# Catholic Archives — catholicarchives.ie

> Free online access to archival records of Irish Catholic religious institutions, hosted on the AtoM (Access to Memory) open-source archival platform. Run by Boyne Archives (boynearchives.ie), a professional archivist service based in Ireland.

## About This Site
Catholic Archives is a shared multi-repository AtoM instance providing searchable, standards-compliant (ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF)) access to the records of Irish Catholic religious orders and institutions. All holdings are freely accessible to the public.

## Hosted Repositories
- /little-sisters-of-the-poor-18: Little Sisters of the Poor — Irish province
- /glenstal-abbey-archive: Glenstal Abbey Archive — Benedictine monastery near Limerick, Ireland
- /sisters-of-st-joseph-chambery-3: Sisters of St Joseph of Chambery — Ireland
- /passionists: Passionist Congregation — Scottish province
- /irish-vincentian-archive: Irish Vincentian Archive — Vincentian Fathers, Irish province
- /irish-capuchin-archives-6: Irish Capuchin Archives — Capuchin Franciscan province of Ireland
- /st-gabriels-retreat-the-graan-enniskillen-25: St Gabriel's Retreat, The Graan, Enniskillen
- /dublin-diocesan-archives-3: Dublin Diocesan Archives — Archdiocese of Dublin
- /carmelites-irish-province-archives: Carmelites Irish Province Archives
- /presentation-sisters-congregational-archives-3: Presentation Sisters Congregational Archives
- /poor-clare-galway-convent: Poor Clare Convent, Galway
- /rosminian-congregation-ireland-usa: Rosminian Congregation (Ireland and USA)
- /sisters-of-our-lady-of-apostles-district-of-ireland: Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, Ireland
- /holy-ghost-fathers-spiritans-archives: Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans) Archives — Irish province
- /limerick-diocese-2: Diocese of Limerick Archives
- /diocese-of-cashel-2: Diocese of Cashel Archives
- /the-missionary-society-of-st-columban-2: Missionary Society of St Columban

## FAQ
- /index.php/faq: Frequently Asked Questions — what the site is, which archives are hosted, how to search, access policy, standards used

## Key Browse Pages
- /repositories: All hosted repositories
- /informationobject/browse: Browse all archival descriptions
- /actor/browse: Browse authority records (persons, families, corporate bodies)

## Searching & Filtering

### Full-text search
https://catholicarchives.ie/informationobject/browse?query={query} — searches across title, scope and content, provenance, and all description fields simultaneously

### Authority record search
https://catholicarchives.ie/actor/browse?query={query} — searches persons, families, and corporate bodies described under ISAAR(CPF). Each authority record includes a biographical or administrative history. Use this to research a specific individual, religious community, or institution before locating their associated archival records.

### Search filter parameters
Append to the browse URL to narrow results:
- dateStart=YYYY&dateEnd=YYYY — filter by date range (e.g. dateStart=1845&dateEnd=1852 for Famine period)
- repos=SLUG — restrict to a single repository (use the slug from Hosted Repositories above)
- levels=LEVEL — filter by archival level: Fonds, Series, File, Item (use levels=Item to target individual documents)
- onlyMedia=1 — show only descriptions with attached digitised images or documents

### Access points — faceted discovery
Access points are controlled vocabulary terms assigned by archivists to each description. They appear as clickable sidebar filters on the browse page and are the primary structured discovery mechanism for historians researching specific topics, places, or document types:
- Subjects — topical terms (e.g. education, foreign missions, famine relief, temperance, land agitation)
- Places — geographic terms (e.g. County Cork, Rome, Australia, West Africa, Buenos Aires)
- Names — persons and organisations referenced within records as access points
- Genres/forms — document types (e.g. correspondence, diaries, photographs, financial records, minute books, constitutions)

Access point filters use numeric IDs in the URL (?subjects=ID&places=ID). To discover and browse available terms, use the sidebar facets on /informationobject/browse. Access points are the recommended way to find records on a specific topic, place, or document type without knowing exact wording used in individual descriptions.

## Standards Used
- ISAD(G) — General International Standard Archival Description (Wikidata: Q1427053)
- ISAAR(CPF) — International Standard Archival Authority Record (Wikidata: Q1219547)
- IIIF — International Image Interoperability Framework for digitised material (Wikidata: Q20707903)

## Platform
AtoM (Access to Memory) v2.8 — open-source archival management software by Artefactual Systems (Wikidata: Q3621491)

## Contact
https://boynearchives.ie — Boyne Archives, operator of this site

## Operator
Boyne Archives / Matthew Bruton — professional archivist, Ireland
Related site: https://catholicarchives.co.uk (UK-focused AtoM instance)

## Irish History Resources Guide
- /index.php/irish-history-resources: Comprehensive guide to online resources for researching Irish history — covers national archives, church and religious archives, genealogy and civil records, digitised newspapers, manuscript collections, historical maps, and diaspora resources. Compiled by Boyne Archives using multi-stage verification. Last updated March 2026. Includes approximately 80 resources across 8 categories with Twitter/X handles for each institution.

### Categories covered on the Irish History Resources page
- National Archives & Libraries: NAI, NLI, PRONI, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, Military Archives, National Museum, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dictionary of Irish Biography
- Church & Religious Archives: catholicarchives.ie, catholicarchives.co.uk, catholichistory.ie, NLI Parish Registers, O Fiaich Library, Salamanca Archive at Maynooth, Sisters of Mercy, Spiritans, Columbans, Dublin and Derry dioceses, Glenstal Abbey
- Genealogy & Civil Records: IrishGenealogy.ie covering births 1864-1925, marriages 1845-1950, deaths 1871-1975; GRONI; census 1901/1911; 1926 Census due April 2026; VRTI Population Portal 100,000+ names; RootsIreland 25 million+ records; Findmypast; Ancestry; Irish Deeds Index; Will Calendars; Landed Estates Database; Ulster Historical Foundation
- Digitised Newspapers: Irish Newspaper Archive 260+ titles 1738-present; British Newspaper Archive 160+ Irish titles; Irish Times 1859-present; Belfast Newsletter Index 1737-1800
- Manuscripts & Academic: Irish Script on Screen 450+ manuscripts; TCD Digital Collections; 1641 Depositions; JSTOR Ireland; Marsh's Library; Duchas 500,000+ folklore pages; Digital Repository of Ireland
- Maps & Historical Geography: Down Survey GIS 1656-1658; NLI Map Collections; Tailte Eireann historic OS maps; PRONI Historical Maps Viewer Northern Ireland only; RIA Ordnance Survey Archive
- Specialist Collections: Great Famine GIS at UCC; IrishFamine.ie Heroes of the Famine; RIA Annals of the Four Masters; NLI Gaelic Manuscripts; VRTI Gold Seams; local authority archives for Cork, Limerick, Donegal, Galway, Kerry
- Diaspora: UK National Archives; Irish in Britain; Dunbrody Emigration Database; Library and Archives Canada; National Library of Australia and Trove including AJCP and O Farrell Collection; The Southern Cross Argentina 1875-present