Thursday March 3rd saw the official launch of the Irish Archives Resource website, which allows users to search the collections of participating archives across Ireland. The site is a central hub for information and has the appearance of a search engine, where users can enter key words, names or subjects to search across multiple archives, or use an advanced search to look for specific archives, dates and locations.
The Irish Archives Resource is funded by the Heritage Council and supported by the Archive and Records Association Ireland. All kinds of archives upload descriptions of their collections, and so far contributors include city and county archives, university archives, business archives and more. The uploaded descriptions give an overview of the content of the collections, as well as providing contextual information on who created the collections, and why.
The IFI Irish Film Archive has been contributing its collection descriptions to the IAR website since summer 2010, making a selection of its collections searchable online for the first time. Users can browse the Archive’s holdings, or search for individual donors, films or filmmakers, locations or subjects.
Currently the collection descriptions available include those from production companies, cinemas, directors and amateur filmmakers, as well as the archives of the Irish Film Institute itself. The collections include material from Hell’s Kitchen Productions (producers of My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America); the Horgan Picture Theatre, a cinema open in Cork in the 1930s; amateur filmmaker and naturalist Conway Maxwell; and 1950s film producer Lord Killanin. The descriptions refer to both film and documents in the Archive, so researchers may stumble across a range of material from prop designs, scripts and posters to feature films or amateur travelogues.
As yet only a selection of the vast holdings of the IFI Irish Film Archive are represented on the IAR website, although this is being added to regularly. To find out more about the Archive’s holdings or to make an appointment to view archive material please contact archive@ifi.ie
Rebecca Grant
Document Archivist & Librarian
The Irish Archives Resource is funded by the Heritage Council and supported by the Archive and Records Association Ireland. All kinds of archives upload descriptions of their collections, and so far contributors include city and county archives, university archives, business archives and more. The uploaded descriptions give an overview of the content of the collections, as well as providing contextual information on who created the collections, and why.
Currently the collection descriptions available include those from production companies, cinemas, directors and amateur filmmakers, as well as the archives of the Irish Film Institute itself. The collections include material from Hell’s Kitchen Productions (producers of My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and In America); the Horgan Picture Theatre, a cinema open in Cork in the 1930s; amateur filmmaker and naturalist Conway Maxwell; and 1950s film producer Lord Killanin. The descriptions refer to both film and documents in the Archive, so researchers may stumble across a range of material from prop designs, scripts and posters to feature films or amateur travelogues.
As yet only a selection of the vast holdings of the IFI Irish Film Archive are represented on the IAR website, although this is being added to regularly. To find out more about the Archive’s holdings or to make an appointment to view archive material please contact archive@ifi.ie
Rebecca Grant
Document Archivist & Librarian
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