Deep History, Deepening Collaborations

18 Strand 1 Retracing Archival Footsteps A Century of Recovery and Discovery A century ago, the Public Record Office of Ireland faced the enormous challenge of recovering from the devastating loss of its entire collection. Research in this strand will track this remarkable phase in the PROI’s history after the fire and retrace the archival footsteps from a century ago towards recovery. In the decade after 1922, the PROI received many donations of transcriptions, genealogical notes, certified copies and duplicates of materials destroyed in the fire. Herbert Wood – the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records who wrote the famous Guide of 1919 – was active in his retirement, advising former colleagues in Ireland on manuscripts in British libraries and in private hands. Meanwhile, D. A. Chart, the first Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland established in 1923/4, used his deep knowledge of the records lost in 1922 to develop the collections in PRONI. Archival Discovery has been a major success of our research to date. The sheer scale of what has survived in many locations around the world – despite the worst the centuries could throw at these records – is remarkable. Building on this, our research in this strand will enable a deeper interrogation of the major collections identified to date, deepening collaboration with and between our partners (see p. 52, ‘Collecting History’) . This strand will also continue our support for the conservation of the 1922 Salved Records, those rare survivors retrieved from the rubble of the Record Treasury. Through new scientific collaborations, we will harness extraordinary imaging technologies first developed for medical use to unlock the contents of fire-damaged documents. We will also develop innovative ways to conserve parchment and paper records which have suffered from exposure to damp and heat. Illegible text will be revealed for the first time in over a century, and old documents will be opened up to be rediscovered by future generations of researchers and the public. Team Dr David Brown, Archival Discovery Lead Dr Sarah Hendriks, Collecting History Research Fellow Co-Investigator Jessica Baldwin, Senior Conservator, National Archives, Ireland Opposite: Rolled sheets of parchment from a Common Plea roll (1741- 1743) which survived the fire, but are charred, scorched and fused together. Credit: National Archives, Ireland.