Wednesday 25 July 2012

Tipperary & Limerick witness statements released

Limerick City Library has made available the Tipperary and Limerick Witness Statements taken from the Bureau of Military History (1913-1921). You can view the records here.

This is a temporary arrangement while MilitaryArchives sorts out its problems with the delayed release of the national 1773-statement collection.

The Bureau of Military History was established in January 1947 by Oscar Traynor TD, Minister for Defence and former Brigade Commandant of the Dublin Brigade after the death of Richard McKee.

Its establishment gave individuals involved a chance to record their own stories. Members of groups such as the Irish Volunteers and subsequently the IRA, Cumann na mBan, the IRB, Sinn Féin, the Irish Citizen Army, relatives of deceased individuals and people not associated with any specific organisation were sought out to provide as broad a range as possible to the collection. The Bureau of Military History collection is open for personal visitors to Cathal Bruga Barracks, Dublin, but the digitisation project has over-run.

The Library recommends that researchers read Diarmuid Ferriter's In such deadly earnest article before rushing into the witness statements.

Well done to the Library team for making these records available, and many thanks to @Ordinary_Times for passing on the news.