Uncover, Create and Share History Together: A Public History Project

Two Trinity College Dublin masters students in Public History and Cultural Heritage, Katie Leach and Alyssa McIltrot, completed a collaborative community project with the support of the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN).

Over four weeks, five community volunteers from across Ireland participated in a series of activities to deepen their knowledge of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland and enhance their digital archival research skills, as an exercise in shared authority — a public history concept that emphasises the importance of embedding collaboration between practitioner and participants, thus highlighting the history of the collective experience over that of the individual narrative.¹

Leach and McIltrot presented their findings at two conferences, the Lancaster University History Postgraduate Conference (June 2024) and the University of York Public History Grad Conference (September 2024). Their work culminated in a virtual collection of research, which can be found here.

Congratulations to all involved!