News 2008
1
November 2008
APGI
members present genealogy course.
APGI
members Joan Sharkey, Hilda McGauley and Helen Kelly
will present a short course on genealogy at Macro
Community Centre, Green Street, Dublin in November.
The course will take place from 7.0pm to 8.30pm
on four consecutive Tuesday nights from the 4th
November.
1
November 2008
News
from APGI member Helen Kelly.
In
May 2008, Tourism Ireland, in conjunction with Fáilte
Ireland and TVNZ, sponsored a competition for television
viewers with Irish ancestry. The competition, which
attracted over 2,000 entries, was won by a young
New Zealand born woman with ancestral roots in Counties
Louth and Fermanagh. Her prize was a trip to the
Irish ancestral homelands, and included a two night
stay at the Shelbourne Renaissance Hotel in Dublin,
where the winner, Melissa, met with Helen Kelly,
the hotel’s Genealogy Butler.
In
summing up her trip, Melissa stated that meeting
with cousins at two surprise dinners was all way
beyond her widest dreams for the trip, and that
among the most moving moments for her was getting
her grandfather’s birth certificate during her Dublin
stay.
Five
short clips of Melissa's trip were shown on a breakfast
programme aired by TVNZ in late June. TVNZ are currently
putting together a documentary on Melissa's trip
which will be aired later this year.
---------------------
About
70 people attended a lecture on Irish genealogy
at Blanchardstown Library on Saturday morning 30th
August. The lecture, which was delivered by APGI
member Helen Kelly formed part of a programme of
Heritage events organised by Fingal County Libraries
to celebrate Heritage Week.
The
Blanchardston lecture was followed by two similar
lectures in September.
---------------------
On
Wednesday 3rd March Helen delivered a lecture to
the Association of Retired Secondary Teachers at
the Teachers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin, and
on Monday 29th September she gave a similar presentation
to a group of 30 people at National Learning Network
in Mullingar, County Westmeath.
17
September 2008
APGI
ASSIST IN MAJOR T.V. PRODUCTION
On
Monday 8th September 2008, at 9.30pm., R.T.E.1 broadcast
a one and a half hour programme entitled ‘Where
was your family in the Famine?’. The personalities
whose ancestry was being investigated were Eddie
Hobbs, the Financier; Model, Jasmine Guinness and
the Journalist, John Waters.
APGI
members Pamela Bradley, Robert Davison, Fiona Fitzsimons
(on behalf of Eneclann Ltd.) and Maire MacConghail,
were all involved in the research for the programme
which was produced by Animo of Dublin. Fiona and
Robert were both seen on screen, with Fiona assisting
Eddie Hobbs in the National Archives, Dublin, and
Robert assisting Jasmine Guinness and her mother
Liz in the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.
Commenting
on the making of the programme, Robert said; “Although
we were each working on different aspects of the
programme, this really was a team effort and a ‘first’
for APGI. Whilst a lot of the material that was
collected did not find its way into the broadcast,
it has to be left to the discretion and expertise
of the producers as to what they use. It’s a fine
balance getting an end product that is educational
and entertaining, and including the research work
that may not be so photogenic. I was lucky enough
to be involved in the location work in Belfast and
Co. Tyrone with Jasmine and Liz, and they were emotionally
moved to be on the farmland of their Casey ancestors.
”
17
September 2008
APGI
members Steven Smyrl and John Grenham will be giving
a talks at the Irish Family History Society meeting
on Saturday 4th October 2008. Steven will speak
on “Ireland’s Court records
– what survived 1922?” and John will talk on “The
new Dublin Freemen and Trade Guilds database”
For
further details see http://homepage.eircom.net/~ifhs/IFHSmtgs.htm
Venue
Dublin City Library & Archive,
138-144
Pearse St,
Dublin
2.
