LAC Partners with the National Archives of Ireland

The Library and Archives of Canada www.collectionscanada.gc.ca is pleased to announce that the Archives of Ireland www.census.nationalarchives.ie has released the latest phase of "an online research tool for the Irish counties of Antrim, Kerry, and Down for 1911. The census records for all countries for 1911 and for 1901 will be made available online throughout 2009".

"With 70-million Irish diaspora around the world, and up to one-fifth of Canadians claiming Irish heritage, this project will connect even more people to their historical," stated Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

The LAC and the NAI collaborated on other projects including two Irish studies held in 2006 and 2008 (I attended this one*); the Irish-Canadian Documentary Heritage at the LAC, and the popular website, The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ireland.

Making these records accessible online will give genealogists and historians around the world the chance to explore the age, occupation, religion, and marital status of individuals. It will also allow research on Irish on Irish society of the early 20th century. The National Archives of Ireland have provided vibrant historical essays on topics such as social life, government, sport, and religion, and the photographs depicting life in Ireland in 1911.

The census records can search free of charge, and it is searchable by name.

* (For more on the 2008 Irish Studies I attended, please visit these four pages):

1. http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/09/irish-studies-symposium.html
2. http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/10/irish-symposium-2008-at-library-and.html
3. http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/11/library-and-archives-canada-launches.html
4. http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/12/450-years-of-fishing.html

450 Years of Fishing

At the recent Irish Studies Symposium held at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Dr. Willeen Keough——who is the Assistant Professor of History at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC——gave a talk entitled, "Good Looks Don't Boil the Pot: Irish-Newfoundland Women as Fish (-producing) Wives on the Southern Avalon".

She is in the middle of collecting the stories of the wives of fishermen who gave their lives to the industry by salting fish on the land and in giving their husbands' support. She is studying the interaction between the wives with each other, and with their husbands.

Along with this is a website which explores the fishing industry of Newfoundland called, "The Newfoundland Salt Fisheries: a Digital Exhibit" at <www.therooms.ca/ic_sites/fisheries/index.html>.

There are "Salt-Fish Essays: Life & Work in the Newfondland Salt Fisheries", which is comprised of six essays on the salt fishery in Newfoundland, and two more new ones - "Fishing the Labrador Coast" and "Growing Up in a Cove: Slide Shows", which have pictures of women's work in fishery, and in daily life. Other sections include "Photo Galleries" (over 120 new photos have been added); "Audio and Video Library: Memories and Moving Pictures of the Salt Fisheries" (listen to the people talk about their lives in the fishery; "Salt-Fish Education"; and "Maps and Manuscipts".

Library and Archives Canada Launches Flickr

As a part of the Irish Symposium which took place at the LAC Monday and Tuesday at the beginning of this month, the LAC has put 84 images of the Irish-Canadian connection on www.flickr.com/photos/28853433@N02.

"The objective of the project is to explore new ways to improve access to Canada's documentary heritage," said Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "Library and Archives Canada is excited about the opportunities that social media sharing communities provide for Canadians to discuss and contextualize an important selection of our collective history."

Visitors to Flickr.com can comment and tag the content of the pictures, and can explore history in the context of their surroundings by navigating the album on a virtual map of the world.

I was on the exhibit twice in the past few days, and find it to be very good. It gives both the Irish and Canadian view of each other from the turn of the 19th century, and it rounds out the perception of the Irish-Canadian had of each other of that time.

LAC is planning to put videos on YouTube later in the year.

Irish Symposium 2008 at Library and Archives Canada

The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is holding its second Irish Studies Symposium on November 3 & 4. The first one was held in Ottawa in 2006.

The door will be open at 8:30 for the two days, and the sessions will be held until 5:00 p.m on the first day and until 7:00 p.m. the second day. A book launch of A Story to be Told: Personal Reflections on the Irish Emigrant Experience in Canada, which is a collection of stories of about 128 Irish Emigrants to Canada, will be held the second day from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m..

