History during the 19^th century and first decades of the 20^th century. As well as British administrative records they also include the Irish voice by way of prisoner letters to and from family members, petitions to the authorities and copies of political pamphlets by Sinn Fein.

The original documents are held in the National Archives in Kew (series CO 904).  NLI readers have previously consulted this material through the surrogate microfilm copies known as the Colonial Office series.

In all there are 282 manuscripts listed in the collection, with 119,866 images. It should be noted that as many of the originals are handwritten and the digitised copies are taken from the microfilmed copies, some details can be challenging to decipher.

In the Reading Rooms

The Dublin Castle Records 1798-1926 are part of Gale Primary Sources, Archives Unbound series and can be searched separately or alongside the Stormont papers Northern Ireland: A Divided Community: 1921-1972. They can be accessed via the website in the Government and Official section of our e-resources page. If you are connected to our Wi-Fi network with your personal device i.e. laptop, smartphone etc. you can download and save documents from the Dublin Castle Records.