Landmark exhibition explores 1926 Irish Census
The John J. Burns Library at Boston College is hosting a landmark exhibition charting the recently released records from the 1926 Census of Ireland, the first conducted after Ireland became a free state.
“The Story of Us,” on view until September 9, offers “a rare and vivid insight into the lives, homes, and communities that shaped a nation in transition,” according to exhibition organizers. Boston is among the first locations outside Ireland to explore these newly accessible records, “bringing to life a pivotal moment in Irish history through personal stories and archival detail.”
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media of Ireland Patrick O’Donovan was among those in attendance at the exhibition's opening event on May 12.
Browsing contemporary documents and images, audio-visual displays, and the census returns themselves—comprising more than 700,000 individual household returns—exhibition visitors can get an insight into what life was like in the newly independent Ireland of 1926: in towns, cities, the countryside and the islands, from urban tenements to the mansions of the aristocracy. Visitors can glimpse stories of work and daily life, language and culture, sport and entertainment, religion, gender, and the social realities of the new Ireland.
A companion book, The Story of Us: Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census, is available via the Irish Academic Press website.
Winston Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley holds copies of his relatives' census records, presented by the National Archives of Ireland.
An opening event at Boston College in May included speeches from National Archives of Ireland Director Orlaith McBride, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media Patrick O’Donovan, and Síghle FitzGerald, Consul General of Ireland in Boston.
The official launch of the 1926 Census earlier this year on the Irish National Archives’ website generated interest well beyond Ireland: More than one million users from the United States visited the site in its first week alone.
“It is an exciting privilege for Boston College to be selected as the U.S. site for the 1926 Irish Census exhibition,” said Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources and Burns Librarian Christian Dupont. “I hope that it not only promotes further awareness of the immense value of the Census online resource, but also the vast array of books and archives that we hold locally in Burns Library pertaining to Irish history and society.”