Donegal County Archives Services collections for Schools and

Donegal County Archives Services & collections for Schools and Teachers Niamh Brennan County Archivist, Donegal County Council

Donegal County Archives ØPart of Culture Division, Donegal Co Council. ØEstablished in 1999. Remit is the whole county. ØIn temporary premises based in Lifford. ØOne staff member. ØPrivate and public collections from across the county. ØServices include to researchers, outreach, schools packs, exhibitions, events, website, Facebook /Twitter

Donegal County Archives’ Mission • ‘Donegal County Archives seeks to preserve the inheritance of the people of Donegal for present and future generations by preserving, acquiring and making accessible the documented heritage of the County’.

County Archives Services Ø Research room at Three Rivers Centre, accessible by appointment. Ø Outreach events, e. g. , Bealtaine reminiscences, Heritage Week events; lectures, talks etc. Ø Peace IV Echoes of the Decade - Decade of Centenaries: main focus: events of 1920. .

Educational publications • • • Teachers’ Guide to Archives Resources Primary school Facsimile Pack, Flight of the Earls study pack, Ulster Plantation pack, Donegal and the Decade of Change pack, Donegal and 1916 studey pack.

The Collections Public collections including: • Local authority collections- Grand Jury, PLU (BG), RDC’s, UDC’s, Co Council; • National School records; • Board of Health & Public Assistance; • Selection of court records. • Electoral records. • Valuation records. • Co Committee of Agriculture

The Collections Privately acquired collections ØPhotographs, postcards ØEstate papers ØRailways ØLiterary papers ØDonegal Historical Society ØBusiness records ØPolitical papers

Donegal Grand Jury ØMain local Authority until 1898. Administrative and Court duties; Comprised largest landowners; Ø Services: infrastructure; running of County Jail, hospitals, schools, prisons, piers and harbours; upkeep of deserted children. ØUseful for Teaching of 19 th century social history.

Donegal Grand Jury

Workhouses: Boards Of Guardians 1840 – 1923; ØPoor Law Union minutes/registers etc: c. 1, 000 items; Ø 8 workhouses in county: Ballyshannon, Donegal Town, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Inishowen (Carndonagh), Letterkenny, Milford, Stranorlar; ØBoards of Guardians were responsible for running and administration of the workhouses; Ø

Workhouses- Board of Guardians, 1840 - 1923 ØInsight into poor relief and social conditions in county from the famine to the early 20 th Century; ØDuties expanded over time to encompass all local government functions; ØAdmission, indoor and outdoor Relief Registers; ØMedical Charities Acts: dispensaries, vaccinations, boarding-out orphaned children.

Workhouses- Board of Guardians, 1840 - 1923 ØUseful for teachersØPrimary School: Life in 19 th Century/Junior ØLeaving Cert: curriculum/research project. Ø Social history: poverty, historic diseases; life of children; emigration; working life; diet etc. ØConcept of Primary sources introduced. Ø

Find My Past project

Find My Past • www. findmypast. ie • Workhouse records are online, and available to view online by prior appointment at libraries in Co Donegal.

Petty Sessions/ Lifford Jail Turnkey register, 1800 s • Mainly for Ballyshannon; also Buncrana • and Newtowncunningham; and on www. findmypast. ie For Teachers: Social history; poverty; petty and serious crime and sentencing; life in jail; life ‘on the land’.

Rural & Urban District Councils ØIn existence from 1899 - 1925 Ø 10 RDCs: Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Stranorlar, Strabane no. 2, (London)Derry No 2, Letterkenny, Inishowen, Ballyshannon, 1899 - 1925. ØInvolved in Roads, Building Labourers’ Cottages, Public Health and Sanitation. ØLife during the War of Independence and Civil War.

Rural District Councils, 1898 – 1925 ØFor Teachers: primary/second level ØLabourers’ Cottages and Roads: social/economic history; ØPartition/War of Independence material.

