Special Collections: Digitisation Project 2018

Timed to coincide with the move of the Archive of the Irish in Britain to purpose-built facilities in the University's Special Collections at Aldgate, this project aimed to digitise tens of thousands of documents and other material and making them accessible online for research and private study.

Amongst the collections being digitised were:

• the St. Patrick's Day Programme Collection
• the papers of the late 19th century London Irish writer, Winifred M. Patton
• the historical records of the London Irish Centre and the Irish County Associations
• ephemera of the Gaelic League of London

Initially funded by the Irish government's Emigrant Support Programme, the primary purpose of the project was to ensure that the historical and contemporary records of the Irish in Britain are preserved for posterity and disseminated, as widely as possible, for the benefit of current and future generations of Irish people at home and abroad.

Digitisation is enhancing awareness of Irish history and helping to engender a better understanding of specific welfare and cultural needs, helping to foster a more cohesive sense of community. Most of the physical collections in the Archive are not on open access for preservation reasons - and therefore providing access to the digitised collections to members of the Irish community and the public enables access for those prevented from viewing them due to geographical distance or impaired mobility.

By protecting, sharing and celebrating the heritage of the Irish in Britain, this project is raising awareness and deepens understanding of the Irish diaspora. Digitisation of this largely untapped resource is opening the Archive's contents to a much wider constituency and offers a new way for the Irish community in Britain to communicate and interconnect. It includes cataloguing of the digitised collections and online access to an extensive information base for research and study by individual researchers and community practitioners.

By raising awareness and appreciation of Irish Community history, this project is nurturing a sense of pride in Ireland and Irish identity abroad and helping to contribute to the strengthening of Irish-British relations now and in years to come.

The collections can now be searched at the Archive of the Irish in Britain catalogue.

Copyright Notice: The images in the Irish in Britain Collection remain the property of the Creators and as such come under Copyright law. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents is forbidden without the express permission of the said Creators and Copyright holders.

For permission requests, information about the project or any Copyright permission requests, please contact: specialcollections@londonmet.ac.uk

The collections can now be searched at the Archive of the Irish in Britain database.

Notice and takedown policy