Research Programme
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is the outcome of a five-year State-funded programme of research entitled ‘Beyond 2022' funded by the Government of Ireland under Project Ireland 2040 through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Led by researchers at Trinity College Dublin, the programme combines historical investigation, archival discovery, conservation and technical innovation to re-imagine and recreate, through digital technologies, the archive lost on June 30th, 1922, in the opening engagement of the Civil War.
Our extensive and growing treasury of digitized records—scattered over space and time, but now reunited on-screen—brings ordinary lives buried in official documents back into the light.
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is an open-access resource, freely and permanently available online to all those interested in Ireland’s deep history at home and abroad. Our extensive and growing treasury of digitized records—scattered over space and time, but now reunited on-screen—brings ordinary lives buried in official documents back into the light.
Together, we are building a lasting and meaningful legacy from the Decade of Centenaries, democratizing access to invaluable records and illuminating seven centuries of Irish history.
The Beyond 2022 Project is a landmark initiative, not just because of what it will achieve through ground-breaking technology, but because of its collaborative approach. It allows for the re-exploration of the history of our island and the links forged over centuries with our neighbours
An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, TD
Partners
As an all-island and international legacy initiative, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland draws strength from a unique research partnership which now links the National Archives of Ireland (the successor institution of the PROI) with an expanding consortium of over institutional research partners across Ireland and Britain, as well as Europe, North America and Australia.
In 2017–18, the National Archives (successor institution to the PROI), the National Archives UK (successor institution to the Public Record Office, London, established in 1838) and Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI, established in 1923–4) joined forces in creating a research partnership with Trinity College Dublin and the Science Foundation Ireland ADAPT Centre for digital technologies. This marked the first formal partnership of these three historically-linked archival institutions. They were soon joined as Core Partners by the Irish Manuscripts Commission (established in 1928) and Trinity College Dublin Library.
By 2022, over 70 other archives, libraries and learned societies in Ireland, Britain and the United States have formally joined the enterprise to bring the destroyed Record Treasury back to life.
This State all-island and international legacy initiative is an investment in Ireland’s digital futures beyond the centenary.
Exciting developments in linked data and knowledge graph technologies will enable all users to delve deeper into our digitized collections, identifying connections between people and places across seven centuries of Irish history.
Together, we are building a lasting and meaningful legacy from the Decade of Centenaries, democratizing access to invaluable records and illuminating seven centuries of Irish history.
Guiding Principles
Five Guiding Principles encapsulate the ethos of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland as a public good, and a unique framework that enables collaboration between memory institutions, academic research, and cutting-edge digital technologies.
Foundational Guiding Principle:
Democratizing Access
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is an open-access resource, freely and permanently available online to all those interested in Ireland’s deep history at home and abroad.
Enabling Principles
Deepening Collaborations
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland provides a framework for connecting Irish historical collections across the island and worldwide, thereby rediscovering our collective national memories.
Empowering Research
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland empowers research partnerships that harness specialist knowledge of Ireland’s historical collections, sparking the next generation of interdisciplinary research questions in history, archival studies, conservation and heritage science, Digital Humanities and Computer Science.
Innovating Technologies
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is an investment in Ireland’s digital future. It provides frontier technical solutions for unlocking the content of disparate historical documents, scattered across many repositories, within a common open-access and sustainable framework.
Inspiring Engagement
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland recognizes the vitality of Irish history at home and abroad, and aims to inspire personal research journeys, now and in coming generations, that connect the public and Irish diaspora with their shared history, ancestry and culture.
Founding Director, Peter Crooks
Peter is Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin. He is a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Peter is Founding Director of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland. Together with his colleague Dr Séamus Lawless, Peter was awarded competitive research funding in 2016 by the Irish Research Council to establish ‘Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury’. Between 2018 and 2019, Peter was Academic Coordinator of the Trinity Long Room Hub’s Multiannual Lecture Series entitled, ‘Out of the Ashes: Collective Memory, Cultural Loss and Recovery‘.
His primary research interest is in Ireland in the period 1171-1541 and, arising from that, in the wider ‘English world’ or ‘Plantagenet empire’ of which Ireland formed an integral part. Before returning to Trinity in 2013, he was a Past and Present Society Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and a Lecturer in Late Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. He has published widely on Irish and British medieval Irish history and is editor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of Britain, vol. 2: 1100–1500.
Peter has been active in Digital Humanities and archival collaborations for the past 15 years, notably delivering the CIRCLE project in 2012, a reconstruction of Irish chancery letters destroyed in 1922.
Founding Co-Director, Dr Séamus Lawless†
Beyond 2022 was co-founded by the late Dr Séamus (Shay) Lawless of Trinity College Dublin. Shay was a rising research star, an inspirational colleague, and a much loved and valued member of Trinity’s School of Computer Science and Statistics, ADAPT and the wider Trinity community.
Shay’s legacy is enormous. An expert in Information Retrieval, his peer-reviewed publications, supervision of cutting-edge doctoral research, and leadership of internationally-acclaimed research projects transformed and transcended the boundaries of his discipline. As a colleague and as a friend, Shay’s enthusiasm, creativity and his approach to his work was inspirational.
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is his academic legacy. His vision has been guiding us since his tragic death in 2019. We are proud to dedicate our work to Shay’s memory.
Timeline
1922
Destruction of Public Record Office of Ireland, one of the world’s first purpose-built archival repositories (est. 1867), at the start of the Civil War. One of Europe’s largest continuous State Record Collections, spanning over 700 years, is lost
Phase I: 2016-18
2016–18
Beyond 2022 established by Dr Peter Crooks and Dr Séamus Lawless (†2019) from a competitive grant awarded to Trinity College Dublin by the Irish Research Council in 2016
2018, Feb
Launch of concept by Linda Doyle, Vice President for Research, Trinity College Dublin, at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
2018, Nov
Three year multiannual international lecture series commences at Trinity Long Room Hub inspired by Beyond 2022: Out of the Ashes: Collective Memory, Cultural Loss and Recovery
2019
Second Phase guidance of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations identifies ‘Beyond 2022’ as a specific, legacy initiative from the State’s commemorative programme
Phase II: 2019-22
2019, 5 Dec
Launch of Phase II by An Taoiseach (Leo Varadkar) and the Minister for Culture at Dublin Castle, 5 December 2019. The Provost of Trinity College Dublin, Dr Patrick Prendergast, spoke. Funding of €2.5M approved for Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury research project under Project Ireland 2040 through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
2020, 30 June
98th Anniversary Research Showcase @ Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
2020, Sep
Recovered from the Flames Research Case @ Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
2021, 25 May
People, Place and Power Research Showcase with Local Government Archives and Record Managers launching publication on the Grand Jury in Ireland
2021 June
Digitally reconstructing Ireland’s lost archive: The National Archives UK Podcast
2021, 30 June
Deep History, Deepening Collaborations: 99th Anniversary Research Showcase @ The National Archives UK
2021—2
Participation in Decade of Centenaries Artists in Residence programme: Trinity Long Room Hub appoints Mairéad McClean as Artist in Residence
2022, 27 Jun
Launch of Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
