On the 103rd anniversary of the 1922 Four Courts fire, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland has made 175,000 historical records freely available online, including more than 60,000 names from the lost 19th-century census returns.
A major milestone in Irish historical research comes as 175,000 new records are made freely available online by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) to mark the 103rd anniversary of the loss of the Public Record Office of Ireland in the 1922 Four Courts fire – an event that obliterated seven centuries of Irish archival records. This is all part of #VirtualTreasury103.
60,000 searchable names
Among the additions released online today are 60,000 names recorded in the 19th-century census returns. These recovered census transcripts, carefully compiled from transcriptions preserved in the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), reveal details of the ordinary lives of people across the island of Ireland in the decades before and after the Great Famine. The names are now searchable through the new “Population Portal” here.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
On the 103rd anniversary of the 1922 fire, the release of thousands of names recovered from the pre-Famine census returns — records long believed lost forever — stands as a powerful testament to years of meticulous archival work. The survival of these names also owes much to the work of generations of earlier genealogists and historians who transcribed material from the originals before their destruction in 1922.
A pioneering figure among these was Gertrude Thrift (1872–1951), one of Ireland’s earliest professional female genealogists. In the late 1920s, she donated 23 boxes of working notes that included extracts she made from pre-Famine census records during her research in the Public Record Office reading room, before it was destroyed. Long accessible on microfilm in the National Archives, her work is now fully searchable via the Population Portal.
These records provide researchers with unprecedented opportunities to trace their Irish ancestry in sources that were long thought to be lost.
Newly added to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
The VRTI platform has been recently upgraded with new features and tools, including:
- The Population Portal, offering access to 60,000 names from the destroyed 19th-century censuses
- The Age of Revolution Portal, offering access to records relating to the 1798 Rebellion and Ireland’s connections to the American Revolution
- The Age of Conquest Portal, containing late medieval (1169—1500) documentation relating to the Anglo-Norman conquest and subsequent shifting Gaelic lordships
- Knowledge Graph Explorer, a powerful new tool developed in collaboration with ADAPT, using semantic web technology to identify people and places and the links between them across the archive — the first tool of its kind in Irish historical research
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The June 2025 release highlights include:
- Over 5,000 new records added to the Dublin Gazette collection
- Wills (1536–1813) from the Prerogative Court of Armagh, indexed by Sir Arthur Vicars in 1897
- State Papers for Ireland (1660–1715) containing over 10 million words detailing governance in the turbulent years following Cromwell’s death
- The Chief Secretary’s Papers (1770–1830) detailing British administration in Ireland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries
- Census reports and parliamentary papers from 1821 to 1891
- Selections from the Memoranda Rolls detailing the work of medieval exchequer clerks
- Collecting Ireland’s History, a new digital exhibition, exploring the crucial role of libraries in Ireland and Britain in recovering lost Irish records
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
What is the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland?
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is an all-island and international research partnership committed to reconstructing the archive of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which was destroyed during the Civil War in 1922. The launch of the project by Taoiseach Micheál Martin in 2022, as a living legacy of the Decade of Centenaries, marked the 100th anniversary of the loss of Ireland’s public records, some of which dated back to the 13th century.
A F F I L I A T EÂ A D
Since its launch three years ago, the VRTI has become home to over 350,000 records and 250 million searchable words of Irish history. Led by Trinity College Dublin and supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, this ambitious project brings together computer scientists, archivists, historians and librarians working collaboratively to digitally reconstruct the lost collections of Ireland’s destroyed Public Record Office.
>>> RELATED: 102nd anniversary of Public Record Office fire marked with release of thousands of historical records
Seventy-five partner institutions across the island of Ireland and around the world have contributed digital images of replacement documents, including transcripts and duplicates, to the Virtual Treasury. Core collaborators include the National Archives of Ireland (NAI), the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), the National Archives UK (TNA), the Irish Manuscripts Commission (IMC) and the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
The VRTI also pioneers research into the ethical use of artificial intelligence in historical archives, in collaboration with the Research Ireland-funded ADAPT Centre and computer scientists at Trinity College Dublin.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
The VRTI is committed to bringing Irish history to the people. Since 2023, it has delivered eight local roadshows, from Donegal and Derry to Cork and Waterford, with Youghal and Limerick next in line.
What you’ll find on the VRTI website
- A quarter of a billion searchable words of Irish history
- 350,000 records from medieval rolls to the pre-Famine censuses
- 60,000 names for family historians to explore
- 10 Gold Seams containing particularly important document sets
- 16 curated collections highlighting significant historical topics
- 11,000 person details in the Knowledge Graph
- 67,000 place details in the Knowledge Graph
- 2.9 million triples of information in the Knowledge Graph
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
