Explore Your Archive!

The annual Archives and Records Association’s campaign ‘Explore Your Archive’ launch week will run from 17^th – 25^th November with a launch on Thursday 15^th November in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin.

Explore Your Archive is a campaign that showcases the best of archives and archive services in Ireland and the UK. It aims to open the phenomenal archival collections held by organisations – both public and private – across Ireland and the UK, whatever their size and scale, and wherever they are.

Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland: Transatlantic Flights in Clare, aircraft and crowds, May 1934 (IND H 2858)

Events

There will be various events such as exhibitions, lectures and tours happening during the launch week in archives around Ireland. Some highlights include ‘1918 and the Vote’: a half day conference exploring the general election of December 1918 and what records exist relating to voting, held in PRONI, Belfast on Thursday 22^nd November; and ‘Within a Mile of Dublin’: a 3-part live radio broadcast series of performances and interviews, focusing on bringing the archival collections of the Irish Traditional Music Archive to life, held at the ITMA, Dublin, Thursday 22^nd – Saturday 24^th November and broadcast on Near FM.

For more information on events please see the Explore Your Archive events page.

Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland, Poster (Great Britain. Parliamentary Recruiting Committee), no. 43; EPH F66

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. Keep an eye on the Explore Your Archive website for more information on this.

Social Media

The campaign will also be very active on social media, with archives across Ireland and the UK tweeting, facebooking and hashtagging their way through the week. There will be a different hashtag each day of the launch week, but you can also follow #explorearchives all year round to discover more. For more information follow the Archives and Records Association, Ireland Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland, Clarke Photographic Collection; CLAR115

Joanne Carroll, Campaigns Officer, Archives and Records Association, Ireland