Focus on Resources: dublinheritage.ie

Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive attracts in excess of 3 million visitors through its doors each year, as well as catering for over 0.75 million online visits. These visits, including the virtual, result in access and use of a whole range of resources and services. Here we would like to draw your attention to one such online resource provided courtesy of your library service, namely dublinheritage.ie.

dublinheritage.ie was initially set up to provide access to a large number of parish records, namely the databases of baptisms, marriages and burials for Dublin parishes. These records have since been incorporated into the Irish Genealogy website and form a significant portion of the total records available on that website.

While the parish records may no longer be available on dublinheritage.ie, there are a number of other databases available on the site that are of great value to researchers. First up is the 'Community Memory' database (selected via drop-down menu) of all those named on commemorative plaques around the city - in churches, public institutions and open spaces. Gravestones and house commemorative plaques are not included. This database contains nearly 15,000 records.

Left: Robert Emmet plaque record (click image to view larger version)

The Electoral Lists (1939-40) database is a list of those registered to vote in Dublin city in Dáil and local elections. The database covers the year 1939-1940 (c. 280,000 records). To view the records, you will first need to download and install the free DjVu viewer. (More about the Electoral Lists database).

The Directory of Dublin Graveyards covers all graveyards in the Dublin area (i.e. Dublin City; Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown; Fingal; and South Dublin) and gives information on location, contact details for those in charge, the titles of published gravestone transcripts (available in most research libraries), links to online gravestone transcripts, the location of surviving burial records and other information of interest about the graveyard. (More about the Directory of Dublin Graveyards).

The listing of Ancient Freemen of Dublin records all those admitted to the freedom of Dublin by the civic governing body, the Dublin City Assembly. The records cover the period from 1461 to 1491, and 1564 to 1774. There are 23,257 records from the Thrift Index and 1,914 records from the 'beseeches' in total. (More about the Ancient Freemen of Dublin Listing).

And there's more! The Media Zone contains a wealth of recordings of history and heritage talks, including the annual Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lectures, the series of monthly lunchtime lectures held at the Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, and more besides. Recordings are sometimes accompanied by presentations so you can almost experience the full event as though you were there!

The Dublin Diary is a record of notable happenings in Dublin during the current month down through the years, even recording events from previous centuries.

Information is also provided about various historic collections available in the Dublin City Library and Archive in Pearse Street, as well as a listing of local and family history associations, and other heritage resources.

Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive has many publications for sale, and the list can be accessed on the site also. On occasion heritage-related events are publicised, most notably during Heritage Week, which takes place this year (2012) from the 18th to the 26th August. 

So head on over to dublinheritage.ie and start tapping the wealth of information provided via this wonderful resource!