Donegal County Council ØEstablished under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898. ØFunctions include: Roads/footpaths, Housing, Planning, Environment (Water and Sewerage), Libraries, Parks, Arts etc. Ø

Donegal County Council ØOF interest to Teachers: ØLegal deeds & first Motor Tax register (19 th- early 20 th c. ) - – history of landowning families ØValuation books & surveys (19 th/20 th centuries) : social, local, family history, records of farms, shops, homes and transfer of land ownership. ØMinutes of meetings: political and local activities. ØElectoral registers- family & local history. ØHousing- social, local history.

County Donegal Committee of Agriculture ØLetters & Minutes of meetings of Donegal Co Committee of Agriculture, 1901 – 1930, subjects include training in various agricultural endeavours, garden, cottage, farm prize schemes; flax shows etc. Ø For Teachers: Leaving Cert research projects: Social, rural history:

Schools Records • Lifford Endowed Schools, 1879 – 1970’s: • • rollbooks, registers, correspondence, minutes of school meetings; Primary schools from around the county, including rollbooks, registers and inspectors’ report books. Ray School 1794 – 1815, minutes and inspection register.

Schools Records • For Teachers: Primary & Second Level: • Social and local history: life in the 20 th century • rural Donegal; life of children’s grandparents; great grandparents; schooling in the past. Inspectors’ Reports a good source for second level research projects.

Private Collections – Landed Estates ØSteele Nicholsons, Falmore House, Gleneely; and Cochranes of Redcastle, Inishowen. ØMurray-Stewarts of South Donegal. Ø Alexander Stewart of Ards. ØMontgomerys of Convoy-, rentals, photos, letters, legal deeds. ØGroves of Castlegrove Ø For Teachers: all useful for Life in the 19 th Century; Junior and Leaving Cert projects.

Steele Nicholsons

Railway Records Ø Prints of trains, stations, lines etc, from various railway companies, including from east Donegal. ØBye-laws, legal docs, timetables, flyers etc. ØFor Teachers: transport records are useful for looking at life in the 19 th/first half of 20 th century- particularly good for primary students.

Oral History Recordings • Includes The Rabble – interviews with • • people hired out/people who employed people. From across county and Islands and Home from Home. Interviews based on Anne Mc. Menamin’s book When We Were Young. For Teachers: useful for all levels- social, local history

Political/Military Papers • Joseph Murray- vice brigadier, 4 th brigade, • south east Donegal, 1 st northern division, War of Independence. Army manuals, letters, memoranda, telegrams and reports. • Letters of James Grove during World War 1.

Political/Military Papers • For Teachers: collection and descriptive list is • • all online at www. donegalcoco. ie/culture/archives Very useful for Second level at Junior and Leaving Cert (Decade of Centenaries) projects, Documents can also be used for primary school projects – e. g. Photos, memoranda, letters.

Other Private Papers ØPhotographs: Towns; family albums; Tory Island; personal donations; ØDistrict Nursing Associations; ØDonegal Board of the GAA. Ø For Teachers: all useful for both primary and second level students, particularly research projects.

North West Film Archive • Archive comprised of films from across north • west, Donegal and Derry. Accessible in Lifford at County Archives and also at Derry’s Nerve Centre and in Co Museum in Letterkenny.

Archives online: www. donegalcoco. ie/culture/archives • • Gweedore Hotel Books, 1842 - 1874 Lifford Gaol (Jail) Turnkey Report book 1916 minutes of meetings of local authorities Fanad District Nursing Assoc. Rockhill House, Letterkenny Social life in West Donegal thesis, 1940 s Joseph Murray.

Archives online – • Teachers’ Note: • All useful particularly for second level • Leaving Cert projects- social, political, local, economic www. donegalcoco. ie/culture/archives

Gweedore Hotel book

Contact Details Archivist, Donegal County Archives Service, Three Rivers Centre, Lifford. 074 91 72490 archivist @ donegalcoco. ie www. donegalcoco. ie/archives www. facebook. com/Donegal. County. Archives Access is by Appointment Only Twitter @Donegal. Co. Archiv