The annual Archives and Records Association campaign Explore Your Archive will run from 23rd November – 1st December, with a launch on Thursday 21st November in the Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin.
Explore Your Archive is a campaign that showcases the best of archives and archive services in Ireland and the UK. The campaign aims to open the phenomenal archival collections held by organisations – public and private – across Ireland and the UK, whatever their size and scale, and wherever they are.
Events
There’ll be various events happening during the launch week in archives around Ireland. Some highlights include “A beginner’s guide to using DNA for family history” by Martin McDowell, held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland on 28th November. More information can be found here: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/beginners-guide-using-dna-family-history; and “Cooking the Books”; a look at the cookery books of the National Library of Ireland held on 27th November in the NLI. More details available here: http://www.nli.ie/en/list/current-events.aspx?page=2&article=e042f4d5-7054-441a-b153-ef7ae33f68f7
For more information on events please see the ARA, Ireland Explore Your Archive page: https://araireland.ie/explore-your-archives
Explore Your Archive 2019, Ireland poster
Featured Archives
There will also be ‘featured archives’ which will give details of collections, archives and exhibitions from various organisations around Ireland. These will give an insight into a variety of archive collections, they’re research potential and the work that goes on behind the scenes in archives.
For more information on featured archives please see the ARA, Ireland Featured page: https://araireland.ie/featured-archives-people-events
Social Media
The campaign will also be very active on social media, with archives across Ireland tweeting, facebooking, instagramming and hashtagging their way through the week. There will be a different hashtag each day of the launch week, but you can also follow #ExploreYourArchive all year round to discover more. For more information follow the Archives and Records Association, Ireland’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The Launch
Kindly supported by the Irish Manuscript Commission, the ARA Ireland campaign will be launched on the evening of Thursday 21st November 2019 at 6:00 pm in the Irish Architectural Archive by the host of the Irish History Podcast, Fin Dwyer.
Niamh Ní Charra (ARA, Ireland Communication Officer), Fin Dwyer, Ambassador for Explore Your Archive 2019 and Joanne Carroll (ARA, Ireland Campaign’s Officer).
If you have any questions about the Explore Your Archive campaign please do not hesitate to contact me at jcarroll@nli.ie
Joanne Carroll, ARA Ireland Campaign’s Officer