Exhibition celebrating new 1926 census archive opens in Tipperary
Census 1926: The Story of Us is open to the public until the end of November
Tipperary Studies in partnership with the National Archives of Ireland is delighted to host the Census 1926: The Story of US national touring exhibition.
The exhibition will be on display in The Gallery at Thurles Library until November 21.
Local Studies Librarian Stephanie Woods opened proceedings for the official opening evening on Tuesday, November 4, welcoming everyone in attendance to Thurles Library, before handing over to Tipperary County Council Cathaoirleach Fiona Bonfield, who spoke of the importance of having such an exhibition in Tipperary, before declaring the exhibition officially open.
She handed the rostrum over to Orlaith MacBride, Director of the National Archive, who spoke of the incredible reception the new website has garnered since its launch in April, with over 40,000,000 visitors exploring the site from around the world, hoping to find their relatives from generations gone.
She spoke of the monumental effort that went into archiving every single census form from the 1926 census, with every form from the time surviving, and just 70,000 requiring physical restoration.
She said that millions of pieces of data were recorded and transformed into a structured database.
County Librarian Damian Dullaghan spoke next, expressing his delight in seeing the exhibition coming to Thurles for the month of November.
Closing out the night, Dr Rachel Murphy of the University of Limerick, delved into some local stories from the census, showing that each census form tells many different stories of the lives lived at the time, many of which would otherwise have been lost to time.
She drew particular attention to one Thurles family who had three children at the time the census was undertaken, the eldest two of which were both born in Canada, with the third born in Thurles, leading to Dr Murphy delving into the family’s history, managing to track down the family’s further story, and unearthing their emigration story, and their settled life back in Thurles.
You can view ‘The Story of Us’ in Thurles Library from now until November 21.
You can also explore the 1926 census on nationalarchives.ie.