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ILHS DCLA collaboration

DOI

10.7486/DRI.1r66xr562

Description

A collaborative digitisation project by the Dublin City Library and Archive and the Irish Labour History Society.

The Irish Labour History Society (ILHS) was established in 1973, with founding objectives including:

• to promote the knowledge of Irish labour and of Irish people in labour history abroad and labour history in general
• to promote the appreciation of the importance of labour history in the educational curriculum
• to promote the preservation of all records and reminiscences, oral and written, relating to the current and past experiences of the Irish working class and its organisations
• to further the above objectives by promoting lectures, events and printed matter on subjects relevant to the purpose of the Society.

From its origins, the Society and its members have actively collected – and often saved from oblivion – important labour history records and archival material relating to the wider labour movement and to Irish workers and their representatives. The UCD Archives Department were particularly helpful in the early years, often assisting in the rescue and subsequent deposit of invaluable trade union records. The opening of the ILHS Museum & Archive in Beggars Bush in 1990 became a focal point for the deposit of archival labour history material.

This continues today, with frequent donations and deposits. Much work was undertaken in the following years, with particularly strong support from the trade union movement, to conserve and list items in the collections.

The ILHS Archive today includes well over one hundred deposits of labour history material, from corporate organisations and individuals. Among the most significant collections are those of the Communication Workers Union and their forerunners, Workers Union of Ireland material, Irish Transport & General Workers Union collections, teaching union records; along with private manuscript collections from significant individuals such as Cathal O’Shannon, William Norton and John de Courcy Ireland.

Dublin City Libraries have a longstanding mission which includes undertaking actions to preserve, share and promote the record of Dublin and Irish heritage and to actively lead and contribute to collaborative projects locally in Dublin.

They are also committed to develop the range of online resources and services available for free to library patrons and to promote access to, and use of, the widest possible range of digital library and archive collections and resources both locally and online.

In 2021 the ILHS and Dublin City Libraries undertook a programme of co-operation to catalogue, digitise and make available online a small selection of the holdings of the Society. Their publication here provides a wide range of researchers, history enthusiasts and general readers with access to this important material.

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