The collection comprises a portion of the 1916 diary of the stained glass artist, painter and illustrator, Michael Healy (1873-1941); specifically it is the period from 20th April to 17th May which encompasses the days before the Rising, the event itself, and the aftermath.

The collection is supplemented with related material gathered and prepared by art historian Dr. David Caron in the course of his Doctoral research on the work of Michael Healy. This material includes typed transcripts of each diary page, a watercolour image of a design for a stained glass window for Clongowes College, and an illustration of the Túr Gloine studio made by the artist Patrick Pollen.

At the end of 2014 the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) ran a competition to mark the Decade of Centenaries (1912-1922). This period marks a significant time in modern Irish history and provides an important juncture for both national reflection and commemoration. As champions of long-term digital preservation, the Decade of Centenaries Award was established by DRI in order to engage with custodians of valuable digital heritage material. Digital archivists from DRI provided best practice guidance and digital preservation services to the three winners – the National Irish Visual Arts Library, Dublin City Archives and the Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives, and specially selected material from each institution was prepared for ingestion and display in DRI’s repository.