Virtual Treasury 101 Research Showcase: Into the Past + Back to the Future

In this public showcase, Virtual Treasury 101 brings you the latest discoveries from the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland team and our Core Partners.

Our showcase begins ‘After the Fire’, stepping back to the aftermath of the Four Courts blaze in 1922 and the challenge of reconstructing Ireland’s lost memories. Our collaborative research retraces the footsteps of the archival heroes of one hundred years ago, who retrieved damaged records from the rubble, preserved them for posterity and began the hunt for replacement items in libraries and archives in Ireland and Britain.

Following a break ‘Back to the Future’ explores our latest Thematic Collections to go live on virtualtreasury.ie.

To conclude the day, our team discusses the power of technology and creativity to re-imagine the past.

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland research programme is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under Project Ireland 2040, as a significant legacy for the Decade of Centenaries.

Session 1: After the Fire (1.30 – 2.45 pm)

• 1922 Salved Records: Jessica Baldwin (Senior Conservator, National Archives)
• Retracing Archival Footsteps: Sarah Hendriks (Research Fellow, VRTI)
• What’s in a Name? Brian Gurrin (Census Specialist, VRTI)

Session 2: Back to the Future (3.15 – 4.45 pm)

• Irish Kings and English Rulers in the Middle Ages: Elizabeth Biggs (VRTI) and Paul Dryburgh (The National Archives UK)
• From Rebellion to Union: The Home Office and Ireland, 1793–1803: Timothy Murtagh (VRTI Researcher Fellow, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland)
• A Fresh Lens on History: A Panel on Technology and Creativity including Lynn Kilgallon (VRTI) and Mairéad McClean (Decade of Centenaries Artist in Residence)

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Optional pre-event demonstration:

Time: 11.00 am to 12.00 noon.

Venue: Jonathan Swift Theatre (Room 2041a), Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin.

‘How to use the Virtual Treasury’ by Dr Ciarán Wallace (VRTI).

In this session you will learn how to get the most out of the Virtual Treasury. The demonstration will cover how to:

• search the Virtual Treasury
• refine your search results
• understand search results
• use the image viewer
• search within a document
• browse by record collection and repository

The demonstration will include a tour of other resources within the Virtual Treasury:

• Help pages: FAQ, Glossary, User Guides, Research Guides
• Gold Seam record collections
• Map Room
• Thematic collections
• Archive Fever article series
• Hidden Stories + Image Galleries
• 3-D Model