Dr Elva Johnston opens the lecture
On Saturday 5 October 2024, IMC participated in the Dublin Festival of History with a public lecture entitled Surprising Survivals: The fire of 1922. The lecture was jointly organised with the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) and celebrated the special issue of IMC’s serial publication Analecta Hibernica published in November 2023.
The focus of the event was three papers selected from Analecta Hibernica No. 53: Special Issue – The fire of 1922 highlighting documents which have survived in archives in Ireland, Britain, and the United States.
This well-attended lecture featured contributions from historians and conservators and offered the audience an insight into some of the more remarkable discoveries made in the aftermath of the fire. The speakers discussed a variety of topics, including previously unknown letters documenting the final days of the Public Record Office of Ireland before the fire, as well as the intense efforts to recover documents in the wake of the disaster.
Dr Ciarán Wallace (VRTI) presented a paper entitled Documentary disaster and digital recovery: the afterlife of the lost Public Record Office of Ireland in which he explored how modern digital technology is being employed to ‘reconstruct’ the PROI — both the records lost in the fire and the building in which they were housed. Dr Wallace discussed the work of the VRTI, which aims to digitally recreate the PROI’s vast collections, shedding new light on this once-forgotten institution and its lasting legacy in the digital age.
Jessica Baldwin (of the National Archives of Ireland) presented 1922 Salved Records: conserving Ireland’s ‘lost’ archive. In her talk, she explained how over 25,000 sheets of paper and parchment were saved from the rubble by staff of the Public Record Office of Ireland. She illustrated the innovative conservation techniques used to restore these records, and emphasized the significance of these fragile documents in preserving Ireland’s history.
Dr Timothy Murtagh (VRTI) concluded the series of talks with his presentation — Notes from the Chief Secretary’s Office: The letters of Edward Cooke, 1795–1802. Dr Murtagh examined surviving letters from Edward Cooke, a key official in the British administration in Ireland during the late 18th century, whose network of spies provided invaluable intelligence during a time of intense political unrest. These letters, which were preserved in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, offer a rare glimpse into Ireland’s revolutionary history during the 1790s.
Questions and discussion followed. This engaging lecture brought to light both the devastating loss and remarkable preservation of Ireland’s historical records, showcasing the resilience of archivists, historians, and conservators in the face of disaster.
