Library Guides: History of Ireland: Primary Sources

Other Primary Sources

National Library of Ireland
Features a large, searchable database of manuscripts, newspaper articles, and photos from antiquity to modern times.
Irish National Archives
A collection of searchable records including church parish surveys and census data.
Irish Manuscript Comission
A collection of Irish manuscript material available for viewing and purchase.
EuroDocs History of Ireland: Primary Documents
This is a list of primary documents in Irish history compiled by the Brigham Young University Library.

Finding Medieval Sources

A Quick Guide to Finding Primary and Secondary Medieval Sources
Provides both general and specific guidance on locating both primary and secondary medieval sources.

What's a Primary Source?

A primary source is any record contemporary to an event or time period. Primary sources may be written, oral, visual or physical. Some of these sources were produced with the intent of being preserved for the future. Such intentional sources include government documents, church records, autobiographies or memoirs. On the other hand, many primary sources were produced without any intent of future use. Such unintentional sources may include private correspondence not originally meant for posterity but which later are deposited in archives and libraries. Physical evidence such as buildings, clothing, tools, and landscapes may also be labeled as unintentional sources.

--Galgano, Michael J., J. Christopher Arndt, and Raymond M. Hyser. Doing History: Research and Writing in the Digital Age. Cengage Learning, 2007, p. 57.

Primary Source Databases

C19: The Nineteenth Century Index
Provides access to nineteenth-century books, periodicals, official documents, newspapers and archives. Includes Palmer's Index to The Times, Periodicals Index Online, Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, and Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, among others.
Date Coverage: 1790-1919

Maximum Users: Unlimited

Truncation:
Truncation: *; Wildcard: ?

Help: http://c19index.chadwyck.com/help/contents.jsp
ECCO - Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Contains English-language titles and editions based on the English Short Title Catalogue, made available online over the course of the next two years.
Date Coverage: 1701-1800

Maximum Users: Unlimited

Truncation:
Truncation: *; Wilcard: ?

Search Guide: http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO?locID=morenetuomcolum&ste=24
Early English Books Online
Provides full text, digital images of almost every book printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and every book in the English language printed abroad from 1470-1700.
Access provided through a partnership of the English Department, the College of Arts and Science and the MU Libraries.

Date coverage: 1475-1700

In the First Person
In the First Person, a free web resource, is an in-depth index of more than 4,000 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world. It allows keyword searching more than 700,000 pages of full-text by more than 18,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to some 4,300 audio and video files and 30,000 bibliographic records. Some items under copyright may be purchased through subscription.

Finding Primary Sources in the Library Catalog

There are certain words that appear in the subject headings of items in the UM LIBRARIES CATALOG that constitute primary sources. The most important of them is sources, but there are others.

In the simple keyword search box, you can put such words after SU: in order to specify the SUBJECT field.

ex.: british east india and SU:sources

In the advanced keyword search, you can put your search term(s) in the top box, and in the second box, put the word(s) you're using to locate primary sources in the next box, and change the drop-down menu to Subject:

Keywords that will help you find primary sources:

sources
correspondence
sermons
diaries
personal narratives
interviews
quotations
collections
speeches
manuscripts
archives

Depending on the period being studied, it can also be helpful to limit your search by publication date.

More keywords identifying primary sources in Library of Congress Subject Headings

Using C19

Here is a guide to help you navigate the C19 Database.

C19 Databases
by Rhonda Whithaus Last Updated Jun 20, 2017 4 views this year

Parliamentary Papers

Use this guide to help locate Parliamentary Papers having to do with Ireland.

Parliamentary Papers at MU
by Rachel Brekhus Last Updated Jun 19, 2024 310 views this year

Using Special Collections

Searching Special Collections in MERLIN
by Special Collections Reference Account Last Updated Jun 14, 2021 9 views this year

Irish Parliament

Irish House of Commons Papers
Here is an example of a resource available in the Special Collections and Rare Books Microfilm section, covering the years 1781-1791:
Ireland. Parliament. House of Commons. PARLIAMENTARY REGISTER: OR, HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF IRELAND.
Dublin: National Library of Ireland,
4 reel(s)

more...less...
During the period covered by these legislative debates, Ireland was struggling for self-rule. Until this period, Great Britain had severely limited the powers of the Irish Parliament. In 1782 Great Britain granted legislative freedom to an all-Protestant Irish Parliament. Although this Parliament restored many rights to the Catholic people, it refused to give them full political rights. Issues addressed by the House of Commons include public works, import and export trade, tariffs, regulation of local merchant practices, improvement of fisheries, military matters, agriculture, and voting rights.

History of Ireland: Primary Sources