6
June 2008
Eileen
M. Ó Dúill, CG will be lecturing at the
Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 3rd September
to 6th September 2008. Her subjects will be:
Introduction
to Irish Genealogy: Where Do I Start?
Researching
in Ireland: Planning is the Key to Success.
The Role
of the 21st Century Genealogist in International
Legal and Probate Research.
For
more details see FGS
website
27
May 2008
National
Library allows public access to Roman Catholic parish
registers for Cashel & Emly, Cloyne and Kerry.
The
Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland
(APGI) welcomes today’s announcement from the National
Library of Ireland that they are once again to allow
public access to their microfilm copies of Roman
Catholic parish registers from the dioceses of Cashel
& Emly, Cloyne and Kerry.
At
APGI’s annual general meeting last December the
matter of restricted access and, in the case of
Cashel & Emly, total closure of these historical
records was raised. A resolution was passed calling
on the National Library to immediately lift all
such restrictions in accordance with a legal opinion
given as long ago as 1994, when the matter was the
subject of an article in Irish Roots magazine
(1994, Number 2, pp.23-24).
The
National Library’s collection of microfilms covers
the surviving pre-1881 baptismal and marriage records
of almost all Roman Catholic parishes throughout
Ireland. These records are fundamental to genealogical
research for most people of Irish descent. The registers
were microfilmed in the 1950s and 1960s. As they
then included records of living people, they were
made available only with the written permission
of the relevant parish priest. In the 1980s, through
the intervention of the then Chief Herald of Ireland,
Mr. Donal Begley, this requirement was lifted by
the relevant bishops for most dioceses, including
Cashel & Emly. Having unrestricted access to
these records revolutionised research for the thousands
of tourists who visited Ireland each year but who
had had limited time for family history research.
In
1991 the new Archbishop of Cashel & Emly, Dr.
Dermot Clifford, claimed copyright in the manuscript
parish registers and stated that he was giving the
Tipperary Heritage Unit (now known as Tipperary
Family History Research, and based in Tipperary
town) exclusive rights to provide and market information
from them. The holders of microfilm copies of the
registers, primarily the National Library and the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon
Church), were informed to withdraw the films from
public access. In 1992 the National Library did
so. For the past sixteen years no one has been allowed
to view the microfilms from Cashel & Emly.
In
1994 the National Library was supplied with a legal
opinion by Muireann O Briain, S.C., which dismissed
the notion of copyright in a manuscript which were
created for the purpose of maintaining records and
which was not ‘the work of one person or of joint
authorship’. Ms. O Briain further stated that even
if copyright were upheld anyone using microfilm
copies of the registers for research purposes would
not be infringing any such copyright. It is believed
that the National Library subsequently commissioned
further legal opinions which did not differ materially
from Ms. O Briain’s, but it is only now that the
microfilms are being reopened.
The
reopening of Cashel & Emly records is of major
importance to those trying to trace their ancestry
in an area covering almost half of Co. Tipperary
as well as a large part of East Limerick. No longer
will those seeking their heritage have to be denied
access to church registers at Ireland’s National
Library.
22
April 2008
Helen
Kelly gave a lecture on Irish genealogy at the Family
Records Centre in London on Tuesday 12th February.
This was the last of a series of lectures Helen
has given at the FRC over the past number of years.
The holdings of the Family Records Centre were transferred
to the National Archives at Kew on Monday 17th March
2008.
The
Genealogy and Local Studies (GenLoc) Group of the
Library Association of Ireland held a seminar on
newspapers in the National Library of Ireland on
Friday 7th March this year. Among the speakers was
APGI member Helen Kelly who delivered a lecture
entitled Genealogy in Newspapers.
County
Westmeath born Helen Kelly joined her county compatriots
in Argentina to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Buenos
Aires. In addition to meeting with groups and individuals
at the Fahy Club and elsewhere, Helen also attended
the reception hosted by Irish Ambassador Philomena
Murnaghan in Buenos Aires on the 17th March.
