Irish History Research Resource List
A master list of resources for researching Irish history that I hope to update regularly. Still under construction.
- Archives & Primacy Sources, Online & Offline
- Libraries, Bibliography, Biography & Directories
- General History Research Tools & Resources
- Journals Specialising in Irish History
- Journals Which May Include Irish History Occasionally
- Organisations
- Websites, Blogs, Podcasts & Radio
Archives & Primacy Sources, Online & Offline
- Irish Archives Resource An online service to find and search archive records from across Ireland.
- Archives Portal Europe Searchable content from archives over Europe.
- Consortium of European Research Libraries Resources Has various online listings and bibliographies related to European history.
- Irish Architectural Archive Material relating to architecture, some digitised.
- National Archives of Ireland A large and wide ranging archive with many government records, has digitised census records.
- National Library of Ireland A legal deposit library with a vast array of archival material and access to secondary sources both online and in physical copies, free membership.
- The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) An archive with many online resources, recordings and interviews.
- The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)
- Digital Repository Ireland A digital repository with a wide range of accessable primary source collections related to Irish history.
- Divided Society A large collection of material related to the conflict in the north of Ireland.
- Europeana A Europe wide archive of digitised materials with many items related to Ireland.
- Irish Newspaper Archive A large archive of digitised newspapers, not open access.
- Irish Script on Screen A digital repository of Irish manuscripts.
- CELT Corpus of Electronic Texts A large database of searchable texts from many periods in variety of languages, with translations for many. A great range of texts in easily workable formats
- National Archives: Census of Ireland Digitised versions of the census of Ireland 1901/1911 and Census fragments and substitutes, 1821-51.
- oireachtas.ie The official site of the Oireachtas, has transcribed and searchable Dáil and Seanad records.
- Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland A digital reconstruction of the destroyed Public Record Office of Ireland with high quality digitisations of material held elsewhere.
- Irish Left Archive Digitised archive of materials related to the modern Irish left from the 20th century to the present day.
- Historical Irish Corpus A searchable corpus of Irish language material from 1600 - 1926 produced by the Royal Irish Academy
- dippam Acronym for Documenting Ireland: Parliament, People and Migration. A rich and well digitised online archive comprise three different projects; Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, Irish Emigration Database and Voices of Migration and Return.
- Irish Republican Digital Archive Archive of republican material, the vast majority of which from the latter half of the 20th century.
- Irish Catholic Archives
- Military Archives
- The Irish Manuscripts Commission Website for the manuscripts commission, has many digitised primary sources available in PDF format.
- Sources for Irish Women’s History
- The National Archives The British national archives, contains much Irish material.
- Library of the Royal Irish Academy
- Tailte Éireann Registry of Deeds, Surveying & Valuation Records.
- AINM National Database of Irish Language Biographies
- University of Galway Library Archive Catalogue
- Archaeology National Monuments Service
- CDI Celtic Digital Initiative
- Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, Corpus of The Gaelic Journal
- CIRCLE 2.0 Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters
- Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940
- The Down Survey of Ireland
- EEBO, Early English Books Online
- Heritage maps
- Irish Historic Towns Atlas
- British History Online
- Irish Sagas Online
- Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae
- Landed Estates A database of landed estates and historic houses in Connacht, Munster and the counties of Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan, c.1700–1914
- Placenames Database of Ireland
- National Built Heritage Service
- RASCAL Research and Special Collections Available Locally
- UCD Historic Maps Collection
- The British Museum Online Collection Good for material culture.
Libraries, Bibliography, Biography & Directories
- Internet Archive Incredibly wide ranging free library, with major primary and secondary sources available.
- Bibliography of British and Irish History Large and regularly maintained bibliography, not open access.
- Irish History Online A large and free bibliography of Irish history as of 2025 maintained by volunteers.
- portraidi A directory of Irish language writers currently working.
- Dictionary of Irish Biography A free and open access dictionary of biography.
- CORA Cork Open Research Archive
- MURAL Maynooth University Research Archive Library
- OAPEN An online library of free open access academic books, many about Irish history.
- Directory of Open Access Books A large directory of open access books. Most not related to Irish History.
- The Online Books Page Maintained by the University of Pennsylvania, a large catalogue of books freely available online.
- Queen’s University Belfast Research Portal
- Research Repository University College Dublin
- TARA Trinity Access to Research Archive
- University of Galway Research Repository
- University of Limerick Research Repository
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
General History Research Tools & Resources
- The Programming Historian A great resource with loads of easy to follow guides for digital humanities projects and techniques.
- Doing History with Zotero and Obsidian A detailed guide to a useful workflow for history research.
- Family History, National Library of Ireland Guides and resources for researching family history.
Journals Specialising in Irish History
- Dublin Historical Record
- Irish Historical Studies
- Irish Economic and Social History
- Irish Studies Review
- Éire-Ireland
- New Hibernia Review
- Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature
- Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review
- Eolas: Journal of the American Society for Irish Medieval Studies
- North American journal of Celtic studies
- Irish University Review
- Eighteenth-Century Ireland
- Studia Hibernica
Journals Which May Include Irish History Occasionally
- Sport in History
- History of European Ideas
- Nineteenth-Century Contexts
- The Journal of Legal History
- Journal of Modern European History
- History of Education Quarterly
- History of Education
- Church History
- Eighteenth-Century Life
- Victorian Studies
- Rural History
- Enterprise & Society
- Business History
- Studies in History
- Urban History
- Law and History Review
- Social Science History
- The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
- The American Historical Review
- Immigrants & Minorities
- Diplomatic History
- Journal of Contemporary History
- Contemporary European History
- Settler Colonial Studies
- Intellectual History Review
- Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
- International Journal of Maritime History
- Labor History
- Contemporary British History
- Women’s History Review
- Journal of the History of Sexuality
- Memory Studies
- Cultural and Social History
- Science in Context
- Architectural History
- Victoriographies: A Journal of the Long Nineteenth Century
- Journal of British Studies
- British Catholic History
- The Historical Journal
- Irish Studies in International Affairs
- The Historian
- Medieval Archaeology
- The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
- The Public Historian
- The English Historical Review
- Cold War History
- Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
- First World War Studies
- The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
- Social History of Medicine
- Interventions, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies
- Victorian Periodicals Review
- Family & Community History
- Journal of Design History
Organisations
- Irish Committee of Historical Sciences
- Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement
- Genealogical Society of Ireland
- Economic and Social History Society of Ireland
- Irish Labour History Society Organisation which publishes and archives material related to Irish labour.
- Celtic Studies Association of North America
Websites, Blogs, Podcasts & Radio
- Three Castles Burning A podcast of Dublin history by Donal Fallon.
- The History Show A radio show on Irish history produced by RTE radio 1.
- Archiseek Online catalogue of Irish Architecture.
- Century Ireland Website produced by RTE for the decade of centenaries, with many articles and videos relating to the revolutionary period.
- Stories of the Four Courts Wonderful Irish legal history blog.