There will be six sessions and one roundtable panel that will cover topics such as -

The Irish in Quebec

- Famine and Commemoration

- Politics: Shifting Attitudes and Political Impact

- The 1911 Census of Ireland

- Irish Culture: Print, Music, Food, and Film

- Irish History and Modern Media

- Directions in Irish Canadian Studies

Some of the people attending will be Irish historian and noted author on Grosse-Île, Sister Marianna O'Gallagher from Quebec, Dr. Diarmid Ferriter from Boston College, and Dr. Catherine Cox, Director for the Center for the History of Medicine in Ireland.

The cost to attend the symposium is FREE but an RSVP is required.

To attend the symposium, simply call 613.992.2618 or e-mail <webservices@lac-bac.gc.ca>. The webpage is <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ireland/033001-1001-e.html>.

OGS has established SIG Irish Palatine Group

The Ontario Genealogical Society <www.ogs.on.ca> has established its first Special Interest Group (SIG) - the Irish Palatine Interest Group. It will be organized and have the same status as a branch but will not be tied to a specific geographical region. Because it is considered as a branch, the number of branches increases to 31 from 30, and you can get to it by going on the "Branches" section at the top of the first page of the OGS website.

The Palatines were Protestants who left the German Palatinate in 1709 (their 300th anniversary will be next year) at the invitation of Queen Anne of England. They settled in various British colonies, and 185 families settled in Ireland.

Beginning in the 1830s, many of the Irish Palatine moved to Canada, especially Ontario. Those people with surnames such as Heck, Embury, Dolmage, Switzer, Sparling, Fizzel, Teskey, Lawrence, Barkman, and Ruckle.

As the SIG-IP (Special Interest Group - Irish Palatine) is open to any person who sees value in exploring the common heritage of German language, Protestant religion, migration to Ireland, and many ties of marriage to other Irish Palatine families.

As a SIG-IP group within the OGS, the group will develop regular communications with its members - including a website*. It will offer opportunities for sessions at the annual OGS conference and will produce occasional publications to inform its members of Irish Palatine history and genealogy.

It has taken quite a while to set up the group because I first reported on this group in the July 2008 edition of the NewsLeaf (Vol 38, No 3 p. 52).

The OGS is interested in forming other SIGs and seeks suggestions. They hold the library of the now-defunct Huguenot Society of Canada, and they would like to form a Huguenot SIG. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were expelled from France.

For information on this or to suggest other SIGs, email the office at <provoffice@ogs.on.ca>.

* They currently have a website "Irish Palantines" which celebrates their 300th Anniversary at <http://web.mac.com/bobfizzell/iWeb/Bob%27sHome/IrishPalatinesHome.html>. But they will have a new website which will reflect their statue as the new SIG-IP.

Irish Studies Symposium

The Library and Archives Canada will host the second Irish Studies Symposium at the LAC, 395 Wellington Street, on November 3 and 4th. The general public is invited - free of charge.

The first symposium was held in September 23, 2006 and, since then, much activity has taken place between the LAC and the National Archives of Ireland e.g. certain counties have been put on to date from the Irish Census of 1901 and 1911. It has been put on the Internet with the LAC's help.

There will be six sessions and one round-table panel, and they will cover

- The Irish in Quebec

- Famine and Commemoration

- Politics: Shifting Attitudes and Political Impact

- The 1911 Census of Ireland

- Irish Culture: Print, Music, Food, and Film

- Irish Culture and Modern Media

- Directions in Irish Canadian Studies (Round-Table)

There is also an exhibit called "The Dubliners: Photographs from the National Library of Ireland" which is, as the website says "a unique photographic record of life in Dublin at the turn of the last century."

The exhibit is on until Jan 5, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, and is in Exhibition Room C. It is free.

For questions about the upcoming symposium, please contact <webservices@lac-bac.gc.ca>.