National Archives to bring their census exhibition on tour
The National Archives are bringing their 1926 Census exhibition to 11 venues across the country in the coming months.
The Story of Us exhibition will start a tour to 10 local authorities' venues across the country, including Donegal, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kildare, Westmeath, Kerry, Tipperary and Kildare.
The National Archives allow the Local Authorities to host the exhibition so that people can explore what life was like in the newly independent Ireland of 1926.
The exhibition includes documents and images, as well as audio-visual displays, detailing culture, language, religion, sport, entertainment and the general lives of the people living in the Irish Free State.
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said: “ I am delighted that the National Archives will bring its exhibition, The Story of Us, to 10 local authority venues across the country. The release of the Census 1926 has truly captured the public imagination, and this exhibition allows people to better understand the Ireland of 1926.
“For people across Ireland, the 1926 Census has offered something deeply personal. It has allowed us all to step back in time and encounter our own families, neighbours and communities as they were almost a century ago. It brings history out of the abstract and into the everyday. This exhibition provides a further opportunity for people to explore Ireland and its people in 1926.”
Director of the National Archives Orlaith McBride said: “We are greatly looking forward to bringing The Story of Us on tour over the coming months in partnership with our local authority colleagues. The exhibition has already been presented in Dublin, London and Boston, where thousands of people enjoyed discovering more about Ireland in 1926.
“Census 1926 is not simply a historical document. It is a living national resource. It belongs not only to academic historians or archivists, but to the wider public. In the weeks since the launch and hopefully, in the months and years ahead, people will search the census to discover grandparents and great-grandparents, trace migration and family connections, understand changing patterns of work and language, and explore the everyday realities of life in Ireland in 1926. This exhibition offers a further insight into that Ireland.