Press Release

O'Donoghue announces international cultural agreement with
Canadian Government

John O'Donoghue, T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, today (Tuesday, 6^th December, 2005) announced a ground-breaking international cultural agreement between the National Archives of Ireland and Library and Archives Canada, which will see the Irish Census Records for 1901 and 1911 digitised, indexed and placed online for free access by the 70 million Irish diaspora around the world. Library and Archives Canada, the leading experts in the cutting-edge archival digitisation process involved, anticipate strong interest in Canada, where 13% of the population claim Irish ancestry and where a similar online release of Canadian Census Returns over recent years evoked a huge response.

A fascinating first-hand record and evidence of their forebears' household, family, social circumstances and location one hundred years ago will be available to view online and download to anyone from December 2006, when the first phase comprising the Dublin Census Records 1911 will be released. The Records detail the name, age, sex, marital status, occupation, county and country of birth of everyone listed in every domestic dwelling, prison, hospital, industrial school etc, including their literacy level, ability to speak Irish, the number of years women were married and total number of children born.

The 3-year digitisation project will ultimately allow anyone in the world search for an Irish ancestor with minimal basic information, quickly and efficiently, and view a myriad of contextual historical information and imagery on contemporaneous events. Currently, records can only be seen at the National Archives in Dublin and searches are manual, can be cumbersome, and require specific information prior to searching.

At the agreement-signing, the Minister remarked, 'Our records hold precious insights into Irish family history for millions at home and abroad - we hope this service in collaboration with our Canadian partners will connect many people globally to their cultural roots.' Ian Wilson, Head of Library and Archives Canada, commented, 'We share an ethos with the Irish Government of free access for all to their heritage and we welcome this opportunity to use our expertise in connecting even more Canadians to their history.'

For further press information, please contact Jacqui Mahon at Mahon O'Neill

on 087 226 8301, (01) 669 4762 or j.mahon@mahononeill.ie

Notes for Editors

The Census Records

The 1901 census is the earliest surviving government census for the thirty-two counties of Ireland. The 1911 census also survives in its entirety. The first full government census of Ireland was taken in 1821 with further censuses at ten-yearly intervals from 1831 through to 1911. The original census returns for 1861 and 1871 were destroyed shortly after the censuses were taken. Those for 1881 and 1891 were pulped during the First World War, probably because of the paper shortage. The returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were, apart from a few survivals, notably for a few counties for 1821 and 1831, destroyed in 1922 in the fire at the Public Record Office.

The census returns for 1901 and 1911 are now the most frequently used archives in the National Archives, accounting for approximately 40% of our productions. When they were released in 1961, the primary motivation in making them accessible was to make them freely available to solicitors for legal purposes. However, in practice the overwhelming majority of inspections of the returns have been made by genealogists, both amateur and professional. Historians and historical geographers have also made considerable use of the returns. There have been no privacy problems since 1961.

The returns for 1901 and 1911 are arranged by townland (the smallest division of land) or, in urban areas, by street. The 1901 census lists, for every member of each household; name, age, sex, relationship to head of the household, religion, occupation, marital status and county or country of birth. The census also records an individual's ability to read or write and ability to speak the Irish language. All of this information is given on Form A of the census which was filled in and signed by the head of each household. Where the head of the household could not write, his or her mark, usually an X, was recorded and witnessed by the enumerator.

The same information was recorded in the 1911 census, with one significant addition: married women were required to state the number of years they had been married, the number of their children born alive and the number still living.

In addition to returns for every household in the country, both censuses contain returns for police and military barracks, public and private asylums, prisons, hospitals, workhouses, colleges, boarding schools and industrial schools among other institutions.

The returns for both censuses also give details of houses, recording the number of windows, type of roof and number of rooms occupied by each family. Each house is also classified according to its overall condition. The number of out-offices and farm buildings attached to each household is also given. This information is recorded by the enumerator, who provided summaries of the returns for each townland and street, including the religious denomination of occupants.

These summaries include a list of heads of household, thus providing a nominal index for each townland or street.

The 1901 and 1911 censuses are an excellent source both for the history student and the genealogical researcher. They are obviously a principal source for Irish social and economic history in the early twentieth century. They also provide enormous scope for local study, and can be used with trade and street directories to provide detailed information on the composition and development of urban areas in particular.

Library and Archives Canada

In developing its on-line vision, Library and Archives Canada is attempting to implement the Government of Canada's policy objective of making Canada the most connected country in the world. For Library and Archives Canada, this means making its research tools and the best of its collections available on-line. Partnerships with other archives, libraries and museums are an important element in their strategy to ensure that catalogues can be searched from a single point and that digital collections complement each other. The proposed partnership with the National Archives of Ireland provides an opportunity to use expertise developed in recent years to create a research tool which will be of great interest to Irish-Canadians as well as to other members of the Irish diaspora.

The Census of Canada, 1901 and the Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906

The Library and Archives Canada 1901 and 1906 census websites are a rich source of information about Canada at the turn of the 20^th century. These websites include the digitisation of 154,320 census pages that are linked to descriptions that are searchable through an on-line database. Extensive contextual and technical information about the census records themselves is available to facilitate researching and understanding this collection. Genealogists interested in researching their family history and researchers looking for information about communities across Canada heavily consult these records. The HTML pages (help pages, contextual information and search pages) on these websites receive an average of 41,182 visits per month, making these records one of LAC's most frequently consulted website.

1901 Census

http://www.archives.ca/02/020122_e.html

1906 Census

http://www.archives.ca/02/020153_e.html

Ends